The Lucas Lowdown: Ladies and Gentlemen....

...it's my pleasure to introduce to you the CAST COOLER! Why this product is not standard issue with every cast I do not understand! I found it through an ad on one of many spica blogs I've been reading lately and ordered it immediately like someone who's been sucked into an infomercial at 2 a.m. I was fully prepared to have spent my $29.99 + S&H in vain on some gimmicky, as-seen-on-TV product but I'm now a believer. True, I'm sure it cost about $4 to make and package the thing but whoever came up with (and then actually manufactured and made available) this thing deserves the mark-up and then some! It's basically a piece of PVC pipe through a rubber band. You hook up your vacuum cleaner hose and it creates a seal and pulls cool air through the fiberglass and cotton lining drying out the cast from the dampness of the day and cooling and relieving the skin. You tell me it wasn't worth the money....

We have ourselves one happy customer here (well, 3)!

We put the Pat Benatar headband on her to block out some of the vacuum noise (she wasn't very fond of the vacuum B.C.) but she doesn't even mind that now! I have to say that this next picture is in here purely because it looks EXACTLY like my oldest sister, Kara! (It's easier to look at with her face right side up but I can't figure out how to rotate it at this point.)

"They" all say that cast stench is inevitable especially with a spica. I've been DREADING this part! Molly's pee already is already a bit potent because of her urological issues and the daily antibiotic she's been on since birth. (This may be TMI but it smells like pretzels.) They also say to dry the cast with a hairdryer on a cool setting for ABOUT AN HOUR twice a day!!! Oh okay, I'll get right on that in my spare time between 20 minute diaper changes, changing out her moleskin, constant repositioning...I could go on. I knew there would come a time when the cast would get wet but I didn't expect it the first night in the hospital. Molly woke up with a pool of sweat on the pillow her body was on and I just couldn't wait to get home and try out our gadget. It dries things out in about 3-5 minutes! Sure it won't keep things powder fresh for 6 weeks but it certainly will help!

On to solving the eating dilemma...

While it certainly is a beautiful thing to have her right leg somewhat free it makes for a tricky balancing act! She always ends up tipping to one side no matter how we pad. Although, in the picture above I think she's just mad about the 80's do:) Moving the striped pad under her legs seemed to do the trick though...

So that's her set up for eating. We pull up a TV tray for her finger foods which kinda works...kinda. I think we're gonna try to fashion a spica table for her this weekend...maybe.

Yesterday was a great day (today not so much:) and Molly even managed some push ups!

She was excited that we were excited and she'd take little breaks to clap for herself.

We've found that she really enjoys playing on her tummy so we tried that again tonight. She spent so much time taking each piece of produce out of the basket that MiMi and Pop gave her and laying them to the side. It was really sweet to watch and took her twice as much time as it would have but she worked hard til it was all done.