Casting for her prosthetic

 So we had a really nice weekend.  It started on Friday with Samantha getting her leg cast.  


This first picture is the 'skin' that will always go on first.  You can see from the shiny side that it has mineral oil infused.  They will trim it to the correct length, even with her prosthetic.


She will wear a sock over this layer and then put her leg into the socket.

 This next step shows a white wet sock over her first layer.  The prosthetist, Kim is marking with a special blue pencil all Sam's bones and the different characteristics of her leg.


She spent about 15 or 20 minutes just inching her way all over her limb and marking it all up.  This is an important step because the socket needs to be cast in a specific way so the majority of the work happens by the upper part of the limb - just below her knee.  They do not want a lot of  pressure on the bottom.   


Sam has additional considerations because at just the bottom of her leg the skin does not have any feeling.  It is part of the skin flap taken from her upper thigh from an earlier surgery.  Since she can't feel it - she has to check more often to make sure the socket works for that portion.
        
Kim then casted a special splint on the front of her shin.  This part - she carefully molded to capture all the contours of her leg.  She kept molding and smoothing - she is like an artist.


Below is the last step - she uses the same material as if you had to cast a broken arm or leg.  Kim moved along very deliberately - she has been doing this for 20 some years.   


Every time Samantha gets a new leg - she will go thru this process.  They warned that the limb changes a lot this first year.  She will probably cast again in about 9 months.

So here is the end product.  She just pulled it right off her leg.  You can see the blue markings on the inside.  


From here - Kim will make a negative casting and then heat a special white plastic for the first socket.  This first socket is thinner and can be molded easily in the office.  


She can see Samantha's leg and will make note of the areas that may be getting too much pressure. 


They took Samantha's height and weight and asked her what sort of activity level she wants to have.  Then they ordered her foot and the rod part of the leg.


We go back on Thursday for Sam to try on the socket and walk for the first time.  After a week of walking in the test socket - Kim will make a permanent one - pretty much indestructible they tell us.  She will start PT the following Monday.   She needs to work up to wearing the prosthetic all day - at first it will just be for an hour or so at a time.


Needless to say Samantha has been pretty happy all weekend.  Saturday she went out to get her nails done with a friend and Sunday she spent the day with her Dad.


Saturday morning, Isabella ran in her second 5K and bested her last time by 5 minutes.  She ran the 5k in 37 minutes and came in 5th for her age group (12 and under).  After the race they had an Easter egg hunt and potato sack race.  

Daniel surprised us by showing up Saturday afternoon and stayed overnight.  It was wonderful to hang out with my boy for a while.  He seems to be doing great - he is getting ready for gardening season and looking for a place for Jennie and himself that is close to work and school.

He had to go back to Fort Collins Sunday afternoon but he will be back next weekend.  Isabella loved spending some time with him - last time he didn't get to stay long and she was disappointed.

It is getting late and so I will be signing off.  Another day another dollar - until next time  - love to everyone!