Seven days later it was time to take off the first set of casts. My mom and I started by wrapping the casts in towels soaked with vinegar water but quickly decided that was not going to work for us. We then filled up the baby bath tub and took Sammy for a swim. He was two weeks old and it was his first official bath...in vinegar water.
My mom held Sammy up since he can't hold himself up in the tub yet. I started to work on the casts. You have to let them soak and squeeze them to break down the plaster. We spent an hour and a half trying to get them off. Sammy loved being in the water and did really well until he got so comfortable that he pooped. At that point we ran over to the kitchen sink and started working there. My mom held him in her arms and we had his feet in the water and under the running water. In the end we ran out of time and the bottom 1/3 of the right leg was still on his foot. I was already late to pick Craig up to head to Children's for our appointment so I had to pack Sammy up with a wet cast. We put a wet sock around his foot and leg and put it all in a plastic bag to contain it.
Sammy and I left my mom and Brady at the house. It was a complete disaster. The baby tub was sitting on the kitchen island full of water, vinegar, plaster, and poop. Brady (who was so good throughout the process) had brought us blankets and toys trying to help so those were all over the floor along with all the toys he had kept himself occupied with during the traumatic event.
So the house is a disaster, Brady is really confused, Sammy is still in a wet cast, I am scarred and know my mom probably is as well. As soon as I pulled out of the driveway I lost it. Tears were coming and I could not stop them. Of course Craig calls to see where we are and can tell I'm a mess. We got to his office and I hopped in the back of the car to try and work on the cast some more. I could not get it.
We arrived a little early so while we were waiting to get called in back Craig was able to get the rest of the cast off. I no longer felt like a failure walking into the office with a half removed wet cast on my baby boy. His little legs were very dry and flaky as is expected when wearing a cast. His feet did look better and we were happy with that but ready to hear what the doctor had to say about the first week.
Once we got called back we weighed Sammy to make sure he was back up to his birth weight as babies are supposed to be at the two week mark. He was 8 pound 3.9 ounces (with his diaper) so he was over his birth weight! Then we went back to the room and waited for Tony to come check him out.
Tony came in and rechecked all of his measurements. Sammy started at 13 on each foot prior to any treatment and after the first week of casts he was a 9 on each foot. As a reminder we are trying to get to a score of 0 on each foot. After the check Tony did some stretching and manipulation until Dr. Miller came in to see Sammy.
Once Dr. Miller came into the room she did her own assessment. She thought the right foot was looking great but was concerned that the left foot might be complex*. In clubfoot world there are some words you don't want to hear and "complex" is one of them. She and the physical therapist didn't exactly agree that it was complex. We were content to just wait and see as time progresses and pray that it's not the case. (*The toe sticking up on the left foot is what is causing the concern.)
After that little exchange it was time for casting. This week we brought a bottle so Craig held Sammy and fed him while they applied the casts. By the end Sammy was very, very upset. Enough that after everyone left the room the nurse came back in to check on him. By then he had calmed down and we were ready to go.
The first evening, night and next day were not a whole lot of fun. Sammy was very upset. He would start screaming at random. We could hear his stomach making some noises so we were not entirely sure if he was upset by the casts or if he wasn't feeling well. In the end we were always able to calm him down so we didn't call the doctor or remove the casts. Once we got through the first 24 hours he seemed to adjust and the rest of the week went pretty well.
Even though the removal of the first cast was very difficult and emotional and the first 24 hours of the second set of casts was pretty tough: we survived week two!
It needs to be said that when I got home from the appointment the house was spotless. Mamajosey and Brady had transformed the place and it was so peaceful to return to such calm that had been left in total chaos just a couple of hours before.
