Broken leg (8yo). Bother.

[AxolotlLove]

Morning all,

So obviously as its right at the start of the holidays, my 8 year old has broken his leg... Full leg cast... Toes to mid thigh...

Anyone been in a similar position? I could do with recommendations on keeping him (and me!) sane for the holidays...

Just looking for suggestions on things to do (inside or even recommendations on days out which are OK with a cast!).

Thankfully he likes reading. I'm sure there are books out there about children who break their legs and still have good a holiday, but I can't remember specifics. Anyone found any good ones?

Practical tips welcome too. He has crutches (day 1, not a fan...), but is a wheel chair a good plan?

Also, if anyone else is in a similar position, fancy a support group? Mutual wine (🍷) and whinge 😂

What a rubbish start to the holidays!

Oh no, what pants timing! Not that there's ever a good time for a broken leg, but the start of the summer holidays is particularly rubbish.

I have no experience but I think a wheelchair would be helpful for days out, otherwise he's going to get extremely tired.

How about some days out where it's less about activities and more looking at interesting things? Cinema, aquarium, zoo/safari park, museum, boat ride. If you sit down with him and schedule them together then he'll know what he has to look forward to and get excited to break up the weeks.

My granddaughter broke a leg when she was five. A wheelchair is a good idea and maybe a walking frame after a while. Those sleeve things you can buy, probably online, are useful for showering. If he had a walker with a tray, you could put books, games, tablet, drinks on it to begin with.

Commiserations though. I hope someone will be able to offer advice about places you can go to alleviate the boredom.

Thank you both for taking the time reply and your kindness.

He's holding up well, though there are moments of mourning the loss of his holiday 😢

Those are good thoughts about wheelchairs and / or walkers. I think we will definitely look to hire.

And an excellent thought on planning. That will really help him and I'd not thought of that.

It's just 🤦‍♀️

DS did similar a couple of years ago. He didn’t have a full cast though: it was his ankle. We did activities which he could do sitting down:
Boat trip
Open top bus tour
Theatre
Cinema
Sports match
Air show
Crabbing

We lowered the height of his football table so he could play sitting down, and I splashed out on a mini drone which he learnt to fly sitting in the garden. When he got better, I took him out and he’d fly it sitting in a camping chair.

Solidarity, my 5 year old did this just before the Easter holidays. Much easier than your situation as it was a lower leg cast, although no crutches in view of his age - my back has just about recovered.

For the shower/bath, look at a Limbo. I would strongly recommend not immersing the leg in water even with a Limbo - we propped DC’s leg on a potty stool in the bath - but it meant he could at least wash and he might be able to shower with support if he prefers a shower.

I would definitely look at hiring (or even buying) a wheelchair with a leg extender - this will be important to elevate his leg and keep it comfortable. Have a look at your local Red Cross. Be aware that wheelchairs are big - sorry if this sounds patronising but we have a small car and the travel wheelchair we borrowed did not fit folded in the boot (Seat Ibiza).

You might want to buy a Radar key for disabled loos - depends on the place as to whether you need one.

Overall, I would say to be realistic - he’ll get tired more easily and it will be a different kind of holiday. Things that worked for mine included going out to a local cafe for a cake, going to the playground (which had an accessible swing - might not work for a child with a more extensive cast), and doing an Easter trail at a National Trust property. But not going too far afield or being too ambitious. Having friends round, one at a time, worked well as well.

Also, it will take quite a while to “get back to normal” after the cast comes off. Took a fortnight before my DC would even bear weight on his leg.

Good luck, hope he’s not in too much pain.

DS broke his leg at 8 too and was in a cast like your son's. He got really good with his crutches - every day we made him do a walk a bit further up the street and back to practise.

This might not apply to you but as he got more confident he also tried to do more. In DS' case, he has a small bedroom so his bed is a high sleeper - as he got comfortable going up and down stairs on his bottom I took the precaution of removing the ladder to his bed as he was adamant he was going to show me he was fine to get up and down, and I was equally sure he wasn't getting the chance to break his other leg or worse, and that he was stuck in the spare room on the sofa bed until he was out of plaster and strong enough to do the ladder. You might have things in your house to be aware of - eg bring down a favourite toy or game to a lower shelf so there's no risk he's going to be standing on something to reach it etc.

Bus to the cinema was a good trip, we did use a wheelchair we borrowed when we visited Hampton Court.

When he was still in a full cast (where is the break? DS's was lower leg so after a while they sawed the top part off so he had knee movement back) he went on his year 4 residential - they wrapped his cast n bin bags and he went crawling through muddy tunnels etc! He had a blast of a week despite the cast.

