Lots of people have asked me how the plasters get put on Isla's legs, so today I took some snaps of the process. Michael, Isla's physio, explained everything to me, including giving me all the technical names for everything, but it's been a long day and I cannot remember any of it!!

Okay, here we go...
Step 1 - long cotton sock that goes from the toes to the knee. It's a long tube with no seams.



















Step 2 - "toe socks" as Michael calls them, bits of this woolly/cottony stuff wrapped around her toes to keep them separated. This is removed after the plaster is finished.



















Step 3 - Wrapping the foot and leg with the woolly stuff for a bit of padding.



















Step 4 - foam (??) type padding that sticks across the top of the foot (where it joins the leg, very technical, I know!) and another along the achilles tendon to prevent any pressure spots. Another foam (padded) strip across the top of the woolly stuff.














Step 5 - Wrapping the foot in the old style plaster bandages (Gypsona I think)














Step 6 - Michael goes around her foot and reinforces it with some more slabs of plaster underneath, then folds the cotton sock over the top.














Step 7 - Reinforcing the foot of the plaster with a "backslab" of fibreglass. Michael made sure Isla had purple for this weeks cast, bless him.














Step 8 - Wrapping the fibreglass plaster around the foot and up the leg.














Voila! A perfectly plastered right leg :)


Isla responded really well to last weeks plaster, Michael was very happy. He said her range went from -5 degrees to +5 degrees which is awesome. This plaster should be the last lot for now, then she'll go back into her AFO's. Botox Clinic is in a month and a bit, so I'm hoping Isla really improves in the mean time. I feel so mean putting her in her long socks and AFO's in this stinking hot weather, but I don't really have a choice.

We were a bit concerned how Isla would react to the plaster saw to remove the cast, but she was so very brave. Michael told her it was just a noisy tickle saw, and she seemed happy with that. She did say that it was hurting at one point, but it had only gone through the plaster and not touched her, I think she meant more the way her leg was being held. Hopefully she'll be as good next week having this one removed!