1/19/1001
- I just wanted everybody to know that I'm still in that LAC from December 1st
(I started this adventure November 30th). It's dirty and wiggly and covered with
graffiti and I'm enjoying living with it most of the time. I'm reluctant
to change it, 
even
though my "doctor" approved a change, because it happens to be a
perfect cast. I honestly can't find anything
wrong with it. The padding is perfect, even around the thumb. The
thickness is perfect. The angle of the elbow is
perfect.
In fact, I can't find anything to complain about. I would prefer that the
snug feeling of a new cast was still with me, but I think staying with the
"known" is better than chasing the "unknown".
1/5/2001 - Well, since the last update, I've removed that yellow long arm
cast and replaced it with a Glow-in-the-dark short arm cast. I wore the
SAC through New Years and then, on the evening of January 1st something interesting
happened. We were putting our kids to bed, I was relaxing on the floor of
the kid's bedroom (hard wood floor) and my wife beckoned for me to come closer
to the bed. When I didn't respond right away, she came over, grabbed me by
my cast and dragged me across the room. Naturally, I made a huge
fuss..."Nice move Einstein!" "What were you thinking?"
"Are you nuts?" "Now I've lost all the progress I've made in the
past month!" and other similar ranting.
She felt terrible and kept apologizing and asking how my wrist felt.
Now, understand something...I was in a SAC because I had grown weary of being
LAC'd all the time and was drawing this adventure to a close, but I wasn't quite
ready to give it up completely. Now, suddenly, my wife had breathed new
life into the scenario. The next day, when she asked again how it felt, I
answered, "it hurts, I may have to go back into a Long arm cast
again." To my surprise, she answered, "I'm really sorry I pulled
you like that, but I think you're right, you probably should."
I was flabbergasted, I can't remember my wife EVER encouraging me to wear a
cast and she's always hated the LAC's, commenting that they are so big and such
an overkill for a hurt wrist (remember that my wife worked as an ER nurse for 13
years until about 3 years ago.)
Now she was ENCOURAGING me to wear a LAC!
Well, I just couldn't pass this up. I went to my cave, put on another
Glow-in-the-dark LAC and went to bed. Now, this cast is my all time
best. 
I did something new that I recently thought of. It has to do
with pulling back the stockinette around the thumb and holding it in place with
the casting tape. It's the same technique that we use for the two ends of
the cast (by the fingers and the armpit), only this time around the thumb.
Usually, I just let the cast padding stick out, but I had been experimenting
with this technique and liked it, so I tried it on this cast and find the
results quite satisfactory. I also, finally, managed to get a true right
angle at the elbow. I usually miss slightly and don't notice until the
cast has set. So, all in all, this cast is a keeper.
The next morning as I was getting ready for work, my wife did something she
NEVER does...she asked, "how does your wrist feel?"
A little surprised and pleased, I
answered, "not bad."
Then she asked, "so, how does the
long arm cast feel?"
That really got my attention. I
said, "it feels good, it's serving its purpose."
"So it's comfortable?"
"Uh huh."
That's when she DROPPED THE PROVERBIAL
BOMBSHELL on me.
She said, "good, because I think
you should wear this cast until the pain stops and then for three weeks longer,
but to the end of the month at the very least."
I was floored. I never expected
this. I said, "that means, as of right now, there's no end in
site."
She shrugged, nodded and said,
"you always take take the cast off too soon, then you hurt your wrist all
over again. You've said yourself that the proper treatment for an injury
is to wear the cast until it stops hurting and then another two weeks on top of
that. This time, I want you to go three weeks past the pain and be done
with this casting once and for all."
I just stared at her. She effectively
told me that this was going to be my last cast adventure for a long
time.
The next day, I really felt trapped in
my cast. If I take it off without her blessing, especially this early in
the game, I'm going to upset her very much. Also, I don't want to waste my
last long term adventure. But I've really never been COMPELLED to wear a
cast before, (other than my 1992 medical SAC) But a SAC is a cakewalk compared
to a LAC.
My mom came over last night and asked,
"so what's with your arm?"
I said, "talk to Jo, she's in
charge of my arm now."
Jo told her the same thing and stated unequivocally,
"I want him to wear this cast until the end of the month at least."
So there it was. My fate was
sealed, my sentence declared. I WILL be in this long arm cast for four
full weeks from today. I honestly don't know if I can make it. It's
already making me crazy with the restriction and the itching.
Wish me luck friends, and tell me
something...Is this a dream or a nightmare?
FGR
The irony of long-term cast adventures
Tue Dec 26 05:52:55 2000
So, you get the idea to do a long-term cast adventure. You plan for weeks, even
months, all the details. You decide what limb will have the pleasure of not
participating in your life for the duration. You settle on a period of
time...anything from a couple of weeks to, oh, say, seven months (Bob). You
choose a color and, most importantly, you come up with a plausible story to
offer to those kind enough to ask you what happened.
