Cast off!… Day 923 26MAY11

Joshua and I left this morning to go get his cast removed which he was thrilled about. It came off without putting up to much of a fight and his leg finally saw the light of day. The doctor took and look and said it all looked good , we will go back for a follow up in two weeks. We scrubbed all the leg goo off and got him cleaned up. He was very happy not only to be able to get the cast off but also that he could FINALLY scratch his leg :)

Next stop was the orthotics place to get Joshua's new leg braces fitted. They will help stabilize his ankles and help correct for the drop foot that is caused by the chemo drug vincristine that he takes. The braces are pretty neat and Joshua got to choose the design when he got his cast put on before they were made. He chose to have the Lightning logo on the back and blue straps for the Bolts as well.

We stopped and grabbed him some lunch on the way home and then headed for the house. It took us a little while at home fussing with his leg braces but we got them comfortable and he wore them for most of the rest of the evening. He will have to wear the braces for quite a while but if it keeps him from getting any more stress fractures or damaging his ankle anymore that will be a blessing. Joshua takes all of these changes in stride and deals quite wonderfully with all the bumps and curves that cancer throws at him. Renee and I both worry about how all of this will affect him over the long term and wish every day, just like Joshua does, that he could just be a "normal" kid again.

We ran up to the ice rink in Brandon after dinner to pick up some stuff at the pro shop and Joshua ran into a bunch of his hockey buddies. He told me that they all thought his braces were cool because they had the Lightning logo on the back. Joshua had fun playing with them for a bit before we headed for home. His teacher is coming right after breakfast and it is only a matter of days before he will be done with the school year.