Das Boot

... we have a doctor's appointment next week. I'm pretty sure Callahan will get permission to lose the boot and return to his shoe. Not that he hasn't been doing that withOUT permission lately! A couple weeks ago, he asked if he could wear a regular shoe to church~ I said ok, figuring there wouldn't be much running and jumping going on there.  Then he asked if he could wear a shoe just while practicing free throws. He said the boot was throwing him off. And of course he didn't want to wear the boot during team pictures. At home, he'd take the boot off, and  it was too much work to put it back on just to walk to the fridge, or the bathroom ... or down the stairs. Often, the boot has been off more than on.

This is actually Callahan's FOURTH  boot. That little white oval thing? It's a button you push to pump air into a bladder to make the boot conform to the leg better. Callahan blew out the first bladder after a couple of weeks (this was back in September/October, after the first break). The boot did have a warranty, so the company replaced it. Callahan wore that boot for many weeks, even walked all over Disneyland with it. When we got back ... the bladder busted again. This was just a few days before he got the doctor's ok to return to shoe use, so we didn't really worry about it. But then ... another broken foot! We tried going back to the boot (wanted to save a little $$ instead of investing in a new one). We tried using padding and adjusting it to make it fit. It just wasn't working (I wondered if any of it had to do with it having been worn on the right foot initially, and this new break was on the left foot). I went ahead and ordered a new boot (different brand) off Amazon (did you know there are all sorts of medical equipment being sold on there? The boot was very similar, and cost about $35, quite a bit less than the $300 boot through the orthopedic office. Ankle brace from the doctor's office? $100. Ankle brace off Amazon ... $18).  As the original boot WAS still actually under warranty though (it had only been four months since the first  break), they did replace it again ... so now we have TWO working boots, but I still so often find neither one on Callahan's broken foot!

While it's nice to have a brace be removable for showers and such ... but it has it's problems too, because the kid CAN remove it. A cast would probably stay put a little bit more!

Cross your fingers for Callahan ... hopefully we'll get a go ahead from the doctor to give the boot the boot then and NO MORE injuries! I mean it!