Another visit to Greenville, SC is in the books.

Another new set of casts covers our baby boy’s legs, and I come away yet again, thankful for all the doctors and staff at Shriners Hospital, and amazed at my baby boy’s tenacity.

Our six-week adventure with spica casting is complete. We now have 4 weeks of Ponseti casts with a bar, and then for the first time in 9 months, we don’t know!

Once these casts come off, we have 2 days of therapy at Greenville, a new set of AFOs, and that’s it. We don’t know what the next step will be beyond that.

It’s a strange position to be in.

This latest trip came with some valuable milestones beyond just the cast removal.

They had to put HG under again for the spica cast removal and examination of the hip. This time they could use gas, making everything easier on him and the procedure as a whole.

He came out of anesthesia like a champ! So we now know that with any upcoming procedures we’ll be facing down the road, we can go this route without concern.

For a kid who is likely to face multiple surgeries in the coming years, this is a big thing for this dad and a tremendous sigh of relief.

Another major moment came during the hip examination. Dr. Hyer was able to inject a dye allowing her to see the whole hip and socket, much clearer than with a typical X-ray. Before the procedure, she let us know that the dye is only about 50% successful because of the narrow space to work with. For Harrison, she was successful in allowing her to clearly see his hip, so she knows exactly how he’s progressing.

So we came away with all good news, plus we got to visit Santa’s Workshop on our way out and grab a present for Bubby, Sissy, and ourselves!

Oh, and we’re up to two Build-a-Bears now since we’ve had two procedures. This time, we went with a lion for Mommy’s love of The Lion King.

So, for now, we navigate around the bar and do our best to not grab it. (We’ve been given a baby with a handlebar and can’t even take advantage of it during diaper changes!)