Casts were so COOL. Everybody signed them, and everybody was your friend and wanted to carry your books and stuff. Also, you could hit people with a cast and pretend it was an accident. That was when casts were white. Later, casts were still cool because you got to pick a color, and hey, people still carried your books for you and wanted to be seen being nice to the temporarily crippled person (much cooler than the actually crippled kids they warehoused out in the science wing.) Cruelly, I never broke a bone as a child. Never got stitches, either, another thing that was cool when you were a kid.
Let me tell you, if you were thinking casts were kinda cool. Casts SUCK. I’ve had this son of a bitch for eight hours now and every minute I have wanted to chew my leg off. I got down on the floor just now to hit a button on the TV and it took me a good five minutes to get back up. I had to crawl back over to the couch. My leg is claustrophobic. It’s June in South Carolina, too, so how the hell do you think that thing is going to smell in two weeks when I go back there to see how it’s healing? Also, how the hell is this a soft cast? It doesn’t feel particularly soft to me! I didn’t know until I got home and into my pajamas if I could even take my motherfucking pants off. (Luckily, yes.) I lurch around this place like Igor with a deadline. Oh, and nobody seems to mind ordering me all around the library, either. The only person who apologized for making me lurch back and forth around the microfilm readers and get down on the floor was a lady in a wheelchair, so now I feel even more embarassed.
I saw this t-shirt today at work which says “What happens in the litterbox, stays in the litterbox” and I thought of you. The t-shirt isn’t technically for sale yet, but will be soon.
I’m sorry you need a cast. I’ve had one–on my arm–I know how much fun they are. I’ve presently got a smushed toe, but I think that will heal without a visit to the doctor, as long as I can keep from smushing it again (I’m doing so well at that, too).
Is there a thread somewhere explaining why you need this cast? Heal quickly.
I fractured my wrist when I was I think 7 years old; I got a black and red Chicago Bulls cast on my left arm, which I thought was the coolest thing in the world. It was definitely considered cool to have a cast when I was that age, partially because of the sheer novelty value of it. I also remember being in awe of the little circular saw the doctor used to cut off the cast when my wrist healed, which sawed through the cast but didn’t cut my skin. The doctor put the spinning blade right against my good arm to reassure me that it wouldn’t hurt me.
I broke my shin when I was 10, and had a cast from my crotch to my toes for a couple of months. The first days really are the worst - you’ll get used to the beast in a few days. My mother opened up the seams on a few pairs of pants and sewed some pieces of elastic in there, so I could get my pants on and off over that big hunk of plaster (no soft casts in 1963).
It certainly did increase my visibility quotient at school, especially since my (male) 5th grade teacher carried me up and down the stairs for a week or two, until I got good with the crutches, with my highly entertained classmates following behind to watch the spectacle.
The tough part of it was the muscle atrophy that took place during those two months. That leg was visibly shrunken when the cast came off. My teacher was also the swim team coach, however, so once the cast came off, he dragged me into their practices, and the leg recovered its muscles pretty quickly.
(Interesting tidbit - the teacher in question was the father of swimmer Rick Carey, who took a few gold medals in the 1984 Olympics).
I kind of wished I had one because it felt like I was the only kid who never had anything–no sprains, broken bones, no bee stings, nosebleeds, nothing. Too careful was I, I suppose. I think I’m grateful now. Not being able to type as easily or go for a run sound awful.
I don’t know if they still make them with cotton liners, but if so… Use MASSIVE amounts of duct tape to keep that cursed thing sealed off before taking it into the shower, and STILL do not tempt fate - keep it DRY (or as dry as you can - sweat happens).
I got mine wet, accidently, once. Memorable. But not in a good way.
Isn’t it odd what lots people seemed to want as kids? Braces, glasses, casts. I remember we used to make headgear out of pipe cleaners and casts out of wet toilet paper. I guess it was an attention thing.
2 broken arms, at the same time mind you, when I was in 5th grade. The case on the right arm was up to just below the elbow and I only had to wear it for 3 weeks. The left are was up past the elbow and was on for 6 weeks. I did not go to school for the 3 weeks both were in casts, since I couldn’t write at all. I also couldn’t do a few other things, like change my clothes or go to the bathroom.
The single cast on my right hand a couple of years later was much easier to handle.
When I was a kid, I wanted a cast, too. Or a wheelchair, a guide dog, or some bulky '90s hearing aids. And I never got one, either; I had to live vicariously through my stuffed animals with splints and taped casts, my paraplegic dolls, my consumptive Barbie. I was especially interested by Stephen Hawking and the disabled kids on Mr. Rogers. For some reason I thought that relying on conspicuous technology and getting loads of sympathy all the time would be a good thing.
