CIT Week 3 Recap – And The Cast Is OFF!

Week 3 of the casting went great as it almost started to seem normal for Ryder to have a cast on his arm.  He was doing so much with Lefty that his limitations seemed less and less.  Towards the end of the week, the cast had loosened up some and his fingers were sticking out a little further than they probably should have been.  So we started noticing him trying things with Righty first, then moving on to Lefty when Ryder couldn’t do what he needed.  At first I was concerned, but since he almost always had to follow up by using and succeeding with Lefty I realized that was probably really good for his brain to send the same signals to each side of his body and have both arms trying the same thing.  Hopefully now that the cast is off he will remember that both hands are capable of doing things, not just righty!  Not many pictures from week 3, just a few of him playing basketball at therapy:

 

 

Challenges:

• Pincer grasp
• Using fingers independently
• Supination

Accomplishments:

• Reaching across his body with Lefty to grab something
• Aiming and picking things up on the first try
• Gaining strength and coordination
• Opening his hand flat
• Picking up round objects

So today he got the cast off!  This was very exciting, even Ryder said “I so essiiitteedd!!”  When Abby came to get him out of the waiting room he said in a very demanding tone “Abby, get your tool and take dis blue sword fight off!”  I was nervous how he would react to the sword cutting it off, but he thought the tool was pretty neat so he just sat and watched and when she was done he said “Stanks Miss Abby!”  Stanks = Thanks, but in this case I thought his word was pretty appropriate because his arm STANK!  For real! 

As soon as he got his cast off I handed him his drink, which he took from me with LEFTY and then held on with both hands to drink.  We were shocked, so this was a good way to start things off!

For the rest of the evening I’ve noticed him with something in each hand pretty often:

 

Other than that he has pretty much been walking around with his right arm raised high all night, for whatever reason, I think he’s just happy to have it back!

Some things have gone back to normal, his arm isn’t as loose as it was and he is definitely using righty as his dominant hand, but both of those were to be expected.  Some good things that have gone back to normal are long sleeved pajamas!  Being able to wear a jacket!  And a normal bath where we didn’t have to stress about the cast getting wet! 

Ryder is in the best mood ever tonight, I’m sure this whole ordeal was a little rough on him, but he’s just so resilient and always bounces back.  What a strong little boy he is.  We’ll see how the weekend progresses and make a final decision next week about doing another round or not.  For now, we’re just enjoying righty’s freedom!