Casts away!

Today Aiden got his remaining three casts off. He was once again such a trooper - only crying a little when they took off the dressing that was closest to his hands/feet. I felt like I needed to reward him by taking him out for ice-cream or something. Still a little too young. Darn.

I'm glad that he had to get the one cast off early because it allowed me to prepare myself for the job of cleaning his hands and feet and applying the dressings. I had all the supplies I needed and had the system down pat. It definitely helped to have two weeks of doing just the one before having to organize myself to do both hands and both feet 3 times daily.

Here are some of the pictures from the doctors office today. Let me remind you all that they are a little graphic - but I guess I'm used to looking at them enough now that I'm not as hesitant to post them as I was the first time around. Please remember that they don't look "normal". And they probably never will. He will have all 10 fingers and 10 toes once all is said and done, but this was just the first stage surgery.

So right now, his left hand has the pinky free; the ring finger and middle finger are still together, the index finger and thumb are still together. The right hand has the thumb free; the index finger is still together with the middle finger and the ring and pinky fingers are still together. Those will all be separated in the second surgery in Dallas in February.

Regardless of how they look, let me just tell you how amazing it is to see your child wiggle his new fingers for the first time. He is already using them to feel all the different textures that he wasn't able to feel when they were all fused and had no finger tips. He loves to put them in his mouth. He plays with his toys. He holds his paci. I would have given a million dollars to get into his head and know what he was thinking the moment the casts came off. I guess the look on his face will have to do.