Graham’s Leg – The Final Chapter (19 months, 17 days old)

Graham’s broken leg has certainly been a whirlwind adventure for our family. 
To recap, his leg was broken but it took a few days to get a cast put on because the initial urgent care doctor didn’t see the break in the x-ray.  His first cast was taken off two weeks later, so he could be cast-free on our European vacation.  It turned out that the cast was removed too soon, so after a week of limping, pain, fear, and tantrums, Graham had a new cast put on at Ipswich Hospital in England.  Minutes after the cast was put on, it was sawed off because of an application error.  A third cast was put on which kept Graham very happy for the next week as our family vacationed in Paris. 
When we came back to the US, we had every intention of keeping the cast on another two weeks so Graham would be casted until six weeks from the break date.  However, as we learned through this entire process, things don’t always go as planned. 
The day after we returned from Paris, we noticed that Graham’s cast was starting to feel quite flexible.  It got progressively worse and by the next day, the cast had completely broken at the knee, allowing Graham to bend and straighten his leg.  We were referred to a pediatric orthopedic surgeon but we weren’t sure his cast would even last the extra day until we could get in to see the doctor. 
In one of Nick’s proudest moments as a father, he ‘saved’ his son and pulled and pried and peeled the cast off.  We whisked Graham into the bath (to clean off that itchy leg from being in a cast for so long) and began to mentally prepare for a fourth cast to go on when Graham went to see the doctor the next day. 
We headed to the doctor’s office, but Nick and I could already tell that things were different (after the latest cast removal) and Graham was no longer in pain (like he was after the first time his cast was removed). 
The doctor thoroughly checked Graham and said the x-rays showed he was healing really well and there was no need to put him back in a cast! 
Ahhh, finally we can close the chapter on Graham’s broken leg! 
Since I am backdating this post, I can give an update on what happened during the next six weeks.  Graham never seemed in pain or showed favoritism towards the healing leg, but he walked on his tippy toe (especially when barefoot (not so much in shoes)) for almost a month.  He also ran more slowly, but 6 weeks from the doctor’s OK, he is now completely back to normal :) 
So, no dramatic pictures of the final cast getting removed, just the remains of Nick’s proud work:

Bye, bye cast, so long forever!