To think that an arm broken on Saturday should be seen in the fracture clinic before Thursday?

[rachaelsara]

What do you think?

It's going to hurt when she moves her fingers, it's swollen on the outside as well as inside (inflammation), ibuprofen will help. It won't heal bent, all the current plaster is doing is supporting her hand so she can't move it. The bone won't heal yet, it takes about 2-3+ weeks (sometimes more) depending on how severe the fracture is, the worse it is the longer it takes to heal, the average is about 6 weeks.

Agree with Unis, if cast curved &/or she's still in a lot of pain contact A&E again, either by phone or in person (8am Tues shouldn't be too busy, but you might have to wait till 9am for the more senior staff to ome out of trauma meetings etc).
They may have an A&E 'clinic' run by one of the consultants who can either reassure you or sort it out.

TBH, I wouldn't bother with the insurance and going privately unless you have the names of a personally recommended paediatric orthopaedic surgeon (and a paediatric anaesthetist in case she needs surgery).

Good luck.

She'll be back to school on monday!

We're going abroad in six weeks tomorrow, so I'm slightly concerned that the magical six weeks for the cast will be after we've gone and she'll have to wait another two weeks to have it taken off.

sorry - keep remembering things. We were also told to get him to wriggle his fingers as muche as possible to keep the circulation going and to help the swelling go down.

I don't want to depress you, but ds was in plaster for more than 6 weeks. It was a - sorry, can't remember - I keep thinking Braxton-Hicks fracture, but it wasn't that, obviously. It involved the growth plate. He was in a cast for 8 weeks - so the cast came off 9 weeks from the accident.

I've never broken anything, so I've no idea what it's like. D.D.1 broke her humerus and that was really unpleasant, I think I was expecting this to be simpler because it can be immobilised.

I'm reassured, thank you, I will phone in the morning (or go to A&E if she has an awful night) she's asleep in my bed right now so I can keep an eye on her. She normally sleeps on a top bunk, D.H. is on the sofa!

It's good to know it's not busily healing crooked!

greenstick fracture??

No, not greenstick - that's one of those less severe breaks of the forearm, isn't it?

A braxton hicks is a fake contraction seeker

Growth plate fractures are nasty, if they don't heal properly then it affects the growth of the bone, this is probably why your son was in plaster for so long.

I see loads of fractures

From what I could see over the dr's shoulder, it looked like the thick bone was broken straight across about 2cm from her wrist... the thinner bone appeared chipped, but they didn't really want me looking!

greenstick is when it sort of bends like a green twig cos it's childs bone so not hard like fully grown bone

Nah! I'm a laymum, what would be the point!

They will have a look at the x-ray and see if it needs pinning together when you go back on Thursday rachel. If the chip is displaced (moved away from where it should be) they will pin it (it's probably a Barton's fracture I think)

Thanks

Salter-Harris fracture - that's it! I knew it had a hyphen in it!

If the break is below the wrist, rachelsara, don;t listen to what I said about 9 weeks - ds's break was across the very top of the wrist where it joins the hand, so more complicated.

don't fret - we are getting ds' cast off in a few days time - we had to wait til the swelling went down before the proper cast could be put on so you need to give it a few days anyway, and the proper cast was only on for 4 weeks. wrist - both bones. tbh he was fine once the proper cast was on - it's lighter and stronger for a start but also it was 5 days after the break so the worst of it was already over. we gave constant painkillers til then though. I also asked a lot more questions at the fracture clinic - was less in shock by then! so write it all down so you can ask then.

When D.D. 1 broke her arm, we got to fracture clinic on the monday (it happened on sat) and the ortho calmy told us it had broken because of her cyst, like we knew it was ther. That was 28/07/08 and she's still not signed off. Last looked at last dec, then we've moved up north and I'm waiting for a follow up appt up here. I guess that's making me a little crazy this time

It must be really worrying for you, I dread the thought of my son hurting himself.

The fracture that goes straight across the bone isn't a problem as long as it's kept still so the bone can heal. The chip may need something doing to it though depending on how bad it is.

In the mean time, try to keep her arm elevated if you can, this will help to reduce any swelling. Ibuprofen for pain relief and inflammation, make sure she moves her fingers as much as she can to help the blood flow. Keep an eye on her fingers, if they don't pink up after you squeeze them pretty much right away or go blue/purple then take her straight back to A&E.

Did they x-ray her elbow aswell?

They didn't do her elbow...
Her fingers are pink and OK I think.
I've posted a picture of D.D. 1s humerus on my pictures if you fancy a look...