WET CAST

#27 - WET CAST



After I had fell down in the kitchen the doctors had to operate on my leg as soon as the ambulance dropped me off at the Children's Medical Center,  they were successful putting  the bone back where it went.  I had to wear a cast on my foot that had came up  below my kneecap and let me tell you that one of the worst places to have a cast is on your foot, not only did  the cast  get in the way but  I always seemed to itch like crazy.  I also had a wound from the surgery that had been heeling up and that had only added to my itching misery.  I had been told by my mom that I had no longer been able to stay home alone during that time period.  She had been getting a lot of painting jobs from our land lord/slum lord and I had thought that it had been so boring sitting at a dirty apartment while I had waited for my mom to run out of paint or call it a day.  Some times my little sister and I would play cards or start the never -ending task of trying to arrange my baseball cards, I still have memories of finding the occasional cockroach or spider choosing to be in the spot where we had set up shop with the cards.  I WOULD OF COURSE SCREAM AND TRY TO GET UP AND WALK AWAY LIKE A LITTLE GIRL.  I had never been surprised by the bad shape that the apartments had been in that our landlord had been trying to rent out.  NOW THAT I AM OLDER AND HAVE A BETTER SENSE OF HOW MUCH THINGS COST, OUR LANDLORD HAD BEEN A VERY BAD PERSON BY TRYING TO MAKE A BUCK ON THOSE TRASHY HOLES.  My mom had just finished painting one day when it had started to pour out side and wouldn't you know,  we were  already outside I had worried about my walking cast getting wet.  MY DOCTORS HAD ALWAYS WARNED ME ABOUT NOT GETTING THE CAST WET AND MY MOM HAD ALWAYS MADE ME WEAR GARBAGE BAGS AROUND ALL MY CASTS WHEN I WAS  TAKEN A SHOWER.  I had stepped into a deep pot hole because the damn landlord had kept the drive ways in the same shape as the apartments.  I had really gotten that cast wet and had felt the water soak into the foot of my cast, if I had been able to wear a shoe on that foot I can only wonder on how wet I would have gotten the bottom of that cast.  When I had gotten back to the apartment my mom had taken the hairdryer to the bottom of the cast to try and dry it.  A few days later I had to go into the hospital because it was time to have the cast removed and unlike the numerous other cast that I  had taken off, this one had hurt as it had been stuck to my heel.  I remember how bad it had hurt as the plaster had seem to get stuck on my skin,I had been told right away that I must have gotten  the cast wet.  TODAY THE KIDS ARE LUCKY BECAUSE THERE ARE NOW CAST THAT CAN BE WORN WHILE YOU ARE SWIMMING IN A POOL, I HAVE SEEN A KID SWIMMING AND HAD WARNED HIM THAT IT WOULD HURT WHEN HE WENT AND HAD IT REMOVED.   HE HAD JUST LOOKED AT ME AS IF I HAD BEEN CRAZY AND  I HAD REALIZED THAT THE DAYS OF PLASTER CAST HAD BEEN A THING OF THE PAST.  So there I had been, Larry was trying to remove that cast and I had done my best not to ball me eyes out as the skin around my heel has been burning while being ripped off.  Have you ever had a cast removed?  There is a bunch of hair and dirt as well as bad odor and on that occasion, I have been glad to see that the incision scab had been healing up nicely.  EVEN TO THIS DAY, I AM GLAD TO ANNOUNCE THAT HAD BEEN THE  ONLY BURN THAT HAS EVER PIERCED THROUGH MY SKIN.