Another Antonin Story: Antonin Gets His Long Cast Off

Hello and welcome to an above-zero Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is February 4th.

Today we're going to tell the story of me getting my long cast off and getting a short cast. 

I was counting down the weeks, then I was counting down the days, then I was counting down the hours until I would get my short cast. I tried to get my long cast off before my appointment for my short cast. I was yanking on it, I was pulling on it. My mom told me it would get worse if I did that. And then my leg got sore. My mom put a cloth handkerchief under my long cast and it helped.

So, we went to Bemidji last Sunday and we stayed in a hotel. It was okay. I watched TV, I had breakfast, and I slept. I liked it. The next day we went to the orthopedist. First, they cut off the cast using a little cutter thingy. It wasn't that sharp. It looked sharp, but it wasn't. They let me touch it. It felt a little raggedy, but it didn't hurt. When they were cutting off the cast, it felt tickly. One nurse held up my leg and the other cut my cast. They had to make two cuts, one on each side of the cast.

After they cut the cast, they used scissors to cut the sock thing under my cast. Then, finally my leg was free. It felt really nice to have my leg free. Then they put me in a wheelchair and pushed me to the x-ray room. When they were done with the x-ray, they noticed that nothing bad had gone wrong with my broken tibia. The doctor showed me the x-ray. He pointed out the bone growth and compared the current x-ray with the one from the first day after I broke my leg.

Then the nurses put on a new sock-thing on my broken leg, but this time it was shorter. It covered all the bottom part of my leg. Then they wrapped my leg in white bandage thingies. My mom said it looked like I was a mummy. Then I got to pick the color of my new cast and I picked green. Then they hardened the cast by putting the green material in warm water. They wrapped it around my leg. It was warm at first and I liked it. They were careful to not push too hard on the bone. They had to shape the cast so it wouldn't fall off because sometimes people have slid out of their casts. The nurses told me to not pull on it, too. 

Having the new cast on felt like a relief. I could finally bend my knee. There was also dead skin. I did not like it. My mom said she would try to get it off, and she did. My knee was also very stiff. That felt like trying to bend my knee when two bricks were on it. It hurt.

Then we drove to school immediately and I did not like it. I was hoping to go home and then go to school, but we went straight to school. I still felt sad, so after Music, my teacher let me go to my mom's office a little bit early. Then I was happy. 

When we finally got home, we unloaded our things and I was happy to be home. I went downstairs to watch TV and rest. It took a day for my knee to feel better from all that stiffness because I had my long cast on for four weeks.

I have to wear my short cast for fourteen days then I have another appointment. If all goes well, I'll be cast-free by Valentine's Day. 

I'm looking forward to March because that's the month that I don't have my broken leg anymore.