Inside the Cast Shop

For those of you who have been following our progress with Jack's casts...I thought you might like to see inside the cast shop at HOPE Orthopedics. These pictures came from Jennifer...the awesome assistant who has been with us each week. You'll also see pictures of Mike hard at work on Jack's casts and Misty getting him all cleaned up. This past Friday (Feb 5) was the first time Paul has been able to slip away to join me for one of Jack's appointments.



Orange casts come off.....Misty cleans Jack up....and you can see a picture of his heel. Just the little puncture wounds from the tenotomy surgery.....and the BLACK casts go on!!









We made sure to get a family picture with Mike as last Friday was his last day. Congrats Mike on your retirement! We wish you all the best!!

Happy Birthday Elise!!

I can't believe my little girl is 7 years old! Where has the time gone? Paul and I were talking about Elise's birth this morning before we got up. Easiest delivery of all time!! Gotta love the epidural. And 30 hours after delivery, my teaching colleagues from Hayesville all showed up at 7am in my hospital room for our weekly Friday morning leadership meeting! (Am I dedicated or what?!?)

While the day was centered around Elise....Jack was the life of the party. He's now walking 3-4 steps on his own and he is loving his freedom. The casts are all fiberglass now and molded flat on the bottom. He looks a little bit like Frankenstein as he's walking with clunky flat feet, but it works.

Paul came to Jack's appointment on Friday and was a little disappointed and maybe even a tad discouraged by the progress. I kept telling him how great Jack's feet look when the casts came off and I think I may have tainted Paul's expectations. When the casts came off and Jack's little toes immediately turned inward, Paul was crestfallen. I reassured him and reminded him that we have come so far and we will get those feet where we need them to be, but its going to take time.

Again, we were overwhelmed by the personal touches from our friends in the cast shop at HOPE Orthopedics. Friday was Mike's last day before he retires...we will miss him immensely. His knowledge and expertise have been invaluable. Misty was a God-send on Friday as she willingly took Emerson and played with her so Mike could work without interruption. Jennifer stayed right with me and kept Jack occupied and entertained....and took pictures! Jenn's intuition is incredible....she knew immediately when Jack was going to need his binky and she dug it out of my purse before I could even ask for it!! We have been blessed, blessed, blessed. It would be sufficient for us to just get good medical care...but the Lord has seen fit to provide us with an extra measure of encouragement and support even from our visits to the cast shop. Praise God!!

Dr. Bob returns from Africa this week. Anxious (very anxious) to get his opinion on Jack's progress. We're still kind of in the dark about the long-term treatment plan....we just go from casting to casting, so I'd love to get some perspective from Bob on exactly where we will be heading. Thanks for praying! We can feel you!!