DIY Cast Removal?!

DIY Cast Removal?

I broke my leg 6½ weeks ago and it's ready to come out of its cast. I'd love to get it taken off by a pro, but that involves multiple trips to various clinics (all for a 1 min procedure), and I don't have a car... It's a poor excuse but I'm getting impatient, and with my do-it-yourself ethic, I'd love to, well, do it myself (or at least entertain the idea). I full well know it's a bad idea, so with all would-be words of warning aside, what might be some practical advise for safely removing a cast?

1 week ago
So I did end up removing it myself, and it was easier than I'd imagined. I used a rather large toothed hand saw of the sort one might prune branches with. It was much more effective on the thick fiberglass than the little hacksaw I'd first tried... So picture peeling a cucumber. The cucumber's skin is the cast, the cucumber is my leg, and the peeler is the saw. To keep the saw from coming in contact with my skin, I put a butter knife part way inside the cast as I sawed, much like one uses a carving fork with a knife to carve a turkey. I sawed lengthwise down the cast about five inches at a time, then around its circumference, removing it section by section. The thick padding inside the cast served to protect my skin from the saw blade as it broke through the fiberglass on it's way around. Once I got down to the ankle, I sawed off the heel of the cast, then simply pulled my foot out... So to all aspiring cast removers, you can indeed do-it-yourself, just heal up those bones first...

The saw that they use is a special one that vibrates from side to side instead of in a circular motion like most power saws. This way, it won't cut your skin if it comes in contact with it. I took a cast off my arm one time with a hacksaw and it worked real well. I had to be real careful not to cut myself as the skin under the cast is numb and won't let you know if you are cutting it.