Experiences of broken arm requiring metal plates?

[annie987]

My son (12) fell off his skateboard earlier today and visibly broke his arm below the elbow. The ulna and the radius.
They tried in A&E to pull it back into place but couldn’t so we are on the children’s ward and he’s having surgery tomorrow morning to Put it back in place with metal plates and pins.
Does anyone have any experience of this?
Will he be able to go home tomorrow?

Thanks

Hey my partner broke his ankle really badly a few years ago and had to have plates and a pins etc, he was in for 5 days. I know not his arm but I assume it would be around the same for a child with a severely broken arm requiring surgery.
I hope you are okay and he makes a quick recovery soon!

@annie987

My son (12) fell off his skateboard earlier today and visibly broke his arm below the elbow. The ulna and the radius. They tried in A&E to pull it back into place but couldn’t so we are on the children’s ward and he’s having surgery tomorrow morning to Put it back in place with metal plates and pins. Does anyone have any experience of this? Will he be able to go home tomorrow?

Thanks

Hi, I'm a paediatric nurse and see this a lot! Prepare to stay overnight. By the time he's down to theatre, had the GA, recovered and is back on the ward it'll be a good amount of time. Then he'll need close observations, reviews by the doctors, checks that he's recovering well and isn't in too much pain. Also worth saying, it'll be down to trust policy, but we normally give 3 doses of IV antibiotics due to the introduction of the metal to the body (this may not be the case but just telling you what we do!). They'll also want to make sure he's ok post operatively (checking heart rate and blood pressure, making sure he's eating, drinking, peeing). Most importantly that his pain is under control and that he isn't requiring more than paracetamol and ibuprofen. It'll be sore after the operation and from my experience it's the pain management that keeps them in longer! Definitely prepare to stay and if he whizzes in and out of theatre and is great post op then MAYBE they'll let you go later in the day!

I hope this helps - let me know if you need any more info! x

That’s really useful - thank you so much.
Broken arms we’ve done before but this seems very different - he’s in so so much pain and can’t lift his arm at all.

He only got the skateboard for his birthday a few weeks ago!

I broke my arm several years ago and had to have a metal plate. I was in for 2 nights but this might have changed by now.
Also I get awfully sick of I have a general aesthetic so it took longer to be discharged (hopefully your son won't suffer like that.)

I hope he gets better OP!
Terrible timing ... I am sure he is very frustrated.
All the best with the operation 🤞

Hi, ime they may try to realign the bones under general anaesthetic, if not then they will proceed to plates & pins.
He will be approached for consent for both of these procedures.
If they can avoid opening up the arm they will make absolute every effort to avoid it.
Thing is they will have a really good look in theatre under X-ray conditions without him being in agony so they will be able to make a very clear decision on the day.
He will be absolutely fine and very well looked after, honestly.

My partner had plates after a break in his arm and was in and out by 2pm. They did it on the day surgery ward.

I was in for a couple of nights with a pinned and plated wrist after a nasty fracture. LOTS of diamorphine, I’m pretty much missing an entire 48hr period just occasional flashbacks.

DS has this last year, the first op they tried to realign, but after a couple of days the X-ray revealed it wasn’t enough. He then had an op to put in pins we arrived at 0700 to the day ward and his op was in the morning. He was down for a while. When he was back on the ward he needed to have a certain amount of obs and show he was with it enough to go home. It was so close they ended up booking him a bed overnight. But literally in the last hour he woke up properly he got up and walked around enough that they let us go home. I’ve never seen my son so tired looking, as he was then. But we got him home and back into his own bed. Next day his arm was brilliant he only had pain relief that night as I thought he should. From the moment it was set properly he felt fine. He had the pins removed about 6 months later - again day ward and out. Good luck oh and bring snacks he likes they want them to eat and DS was very fussy refused everything offered ended up a yoghurts he wasn’t keen on telling him if you don’t eat it you have to stay, good luck the worst bit is waiting while they are in theatre

Sorry that was a bit long

My husband did this 40-odd years ago. Pins and metal plates. He was mostly upset that they cut off his favourite silver track suit top. Had surgery, out the next day and still going strong now. Just has to mention it during MRIs etc. It wasn't a barrier to him joining the Forces at 17. He also has the coolest 8" scar that his friend were very jealous of when the cast came off. Hope your lad heals well OP

I did this 30 years ago and I have a 6 inch scar along my forearm. Shattered the big bone and put the little one through the skin. I was in for 5 days

So when my son did the same I was expecting similar. His scar is so tiny compared to mine though, And he was out in 48 hours.

DD age 10 at the time had similar a couple of years back although her break was above the elbow. She was in overnight for a couple of days after the op to manage the pain. The pins she had were temporary and removed with a second op 3 months later and she came home from that same day. Shes 14 now and aside from a scar and a patch of skin which remains numb to the touch has no major problems.

All very reassuring thank you.
Still waiting for him to go in - he’s in agony 😞

Well after 4 hours in surgery he is safely out - pinned and rodded and dreading another night on the children’s ward. Thank you to everyone who replied.

Such a relief when you get them back and now he’ll sleep. Last time I slept over with DS in the children’s ward the morning after the corridor was full of zombiefied mums.

DS has two plates and several pins when he broke his arm at 15. 13 years later they are still there and his arm is fine. For the first few years he felt a ache in cold weat.

Glad all went well @annie987

Hi. My son has the same kind of break. It happened 2 weeks ago. They put flexible pins in. We had follow up yesterday and the bones aren't aligned!! Were your sons perfectly aligned following his operation?

Hope all going well OP.
One thing nobody seems to have mentioned is the upside to plate and pins may we'll be less time in a cast.
Two yrs ago my DS had a nasty break. Consultants told us to expect full surgery but managed to set the ones without cutting skin in end. This was apparently so surprising that at every follow up apt the doctors would cluster round before and after x-rays and whisper to one another, ' And Mr Consultant managed todo it without a plate' in tones of awe.
The downside? DS spent two months in a plaster cast (those things are heavy!) from his shoulder to his wrist, and a further five in the lighter casts made of some kind of coloured stuff, which they actually had to cut off and replace twice because he was growing. (He was 12.) Then a few more months in a splint.
A classmate who got a seemingly similar break in Switzerland had the surgery which was of course scary, but he got to go straight to the splint because the plate and pins held the bones internally.
It's a bit six of one or half a dozen... but it's all fine now!