The day finally comes. You go to your cave and fill the sink with lukewarm
water. You bid a fond farewell to the lucky arm or leg, pull up the stockinette,
wrap the cast padding, take a deep breath, tear open the packaging of the
casting tape and mutter "well, here goes nothing."
A few minutes later, it's done. You've smoothed and caressed it until all
pliability was rubbed out of it. You look at it lovingly, maybe hold it up to a
mirror to make sure it came out better than any doctor could do. You quickly
cleanup the empty wrappers, destroying any evidence of the deed (you've made it
this far without anybody seeing you), instinct forces you to sneakily finish the
cleanup, even if there's no chance anyone would find you anyway.
That done, you relax. You take another look at your new cast. You wiggle your
wrist or ankle to see how it feels. The cast is solid now...you feel no give.
Now you physically and emotionally settle into the role you've thrust upon
yourself. Your adventure has begun.
You spend the next three weeks or so living your life, telling your story, even
believing it at times. The cast begins to get dirty, the trapped limp begins to
assert itself in the only way left to it...it smells. The odor is there. Nobody
says anything though. Even if others are smelling it, they wouldn't be so rude
as to mention it. What could you do anyway? What would be the point? It's not
like you can change the cast yourself.
But you have a secret...You know the truth. So, you embellish your well used
story and add a reason for your having a new cast. Maybe a long leg cast becomes
a short leg cast, or a long arm cast becomes a short arm cast, maybe not. You
wash that smelly old limb and get it right back into its prison.
While the limb was temporarily set free, you moved it around and used it like
you did before your cast adventure began. Only things aren't quite as they
should be. There's pain where once the wasn't. You wonder briefly "why is
it hurting? There's nothing wrong with it...why does it hurt?" Of course,
you know the answer, it's atrophy. That word every caster knows from the very
beginning. Stiffness is common. You've done your research. You know it will pass
after the adventure is over. What has been said by our cast guru? That wise old
sage, the father of all casters, Bob Caster? One day of stiffness and pain
to every week casted? Yes, that was it. No problem, you can live with that.
And I, as the others among us have and will again.
In my current situation, this is what has transpired...I took my long arm cast
off for Christmas Eve because I have a pushy, nosy sister-in-law who happens to
be a Physician's assistant. My wife and I decided not to present the fact of my
self-casted "sprained" wrist to her. I would go uncasted, risk the
chance of losing healing progress (remember, I have an injury, that's part of my
secret cover story) and put a new cast on on Christmas day.
Well, I did all that, except I didn't put a new cast on until the morning after
Christmas day. During the 36 hours of freedom, I experienced more pain from
atrophy than any imagined sprain could give me. All I could think about
was getting back into the cast so the pain would stop.
The Irony is simply this...the pretend pain that I used as an excuse to cast,
eventually became a genuine reason to cast. The only problem is, it's not going
to go away if I wear a cast, it's only going to get worse. But when I told my
wife that my arm still hurt, she said something that made my heart miss a beat.
She said, "Ooohhh, so we're looking at the end of January."
I thought, "whoa, my chief adversary with the self-casting just gave me
five more weeks to be casted. Holy S---!"
I just put on a new cast. It's quite perfect and should be with me for at least
a couple of weeks.
Share with me the jubilation I feel at the way this adventure is working out.
FGR
12/21/2000 
- Okay, I made it 13 days in the cast I put on 12/9/2000. I went
skiing and enjoyed every minute of it. Then I decided that I wanted to
wash my hand. I took the cast off, washed my hand and put a new cast
on. I was uncasted for less than 10 minutes. The new cast is the
same level of quality, only it goes about 2 inches closer to my armpit and the
wrist is cocked-up slightly. It's also nice and snug again. I hate a
cast that has become loose and wiggly.
Well, I did 
a cast change. I posted a message on OAG's message board
and got lots of opinions on whether or not the community thought 
Most (but not all) of you will be happy to know that I've also
decided
The new cast is unbeatable. Oh I've done jobs this good before, but
never be
tter. The trick was to use the recommended 3 rolls of 4"
fibergla
Wish me enjoyment and I'll try to get some real life pictures while I'm away
instead of these poses
12/9/2000
I've been casted since Thursday, November 30, 2000.
The cast you see here is from Sunday, December 4, 2000. It's glow in the
dark. I'm stuck in it for at least 3 weeks.
I just found out today that I'm going on a trip to Smugglers Notch in Vermont next week for 3 fun filled days of skiing...IN A F---ING LONG ARM CAST!!!!!
This is going to be interesting.
Anyway, this recent development (the ski trip) has made me reflect on why the heck I endure the itching, the difficulty sleeping, the atrophy and sore muscles, the severe limitations on my mobility, typing and getting dressed, THE EXPENSE and all the other hassles that go with wearing a cast.
FGR
PS, I'll try to get more pictures and maybe I'll see some
casts while on vacation.
