8 weeks old and cast changes

10-6-2011

This week's images are from Monday when Rachel had her second set of casts removed and the third set applied. There was more of a noticeable difference with her clubfeet this week. We are scheduled to have a new set of casts applied every Monday for the entire month of October. I am happy to see this week's progress. She does not seem to mind the having the casts- she still kicks her legs up in the air- future Rockette dancer in the making. I continue to do CSM checks on her toes with each diaper change. I do have to agree with the other moms with kiddos getting casted for clubfeet- bring with extra clothes and wipes to clean up your little one. The dry plaster leaves a trail of dust behind - they do put a protective sheet over your little one but the dust gets everywhere. The wet plaster can get on your little one's clothes and in their diaper, on their belly and ect- good to clean off as soon as possible. For those who are not as familiar with casting- with using both fiberglass or plaster casting material the casts will get warm as the material hardens (takes less than a half hour) but afterwards will feel cold and damp until dried- usually a few hours. Also the cast saw removes the cast by vibration- it does not cut the skin- although if it is left in one place too long it can cause a burn and is noisy. Rachel usually sleeps through the cast removal and the cast spreaders seem to be about as big as she is.

Rachel had her urology testing done this morning. She had a renal ultrasound, a VCUG and urodynamics. We will not know all of the results until Tuesday when we have our first Spina Bifida clinic day. We do know from the VCUG though that there was no reflux into her kidneys and she was able to empty her bladder on her own. The results from the urodynamics will indicate her bladder pressure and if she were to need to be straight cath'd. They had to use a size 5 fr foley on her for the testing since she is so small.

We are having good results for diaper rash/open area prevention using Antimonkey Butt powder following by a layer of Antimonkey Butt cream. I have only been able to find it at Walgreen's so far. Needless to say, I bought out the shelf of it yesterday. Both are priced at $5.49 which is not too bad.