The long cast comes off (at long last)!

Clare’s long arm cast came off today. She broke or fractured her right scaphoid almost six weeks ago, http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2013-07-03
Rather interesting how it’s removed if you haven’t seen this in a while. With the saw you see above, a cut is made underneath the arm and then another cut is made on the top. A scissors-like tool is then used to spread the cast apart along the cuts to break any remaining fiberglass threads and then one side is just pulled away from the other and voila!

Clare now has a shorter cast that ends below the elbow. She will have that for 30 days. Then she’ll see the MD (or rather the MD will see her and the newest x-rays). No slouch, I guess: her doctor did a 5-year residency in orthopaedics at the Mayo Clinic… The PA is “95 percent certain” that surgery will not be necessary. Oh, please, please, please…

Tomorrow we leave for Michigan, so it’s really fortuitous that she gets the shorter cast for the long drives and visits with family.

One year ago (“Hey, there’s a master gardener next door!”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2012-08-05
Two years ago (“August abstract #2”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2011-08-05

[Michelle]

Gosh, sounds like a real nightmare :(

[Thom Mitchell]

@michelleyoung It's astonishing how important our "opposable" thumbs are and what's not possible if your wrist *and* elbow joints are fixed. So I've been doing-and-undoing necklaces and earring backs nearly every day...

[Rick Schies]

Good luck to her, and we will continue to hope for no surgery

[Mags]

Interesting shot and process of cast removal! I thought I'd have to wear one after bunion surgery but, found out they don't do case for that anymore.

[Thom Mitchell]

@marlboromaam Seeing the "standard of care" for this injury was quite an education. A few years earlier, Clare cracked a rib and they don't do any medical intervention for that. In particular, they don't wrap you. (Constrains breathing and often led to pneumonia.)