Phase Three

Hola!

Well, another milestone for Kara this week-- Let's recap.

First it was the Nightmare on Memorial Day: Broken leg -- 7 sheets of drywall, roughly 400 lbs. fell on her leg and broke both bones a few inches above her ankle.

Phase one: huge thigh cast, heavy-heavy, using a wheelchair for the last 3 weeks of school.

Phase two: shorter cast, below the knee--MUCH lighter, mostly on crutches but sometimes in the wheelchair. And waterproof! Swim, shower--get in the water and it's fine.

Now, for phase three. Last Thursday (drum-roll, please)...she got the cast cut off...

...and she got an "Aircast," like a ski boot with an air bladder in it. She can inflate it, or deflate it to her own comfort. She can take it off to SLEEP at night! Yessssssssssss! If she's just sitting around for awhile on the computer, or reading, or watching a movie, she can take it off. Or if she's in the water to shower, or in the swimming pool to play (gently, still, no horseplay or serious racing/pushing off the side or anything).

The amazing thing for me is to look at the xrays and see actual growth. Yes, even in this past month, her bones have been growing together and over time will grow straight again. You can see right at the break, little spider-web-looking new growth is filling in. (Go ahead, enlarge it--it's really cool!)

This aircast will be on for at least 4 weeks. (Yes, that will pretty much be her WHOLE summer, sigh...) But we are happy for the good news on growth. She walks around withOUT crutches, and that's pretty cool, too.

Here is her cast-less leg. Her healthy leg has a calf--just by walking around each day, your calf muscle stays toned. She hasn't used the other calf for 6 weeks, so it kind of disappeared.

In Other Whitesell News, David gets to go to a Leadership training this week in Phoenix, with 6 other students from his school. The rest of us will drive to Washington D.C. on Tuesday, and he'll meet us later in the week. He and Frank will attend a couple of days of the Scout Jamboree while the rest of the family tours a little.

Frank and I spent Saturday in the garage fighting mold and mildew: throwing stuff away, making donation piles and putting previously boxed items into plastic bins.

(Did you ever wake up and say "Gee, I sure wish I could go through all the vivid and tedious MOTIONS of moving, without actually moving?" If so, you have got to try this! It's such a rare treat... :0) )

Stay cool this week! Kari