When the cast does come off you will probably find you will be doing the physio exercises with him to make sure he does do them. It's dull but really important - DS was walking in a very strange way because he's lost strength in the muscles that enable you to stand on tiptoe - such a little thing but in walking we use this all the time, for example.

Sorry to hear about your son. Just to let you know that the Red Cross hire wheelchairs out for a reasonable price
Good luck 🤞

Remember to a radar key, some accessible toilets need one.

Casts are heavy, so yes a wheelchair with a leg support will be needed for days out. Unless your cinema etc is very roomy make sure to book an accessible seat so he physically fits.

There are lots of things he can still do, obviously they’ll still be a bit awkward, bowling, arcades, crazy golf should all be very doable, not too bank breaking either.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to reply.

There's so many good thoughts and tips here that I would have learnt the hard way...

DS also has a mid-sleeoer 🤦‍♀️ He's currently sharing my bed (DH on the sofa!), and taking the ladder away when he goes back is a good shout!

I also hadn't twigged the physio exercises. Bother. I'm rubbish with my own... Let's hope I teach him better habits.

Thank you all again. Because of the timing it feels huge, but day 1 (yesterday) passed ok.

We were going to Ireland for a few days (flying). It's put paid to that plan... 🤦‍♀️

It's a full cast, toes to mid thigh, but the break is near the ankle. So positive news that they might cut the cast smaller 🙏

Were already planning fun things, like aquariums trips. So there's things to look forward to. Thankfully he likes books / reading / lego more than running around outside, so it could be worse!

Thank you all again 🥰

No advice but I bet this will be a really memorable summer for him and probably will become a favourite memory one day! I hope you all have a brilliant time.

Bless him. And you. Ask on local fb pages about the wheelchair, as you may get one to borrow. Deffo invest in a waterproof leg cover from Amazon… and get a wee folding stool (b and q, b and m) for sitting in the shower with leg sticking out the door… we washed hair lying on the kitchen counter (dd was 14 with long hair so this was a thing!!)
Days out were good and we found a whole new appreciation and awareness for accessibility issues. We also tried archery as a treat (birthday- poor girl!) and made sure we did fun things like science museum.
Treat the wee guy to a new Lego set, and maybe plan some water fun in the garden too. With the leg cover lol.

What part of the country are you OP. People may be able to suggest things locally you’d not though of.

You should be able to still fly as long as his doctors give the okay!

My sympathies OP, my DD broke both her arms badly when she was 5, it was a nightmare to start with, but got a lot easier once we got into a routine and over the the initial shock. Finding things she could wear with two big and heavy casts was very difficult, so if that's an issue with his leg I'd suggest sorting that out quickly. My mother found her a pinafore dress that buttoned on the shoulders which was a huge help. It's summer so shorts are an option at least.

There may well be children's activities running in the holidays that you could go to - try the library, Council webpages, local stately homes etc. Picnics are fun, or take some baked potatoes with you wrapped up well in foil. Might board games or dominoes kill an hour on a wet afternoon?

Good luck, it won't last forever and will give him and you a good tale to tell in years to come. x

Oh sympathies, @AxolotlLove , my DS1 did similar and had a full leg cast when he was 7 last year. Fortunately it was January so most of the time he was in school, and we just had to fill weekends/Feb half term.

His recovery was on the slower side compared to some on this thread, but I want to share it so you can see there's a spectrum. He was in too much pain to do anything beyond going to the toilet for the first 2-3 days. We had to fly home from France on day 3 (he did it while on a ski holiday), which was not an experience I'd rush to repeat! He is not a physically confident child at the best of times, and this really shook his confidence and made him anxious.

He never got to grips with crutches while the cast was on - we hired a wheelchair with leg extender from Red Cross (they have appropriate sized ones for kids) and he managed to shuffle around the house on his bum, but any attempt to get him standing on the crutches just resulted in tears and panic. He definitely would not have been able to go on a residential or crawl through any tunnels.

We did lots of things that could be done sitting - bowling, safari park, train rides, national trust trails (need to be vetted beforehand). There was also much more screen time than we would normally have had.

Once the cast came off, he was still very scared of walking and using crutches. It took about 2 weeks and an amazing physio session to get him to do more than a step or two. But once he got going, and we nagged him with the boring exercises, he did make progress. You wouldn't be able to tell at all now, but it took a long time! Good luck!

My 20m old is currently in a hip spica for a broken femur 😭 very different challenges due to age but thankfully he’s always enjoyed being out and about in his pram. We’ve been to the zoo, have aquarium in my back pocket for the next rainy day and have generally been out with the pram walking miles! There’s a dinosaur display thing on locally which I’m going to take him to today.
Hope your little one adapts quickly to the cast/crutches and you manage to keep him amused.