Making Cav's legs

I thought waiting parents or those who are having their first prosthetic legs made would be interested in seeing the process of how they cast to make Cav's new prosthetic legs.

Wrap the prosthetic in saran wrap (I keep telling him NOT to buy the cheap stuff LOL!)

Cover the stump with a stocking and then climb a belt around the waist to keep it up

They use an awesome pen they soak in water to write on the stocking.  It transfers to the inside of the cast.  THey mark anatomical landmarks and a guide to which they measure.

 See the circle with the X on the left - because Cav stood on his Fibula he developed a thicker head on the bone which sticks out.  They know by this mark that the indent is bone.

They measure with calipers to help us keep track of how he is growing,

 Because Cav has the lower part of one leg he also has more growth plates.  We had noticed he looked like he was looking like he was almost dislocating a hip when he walked.  Yeah, duh, his longer leg had out grown the shorter by 3/8 of an inch LOL!  They will accomodate for this on his new leg.

THey use the old plaster casts to wrap the leg and make the mold.

We had thought they could jsut slip the cast off because Cav's calf had shrunk, we did not figure in the bit of a ridge he has at the back where they added on his heel ~ so cutting was in order lOL!

Finally, got it off and a quick clean up!

Both plaster casts finished.

They are rushing (story of our life) his new sockets because he is wearing on his scar and it keeps opening up ~ so we go back in a week for the test sockets, x-rays and have our ortho check everything out.

*** THank Stacia - forgot this part LOL!**  Those looking at files with kids who might become amputees don't fret.  Cav is NOT normal in his need for new legs already.  He received his first legs the beginning of Sept and then a new knee about 6 weeks later.  Now he is receiving new sockets jsut 4 months from the time his first pair were made.  MOST kids need their first sockets in 6-8 months due to shrinkage NOT growth and then about every year.  HOWEVER, if you remember Cav had severe and chronic Giardia when we got him, plus severe malnutrition (I jsut came across a picture that reminded me of the holocaust ugh).  We have worked very hard with medication and then homeopathic to get his gut to a normal status.  I believe the need for new legs jsut 4 months after the first is due to his gut finally normalizing enough so his body can absorb some of his food - along with his little hoarding binge during Oct-Dec.  The boy finally has a little meat on his bones and some of that weight went into his thighs.  Because he is considered weight bearing on both legs (basically he stands IN his prosthetics) they have to fit within millimeters (the width of the socks) so they can't handle such drastic growth.  Again Mr Terry said he had never seen a kid grow out of his prosthetics like Cav had ~ of course not LOL!

We are fortunate that our insurance is good and we are hoping that they will cover these legs minus our yearly deductible (duh that wasn't good planning on our part but luckily we have 2-3 surgeries this year so it'll be ok.)

We are ONLY replacing the sockets so they will take apart his old legs and reuse the knee (that is only 3 months old) and feet etc.