The words hit hard, then echoed in my ears. I stared at the nurse, then at my son. I had arrived at the doctor’s office with high hopes of getting the cast off. That was then. “Two more weeks.” She had said it like it was nothing, but it was everything. An eternity. I had already made plans for what we would do in the coming days, cast free. But not now. In addition, the cast is deteriorating. The lining is gone, and he is getting rashes on him bum and legs. He’s itchy all the time. We were sent down the hall to get his cast mended. I took a deep breath, 2 more weeks.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 2:57 am and is filed under family, spica cast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
2 Responses to “Spica Cast Saga - XVIII - Two More Weeks”
J (Who am I?) Says:
Hello…I discovered your blog while googling info on spica casts. Its very hard to find much useful advice other than the basic info the hospital gave us before sending us home. My 9 1/2 month old son just recently broke his femur due to a fall down the steps with daddy. He’s been in the spica for exactly a week and needless to say, the family is overwhelmed. My son was taking his first steps before this happened and now he’s completely immobile. Its hard enough trying to entertain him throughout the day and keep him happy, however the question I have for you is about sleep. Before this happened, my son slept exclusively on his belly…now, on his back, he cannot sleep more than a couple of hours before he wakes up screaming…and usually its very hard to calm him down. I know your son is older than mine but, I was wondering what your experiences with sleep were and/or if you had any tips on how to make my little guy more comfortable. I’ve tried propping him up on his belly with pillows but he immediately tries to crawl if I do that, and I worry that he’ll reinjure himself or slow the healing process by pushing with his bad foot. I just cant imagine going through 5 more weeks of this with us all completely sleep deprived and frustrated…
Thanks in advance
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I am so sorry to hear about you son. I know the sleep deprivation is making everything harder too. The good thing is that kids are very adaptable, and he’ll get used to the cast soon, hopefully before it comes off.
My son also woke up screaming and uncomfortable. He was used to sleeping on his stomach or side. I used 2 pillows to help him lay on his stomach. I put the pillows stacked under his stomach with his arms up over his head, so his back and butt were the highest point. At first, he was afraid to be on his stomach, or even be moved, but he got over that. How ever he sleeps, you need to make sure to flip him over every few hours, or when he wakes up. Otherwise, he might get bed sore type bumps and scrapes on his back. My nurses told me to give him as much time on his stomach as I could, so every day we would have “tummy time”, just like when he was a baby. My son did try to crawl and move while on his stomach after a few weeks.
He slept in our bed which we pushed up against the wall (and I slept on the other side) so he couldn’t fall out. Even when he slept, he would move his “good” foot back and forth. This continued the entire 9 weeks, and even increased at the end when he got really itchy.
I doubt that he can hurt himself by moving either foot. Just do your best to keep him comfortable and in one place. My son woke up about every hour for the first week, then every 2-3 hours for the next few weeks. At the end he went back to about every 1-2 hours because he was so itchy. I also have a 6 month old girl who woke up 2-3 time per night this entire time. I think I got about 4 hours sleep per night between the 2 of them.
One thing my son liked at night was to sleep on his back laying on my arm all cuddly-like. We also tried him sleeping on me tummy to tummy like a baby. So maybe try that. You could also see if a Bobby pillow (if you still have one from nursing) could help keep him comfortable and in place.
Good luck. I’m sure this is the most stressful thing you have been through so far with your son, and it seems impossible, but it will soon be over. We have been out of the cast for one week now and his is already getting back to his normal self. Please leave me another reply if you have questions or just need some support!
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