Today is Friday and I’m excited because today I’m starting some treatment that it’s hoped will loosen up my ankles and make the new splints that I will be having made very soon rub my feet less.
It’s a process called Serial Casting. I had it done a few times when I was a child to relieve some of the tightness in my ankles and it worked really well. I haven’t had it done since I was about 12, but we’ve been debating doing another round for a while.
Basically, what happens is, my lower legs and feet get put into some light-weight pots. Because they’re so light, I can still do all the things I would normally, I just have to be careful not to get them wet. After a week, the casts come off, the effectiveness so far gets tested, and then another set of casts go on. This process gets repeated for around three or four weeks, depending on how well it goes.
The difference is that this time, I’ll be getting cast for those new ankle splints and spring splints in between the penultimate set coming off me and the final set going on, while we can get my foot into a (hopefully) improved position when the splints get made.
In the past, it’s fair to say that I’ve had a few problems with splints rubbing me and causing me blisters, but the idea is that making my ankle muscles less tight will help to combat this problem.
I’ve had this done before, and even though I know it’s nothing to be afraid of I’m still a bit nervous. Things should be much easier for me this time around now that we have a walk in shower at home, and I’ve invested in some waterproof cast covers too, neither of which I had as a kid. I haven’t used the latter before so let’s hope they work! I’m told that they work fine in the shower (but maybe I’ll get mum the first time) so I’m hoping that they will also mean that I can go out in light rain too.
Obviously, I’ll keep you all updated throughout the process.
My inner child is still hoping that they’ll let me choose what colour I want. They’ll most probably be getting scribbled on regardless…
Have a good weekend folks.