Wondering about the title? Apparently when you visit the ER department of your local hospital as much as we did in the past 6 weeks you acquire a nickname. Shortly after my last post (1 day to be precise) William decided to "play" in the mud and so required a third cast. When we arrived at the ER to have this cast replaced (and waited a nice 1 1/2 hours for a new cast once the old one was off - this town needs a cast clinic, but I'll get to that in a bit) the nurses took one look at us and said, "Is that stool boy? What happened to his cast this time". Thus the nickname was born.
This adventure to the ER, and the long wait - which I completely understand as we were not an "emergency" - left me feeling extremely frustrated with the care we were getting locally. There had to be a better way to deal with cast changes and follow-up. This led to a trip to our family doc to discuss my frustrations with the increasing timeline and casting issues. Here's where I make a plug for my family doctor though. Understanding my frustrations with having no option but to wait in the ER with a 1 year old for follow-up x-rays and cast changes we came to an arrangement - my family physician offered to meet me at the hospital at an arranged time for x-rays and, if needed, cast changes so that I could bypass the emergency department. This made our final 4 weeks much less painful. Plus he did a ton of research - calling other doctors and reading material to determine a more realistic timeline and came up with a range of 4 to 8 weeks. Yipee! So last Thursday (I know, he even met us on a holiday to make sure he could check William's leg before he went on vacation, LOVE IT!), we went in for our 6 week x-ray and we walked out of the hospital cast free! I don't know who was happier, William or me. At least the little man will get to enjoy his summer a bit more, and if we ever get some hot days, some time in the pool with his sister.
So, I suppose the question many of you have is..."Is he walking yet?". The answer is "no". He is starting to alternate between his "cast" crawl (which has one leg sticking out to the side) and a normal crawl (1 week post cast), but when he stands he still stands as though his leg is in a cast and is showing no interest in walking solo or parent assisted. He is still "cruising" as well as he has been for the past 5 months or so, and right now the longer he takes to "walk" the more recovery time he continues to give his leg. He is starting to get a bit frustrated with how slow crawling is when he wants to catch his sister, so we're hoping that might motivate him to try walking in the near future, and will be sure to post video of the event once it occurs.
Thus ends the first adventure of "Stool Boy" - let's hope he gives us a bit of a breather before his next adventure (he still has no fear).