Matthew’s cast comes off on Wednesday

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

PEARL RIVER, La. (Monday, Aug. 24, 2009, 6 a.m.) – Wednesday is the big day – Matthew has his full leg cast removed.

As you may remember, I took a day off from work two weeks ago to take Matthew to the Children's Hospital in New Orleans to have his first cast removed. After our doctor examined Matthew, he decided to try a second cast to further help my son's club foot.

I wasn't particularly excited about it. And I know Matthew wasn't, either. But he has been an incredibly good sport. And now, hopefully, he will be able to trade in the cast for a brace to wear at night. We'll see. And I'll post a follow up on Wednesday night.

This time, Pam is taking Matthew. I might try to meet them at the doctor, but I may not be able to.

Copyright 2009 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.

Cooling off with a New Orleans snowball

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

NEW ORLEANS (Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009, 10:30 p.m.) – The line snaked through the small store, out the double doors and around the corner from Tchoupitoulas Street in Uptown New Orleans, with some folks waiting 30 minutes or longer – all for a snowball.

Well, let me rephrase that: A snowball from Hansen's Sno-Bliz, probably the best snowball stand in metro New Orleans. This isn't just shaved ice. This is a snowball made with fine ice the texture of powdery snow, perfect for use with Hansen's homemade syrups.

I remember visiting Hansen's as a child when my family lived a few blocks away on Jena Street, just off Magazine Street and Napoleon Avenue. My mother used to take me and my sister for a snowball during New Orleans' often cruel, stiflingly hot summers.

On Sunday, I did the same thing for my two children. With my mother joining me on the trip – Pam wasn't feeling very well and stayed home in Pearl River – I packed Camryn and Matthew into my car and trekked across the lake to New Orleans.

Our original plan was to visit the Audubon Zoological Gardens. But after getting off to a late start (we left home about 1:30 p.m.) and seeing the vast crowds at the zoo, we decided to wait until later in the year despite incredibly nice weather for August (temps in the mid-80s and humidity at 50 percent.

So we drove through Uptown, stopped at Hansen's and bought a snowball. I had Cream of Nectar, my mother had Cream of Chocolate and Camryn had Cream of Strawberry. They were very good. Camryn made it through half of hers, letting Matthew take the rest. Matthew also ate most of mine.

After the Hansen's visit, we headed down to the French Quarter and the Flea Market. After finding a parking spot for $5, we unpacked the two strollers, transferred the children from the car to the strollers and then spent a couple of hours walking through the Quarter.

All in all – a nice Sunday.

Copyright 2009 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.

One cast comes off, another one goes on

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

PEARL RIVER, La. (Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2009, 6:44 p.m.) – Mathew and I are back home this evening facing another two weeks in a full leg cast – part of the Ponseti Method our orthopedic specialist prescribed to help avoid surgery to correct our son’s club foot.

Matthew’s new fiberglass cast is, like the last one, a full leg cast. But besides being Rebel Red (the first cast was blue), this one he received today at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans is not bent as severely at the knee and Matthew likely will be able to walk with it.

The cast slightly turns Matthew’s foot to the right and stretches the tendon in his heel. His doctor said results from the first cast were good, possibly enough for Matthew to avoid tendon surgery that is sometimes needed to correct a club foot.

Let me pause for a minute to say this: Pam and I are fortunate that Matthew’s adoption agency in Xingxang, China, were able to send him to Beijing for treatment of his club foot. Without that early intervention, there’s no telling how much more work Matthew would need.

At any rate, Matthew faces two more weeks in a cast.

After that – and assuming there are no more casts – Matthew probably will have a foot brace to wear at night. Our doctor says new braces are available that area easier to wear, more comfortable for children and will make it tougher for them to remove in the middle of the night.

We’ll see how this works out. Meanwhile, below is a slide show of photos from today’s cast removal and new casting. While you won’t hear the blood curdling screams I heard, you will be able to imagine how traumatic something like this is for a 2-year-old.


Copyright 2009 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.

Camryn marks first day at new school

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

PEARL RIVER, La. (Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009, 8:40 p.m.) -- Camryn enjoyed her first day at school today at St. Margaret Mary Catholic School in Slidell. I'd call it Big Girl School, but that sounds so corny. I will say it was her first time at pre-kindergarten.

Pam has a job at St. Margaret Mary teaching kindergarten, so she was nearby for support.

Anyway, I stopped by first thing this morning and snapped a few photos to document the occasion. I also threw in a few extras of Matthew, including one of him in his cast (which will be removed on Wednesday). Below is a slide show of the photos. Don't forget: Click the photos and you'll jump to a larger version.

Copyright 2009 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.

Weekends, like the one just ended, are entirely too short to spend enough time with your family

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

PEARL RIVER, LA. (Monday, Aug. 10, 2009, 6 a.m.) – Another weekend has ended and once again it was way too short.

My weekend saw my wife and I attend a new parents social at St. Margaret Mary Catholic School in Slidell where Pam met some of the parents whose children will be in her pre-K class and I met Camryn's pre-K teacher and other parents.

Despite my initial misgivings and concerns, I thought the event was nice and went over well. And I thought I did fairly well controlling my appetite – I ate a little of the pasta salad, ate some fruit, ate some cheese and drank a couple of Diet Cokes.

No beer or mixed drinks for me. I'm three weeks into a Weight Watchers diet, I've lost about seven pounds so far (well on my way to a goal of losing 50 pounds) and wasn't about to screw that up. My mother graciously offered to watch Camryn and Matthew at our house while we attended the social.

We were home by 10 p.m. – that was Friday.

On Saturday, I piled Pam, Camryn and Matthew into my Ford Fusion, took a ride in torrential rain, ate lunch at a so-so Mexican/Cuban restaurant in Covington, visited Pontchatoula and then returned home. It was a nice, uneventful outing – well, until I took Camryn with me to Best Buy and she insisted I buy her a Dora the Explorer movie (the one where she rescues a mermaid, I think).

Sunday was even less eventful: A trip to Rouses to buy groceries (no more Wal-Mart on Saturday for me) and a trip to my mother's house to fix her computer (a bad modem).

And now onto the new week. The big news: Matthew will have his full-leg cast removed on Wednesday. I have arranged to take a personal day from work on Wednesday and will take Matthew from Pearl River to the Children's Hospital in New Orleans for his cast removal.

This is an important procedure. If his casting went well, then it's possible he won't require surgery to permanently correct his club foot. It's also possible that Matthew may require a second cast on his leg, more than likely after he gets a short reprieve.

I hope and pray that the casting negates the need for surgery.

Matthew has weathered the cast amazingly well. While obviously uncomfortable for much of the past two weeks – and desperately wanting to get in the tub for a bath each night – our son has been a great sport. He obviously doesn't understand what's happening – hopefully he will appreciate it years down the road.

We took some great photos of the folks at Children's Hospital putting the cast on Matthew's leg. I plan to take more photos on Wednesday to document the removal. And then – if everything works out – I'll post a complete photo gallery-slide show of the entire process here at my blog.

Until then … have a great week.

Copyright 2009 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.