hip spica dilemma

Kay - posted on 07/21/2012

Thankyou Andrea,
Ebony does have a little rashing at the top of her thigh which we are keeping a close eye on. we change her nappies every hour without fail so she stays dry so as not to get sore, like you we too take good care of her cast and we were complimented on how immaculate her first cast was.
We are still struggling with getting her to eat, its understandable considering she is still constipated...
Ive had people pass me in the street, turn round and come back for another look and it really angered me but it seems that my little girl at 22 month old has it all in hand, she just looks, smiles sweetly and says hi, the look on their faces is priceless, it puts them to shame thats for sure.
I cant put sweats on Ebony as the bar that is across her spica is low down. ive been trying to find her some drop crotch harem pants but they are also hard to get hold of here... oh well, only another 6 weeks and we will find out where we go from here, i know she will be wearing a brace at some point but i dont know what it will look like, wether she will be able to move a little etc, all i know is that she will be in it 20 hours a day... we will know more on the 30th of August.. its a living nightmare and although its only temperary it doesnt make it any less upsetting , i just wish people would thik before they speak sometimes, ive had some really nasty comments, ive had people shut doors as weve been about to walk through them, ive found that stores arnt disability friendly as they think they are, especially when you have a child set wide in a spica... i just dont need the hassle so tend to stay home a lot.

Andrea - posted on 07/18/2012

what i did when taking out my daughter when it was raining/snowing [my daughter was put in her cast on oct 31 2011 and didnt get out of it until march 2012] i put my older son's sweatpants on her [3t] and a t-shirt or hoodie and she stayed dry. i know its VERY difficult to be going out with her as it's a lot more complicated process being in a cast, and the looks people give you is just horrible. i had so many people asking me what happened to her and what i did to put my daughter in a body cast..it's absolutely heart wrenching and disrespectful. i stayed in the house a lot just so i didnt have to go through all the people's funny looks.

my daughter also had problems with constipation and we gave her ALOT of apple juice to get it flowing again which eventually worked. maybe even try sugar free ice cream to get her to eat?!

keep checking the inside of her cast as well. i took immaculate care of my daughters cast to the point that the doctor, and all nurses were impressed and told us they've never seen someone's cast look so well. they actually took her out of her cast a week early because i noticed she was "rashing" under the cast by her butt/back/hip area which started to bleed. we went to the ER to get it checked because i had a very funny feeling about it, which thank god we went in because it turned out she had a SERIOUS skin infection that formed in 24 hours.

it's such a hard/difficult thing to work with but trust me it does get better!! like i said if you need someone to talk to, vent, and need advice i am here to listen and shed some light on things if need be. there's not many people that have gone through this or understand to the full extent what it's like. i do hope some of this helps, and your daughter starts eating soon. i also hope for a good speedy recovery with minimal problems/bumps in the road.

Kay - posted on 07/18/2012

Andrea ive tried everything and all my doctor says is "oh we will wait a while and then refer her to the paediatric dietician". she has now become badly constipated to the extent where she is trying to poop for an hour at a time, she is on Lactulouse stool softener which isnt working either and we have another 6 weeks in this new cast she received friday.
Hopefully at the end of this 6 weeks she will be in a brace also and need to be in it for 20 hours a day, I have no one around me that understands what we are going through, its hard to take her anywhere as she is now because all it seems to do is rain and we have to be careful not to get the cast wet so that means she isnt socialising as well as she should be and is becoming withdrawn, its breaking my heart seeing her llike this...im finding children are only as resiliant as their personality allows them to be.

Andrea - posted on 07/18/2012

my daughter was the same way. i tried more fluids and dif kinds of snacks [she really like the gerber crunchies] even try yogurt i bought trix yogurt [not the best thing though] and she loved it and ate that alot of the times..just take it slow with her, my daughter would go days upon days without food and i kept her on formula/bottle until she got out of the cast so i knew she was getting all the proper nutrients she needed. and if you need to talk about anything im here to listen..i had no one around who was educated or went through any of this when my daughter did [in which she's been out of the spica cast for 4 months now and wears a brace while shes asleep]