Now I live in fear of an event of cosmic irony. (But only since you mentioned the whole cast thing.)
I forgot - posted one on Domebo but not here. I did post here about my torn tendon - well, I got the MRI and went back to the doctor today expecting to be told I could start running again and take the brace off. We were just there to look at the tendon. He got a very funny look on his face and tells me I’m a medical mystery - I have a stress fracture of the fibula that you’re supposed to get with a twisting injury, only I got mine not doing anything at all. Had a totally normal run, no bad turns off curbs, no twisted ankle in the gutter, nothing. No pain during or after. Laid around the house the rest of the day. That evening, it started to feel bruised on the outside. By that night, it hurt to walk on it. No precipitating event at all.
Which makes me kind of worry, frankly.
But it doesn’t even hurt where the stress fracture is - it hurts at that tendon, and I can feel exactly where the tendon has a little tear - makes sense. I’ve seen the fracture of the leg bone and it makes no sense to me at all - it doesn’t hurt there. Where it does hurt is all fucking over because of this stupid cast.
ETA - By the way, all that sympathy I was jealous of? It sucks too. I got tired of it back when I still had an Ace bandage on my ankle, before the brace and definitely before the cast. I got so damned sick and tired of explaining to people what was wrong with me, especially because I felt I had to elaborate since it didn’t have a really obvious cause, etc., etc., etc. Now people are going to see me lurching around and think I’m mentally retarded or something to go with it.
I didn’t want a cast, but I wanted crutches. Crutches were cool, because you could swing on them and whack people with them and stuff. When we’d go to my cousin’s house, I used to play with my aunt’s old crutches (from when she broke her hip) that were out in the garage.
I also wanted glasses, because both of my parents had them. (I didn’t get them until I was sixteen)
I’m almost 42 and I still haven’t had a cast or stitches. The last two surgeries left deep incisions which had to heal from the inside out, so no stitches. I still feel left out. No, not really. I had crutches once, but only used them for a day. My arms were killing me. I preferred to limp around than use those stupid things again.
Nowadays I fervently hope I can get through the rest of my life without casts or stitches. Just watch, Irony will drive a big bus over me tomorrow and I’ll be in traction for a month.
Just in case you wanted crutches - Crutches suck hardcore, too.
They’re fun for about 3 minutes, but when you have to hobble out of the house, down the street, onto the bus, off the bus, to class, and back, it’s quite a lengthy ordeal. I was lucky enough to only require the use of crutches for a week (I could walk on the cast after).
But yes indeedy, leg casts are annoying, especially when showering… near the end, I only showered once every thee days. I’m a naturally clean guy, and I didn’t get up to much physical activity while in a cast, so that helped.
Longest 4-6 weeks of your life, guaranteed, but I will say this: The day you get them off, your life will proceed at rocket speed. When I got my cast off, I was happy… then 4 weeks flew by and I missed my follow-up appointment.
Never mind the others; I’ll tell you about the one I had when I was 17. i had broken my hand, and the doctor figured the best thing was to immobilize my right hand and my arm up to the elbow. I’m right-handed and this sucks, how can I make something out of this?
I decided to bet against my pals. “I bet I can lay a lit cigarette in the palm of my hand for as long as you like,” I bet them. They took the bet–and I laid their lit cigarettes in the plaster-covered palm of my right hand, and waited.
Your problem, Zsofia, is that you waited too long.
Chalk up another one for the wished to have/be cast/wheelchair/blind crew.
Speaking as someone who had braces and headgear and retainers… UGH. UGH. UGH. Imagine a pair of pliers attached to every tooth, with a person swinging off of each one, putting their full weight on it. *That *is what having braces is like.
I broke my finger when I was a kid. The doctor put a metal splint on it. Two days later, all my little pals had popsicle sticks taped to their fingers.
My husband had a broken leg at the same time I had a broken hand. We nearly clubbed each other to death in our sleep!
Sorry about your trauma. Sucks to be in a cast in the summertime.
And yeah, they aren’t cool. I had one when I was 6 (broken arm). It was heavy (this was pre-fiberglass), and it got smelly, and it itched, and I honestly don’t remember what I did bathing-wise (guess Mom helped me). I remember having to have it redone at least once because some parts had gotten mushy. I don’t believe I thought it was cool even then.
Now now, you’re missing the best aspect of crutches: the armpit cushion thing at the top. You could take them off, give one to a friend, and have hours of fun beating the crap out of each other with them.
'Course, the fact that you’re on crutches puts you at a disadvantage, but hey, overcoming obstacles is what 8th grade is all about.
Care to guess how my 8th grade class ski trip went?
No, not really. I had crutches once, but only used them for a day. My arms were killing me. I preferred to limp around than use those stupid things again.