Almost done casting!

We are almost done with casting! Harrison had his tenotomy (tendon lengthening) exactly three weeks ago. The doctor made a tiny incision in each heel so she could make little snips in his Achilles tendons, allowing her to stretch his feet from a pointed position to a straighter position. Then we had to leave the casts on for three weeks so the tendons could heal. They heal 80% in 3-6 weeks. Which I think is amazing. Kids are amazing.

Now three weeks is up, and the casts come off in the morning! We cannot wait! Tomorrow Harrison will get fitted for his brace, which looks like two shoes connected by a bar. Google says it will look something like this:

He’ll wear the brace 23 hours a day for the next three months. If all goes well and his feet do what they’re supposed to then he’ll move to wearing it only while he’s sleeping. He’ll keep doing that until he’s 4 or 5 years old.

The staff at Children’s tell us the brace will cause us more trouble than the casts because Harrison will be able to get it off. Apparently he'll learn how it works and may get a kick (haha, literally) out of trying to kick it off. I’ll take the tradeoff. I’m ready to give this baby a bath whenever I want, and take him in the pool! And take him outside without feeling bad about how hot it is. Our summer rule for having Harrison outside has been to imagine ourselves wearing a big, fluffy pair of sweatpants. If that sounds awful to us then Harrison’s probably pretty uncomfortable in two big plaster casts with cotton underneath and it’s time to get him back into air conditioning. I don't love the heat so I can't say we'd spend a ton of time sweating it out anyway, but even I've had enough of the indoors.

So excited for tomorrow!!