Thirteenth Cast

Yesterday Starbaby went into his 13th cast. We spent 4 hours at the hospital in the end - cast removal, bath, seeing consultant, x ray, waiting for results, seeing consultant again then casting.

Starbaby's whole leg is getting progressively more sore with every cast, and yesterday it was quite swollen so the consultant sent him for an X ray to check things out. The X ray chap was one of the nicest, most considerate members of staff we've met at the hospital (one or two could take a leaf out of his book) and went out of his way to make sure Starbaby was calm and happy during the X ray (no mean feat, considering he had just been woken literally 3 minutes into a much-needed nap in the sling). The X ray showed everything was ok... so it was back on with the next cast.

Things feel like they're going very slowly at the moment... there have been several delays for Starbaby (for logistical rather than medical reasons...e.g. annual leave) and it still looks like he'll have at least 4 more weeks in casts. This feels never-ending at times, to be honest. We were expecting the standard 6-8 casts, and instead he'll have at least 16 casts and 17 weeks in the casting stage. But we'll get there!

Starbaby has been coping with his casts amazingly... he was grumpier than normal towards the end of the last casting-week, which I think was related to his sore leg, but thankfully has been noticeably happier since yesterday's cast went on. It helped that we had a fab day out today with a friend and her children - he's always happier when we're out and about.

On the non-talipes front, we're continuing with his list of physio exercises - his right hand can grasp now, and that arm has fairly good movement. His left hand and arm is still very weak, but hey, if you're going to have one strong hand, better that it's your right, in a world that's built for right-handers, I guess?! The muscles at the back of his neck have improved massively since we started a new exercises after the last physio appointment, and his neck is now no longer 'pulled back' all of the time - it's amazing to see that change. I feel that at some point we're going to get a diagnosis that brings everything together... I think probably of a genetic condition impacting on some bones and muscles... but his improvement gives me hope that whatever the 'issue' is, it is not going to be something which has a massive impact on his life.

So proud of my boy. He's been through so much in his first 19 weeks in the world and is doing so wonderfully.