Tour of the Hospitals

This weekend marked Abby's first visit to the ER and ideally, her last. We were out of town for the weekend for a family reunion at the Sandberg family ranch in John's Valley. On Saturday morning, Rhett and I took Abby to a shady spot to feed her and finish dressing her. While Rhett gave her a bottle, I approached her left foot (the one with the cast) to put some pants on her. I had the thought, "I need to trim her toenails," followed quickly by, "I can't normally see her toenails..." We suddenly realized that we could see most of her toes and part of the bottom of her foot. Normally, all that pokes out of the cast are just the very tips of her toes. Her toes were also a dark purple color. We sprung into action. I called Shriner's to confirm that we needed to go to a hospital to have the cast removed. Rhett ran to check with two of his aunts who are nurses to see if they agreed. We then got her in the car and drove off to the closest hospital, 40 minutes away in Panguitch. I sat by Abby to hold her foot in the air, successfully returning her toes to their normal color.

Wait, we're leaving the reunion to go to a hospital?

Because the cast wasn't applied at the hospital, it required that we go to the ER to have it removed. After waiting for the doctor to return to the hospital (the poor guy had just left to take a shower after working all night when we came) for about an hour, he came and removed the cast without any issues. We asked him to wrap her leg in gauze to be sure that her sensitive skin would be protected. Abby was cheerful through the whole process, talking more than I think she ever has. She loved being in the hospital (I guess she feels like she's at home...?). The nurses and doctor were also very personable and. She sure did love straightening her leg for the last couple of days.

Waiting for the fun.

There is a tiny incision under this bandage - you can hardly see it.

This morning I called Shriner's and asked what the next plan of action should be. I sent a picture of Abby's heel to the office to get their opinion. Depending on that and what the doctor thought would be best, there was a chance we could have her fitted for her brace today - it was either that or another cast. Our doctor decided it would be best to have her foot stretched for the additional days in a cast until our appointment on Thursday for the brace fitting. So, we made a trip to the Riverton hospital and saw our doctor there, instead of at our normal Shriner's location. Abby doesn't seem to be very pleased to be casted again, but at least our expected time hasn't been extended.

Freedom before the cast was applied today.

We got so lucky with this happy baby.

Problem solved - we're excited for Thursday!