Zack had an appointment with the orthopedist on Monday to have his arm cast removed. However, when we first had the cast put on, the doctor told us that many people simply remove it themselves after six weeks. He said it’s possible to use tin snips or some other sturdy sort of scissors, although he’d heard of people using power tools and he didn’t recommend that approach. I can’t even picture what sort of power tool you’d apply to an arm cast– a very careful application of a circular saw? Yikes.
Anyway, tonight at dinner we were talking about this appointment and how it would save us $75 (thanks, Obamacare!) if we just took care of the cast ourselves. How hard could it be?
We finished dinner and Laralee went to the garage to grab our pruning shears. Of course she sterilized them in boiling water for five minutes before using them in this delicate surgical manner. No, wait, she didn’t, although I think she might have at least picked out a few of the remnants of twigs stuck in the blade.
It took a bit of work, and after about fifteen minutes she’d gone the length of the cast and was ready for the final cut.
Zack was pretty happy to see his arm again.
We weren’t too thrilled to smell his arm, though. Throughout these six weeks, he had to shower with a plastic bag over his arm, which means six weeks of sweat and grime had accumulated under this cast. It smelled like a high school locker room after two-a-day football practice in July. Holy cow. The inside of the cast could probably have been part of a science experiment.
He says his wrist feels “a little funny” but we keep assuring him it’s because he hasn’t flexed those muscles in over a month. By tomorrow all should be well again. And hey, it didn’t cost us 75 clams.