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Towards the end of August we started the process of getting Cade casted for his 5th set of prosthetics. He got them literally the day before his first day of preschool. We’re almost 3 months in now and I haven’t updated. Yikes. So sorry about that because these are by far the coolest set. He’s finally big enough for some fun technology which literally gives him some spring to his step.

Our team at Nextstep Bionics and Prosthetics in Newton, Ma are by far the greatest people on the planet. Not only are they friends but they are like dear family at this point. Both boys adore time at Nextstep. Mr. Arthur even purchased a big box of “diesel” trains so at every appointment this last time around Cade got to pick a train out. Well, and little brother too because Cade clearly needed a friend to race his train against. We’ve still got a train loving kid on our hands.

Like all fittings for legs at this age, Cade sits on Dad’s lap and Mr. Arthur, while Cade is wearing his liners, wraps them in celophane and then wraps them in casting strips that when hardened, make a cast of his leg up to above the knee. It’s messy but Cade finally knows the drill and patiently watches it all happen.

They pop off once they’re dry and those are used to make new “sockets”–the plastic shaft of the leg that has the foot attached that his liner ratchets in to. It’s on this socket that we get to add whatever print or material we’d like to jazz them up a bit. You can see these plastic sockets in the picture above.

Around the time of the first appointment I start looking for fabric / pjs in whatever pattern Cade prefers. At this point we know that a white background turns yellow with age, and a dark background, even dark grey, turns almost black and obscures the print. So we’ve had the best luck with a light grey or natural background with a darker pattern. I avoid red because that seems weird to me and I’m usually hunting for trains…this kid still loves trains. Cade was very specific this time–diesel trains only. So try finding a non-cartoony, diesel train fabric in the right colors–it was not easy but thank God for Etsy.

It was the perfect fabric. Light oatmeal linen with a navy blue / dark grey diesel train running across in a small scale so you can actually make out they are trains on his legs. If the pattern is too big it wraps all the way around and you have no idea what you’re looking at. Oh the joys of decking out bilateral prosthetics.

So the thing about this set of prosthetics that makes them different from previous ones is that they have a new ankle component from College Park Industries that has spring or “give” to it. That means that instead of hitting the ground at a fixed 90 degree, Cade’s toes hit and then soften into the heel, more like the natural motion of a foot walking. This sweet company even sent a little teddy bear with bilateral prosthetics. What a beautiful surprise. He was delighted.

Arthur warned us that Cade would be faster and probably more “rested” (for lack of a better word) because this is more energy efficient. His body is having to work less hard to do what he is used to doing. He also thought that this would probably be the hardest transition from one set into another that Cade would have because they would feel different to wear. I knew we would be picking these up literally the day before Cade started preschool so I was a teensy bit apprehensive. But in typical Cade fashion, he didn’t bat an eyelash. Never once asked to wear his old set. I think we had really talked up the “you’re going to run fast like the wind” and the fact that preschool was a major transition had him completely distracted–he didn’t think twice about his new legs. Gosh he didn’t even seem like he needed to get use to them. Now I know Nextstep is good but I had no idea they were THAT good.

Because of the new foot component, this set has a silicone foot that slides on over. This means that if we go to the sandbox he comes home with sand in the foot part. It is tight so it’s not a ton but getting it on and off is not easy. There’s a metal, what looks like a crowbar that Matt uses to pry it on and off. It’s holding up well and we’re thrilled and thankful to live in a land where technology is available.

You can see his finished leg above is much darker than the initially shade of the fabric. But because it started so light it didn’t get too dark to obscure the print. I think this may be my favorite set yet. But I say that every time. If you’re just starting out on this prosthetics journey, surround yourself with a good, caring team that want to see your child succeed. It has made all the difference. If a foot snaps off, and it’s happened a time or two, you want to know who you can count on. We’re thankful for Nextstep and so proud of Cade. 5 sets of prosthetics in his 3.5 years is a lot of little transitions but he continues to show us that it is not a disability, it is a possibility and we are capable of more than we could ever imagine. Run fast friends. Run like the wind.