DD has broken her arm and needs a general so it can be realigned

[Pantone363]

Does anyone have any experience?

ExDH was with her and evidently asked zero questions . They wanted her to stay in overnight but there were no beds so she's home and back in at 7am.

Questions I would've asked...how long roughly will it take to realign? Cast for how long? What about school?!

Does anyone have any experience?

Thanks

this happened to ds1 many years ago- it was fine (although I found it a bit upsetting watching him have the GA). Strangely once it was set they didn't put it in a cast, just a sling. Was fine. We went on holiday, camping, shortly afterwards- Dr said you can rely on child to protect as much or little as necessary.

This happened to my DS when he was 4. He spent a night in hospital and had it set under general the following day.

He just seemed to take it in his stride. I was a barely controlled blubbering wreck, was 10 weeks pg.

The surgeon came in the morning and drew a massive arrow on his arm in marker pen. Didn't quite write, 'this one' on it.

DS recovered quickly from the general. He had a cast, then we went to the fracture clinic about a week later where it was xrayed, then back 2 or so weeks later, another xray and cast off.

It really was quite speedy.

DS adapted really quickly and it didn't seem to bother him.

For bathing, i bought a plastic sleeve for puttin over casts from Boots, to keep it dry. We tried bags/cling film but they weren't that effective.

Oh thanks for the replies! I feel better after reading that.

It's the same arm she broke last year. In the same month. In the same place!

Don't let her eat or drink past 12 tonight.. i'm assuming he remembered them telling him that? If she eats and drinks in the morning they'll make her (and you) all day for surgery.

Watching them get put under is more upsetting than anything else.. it shouldn't take long though.

This happened to my dd when she was 4, is now 7. We also came home for the night with a temporary cast and just gave her calpol and nurofen. She slept fitfully, but I was so impressed with how well she coped with it.

Went back in the next morning, hung around a bit then she went into surgery. Like the PP, I also found it v upsetting when they gave her the general, but managed to keep it together til she was asleep and she was fairly calm. Op was straightforward, no need for pins. I remember though she was FURIOUS when she came round from the general, basically had a massive tantrum about having her temperature taken and the heart rate monitor attached to her finger. Yet, she was so cooperative for all the xrays and casts being put on! I think they put another cast on once she came round and then she was in cast for 5 or 6 weeks. The cast had a special fibreglass cover which was reasonably robust.

She had to have a morning off school 3 or 4 times to attend the fracture clinic and of course I got the standard attendance letter (it was in reception, so she also was off with a couple of sick bugs and bouts of tonsillitis). Annoying.

She managed really well in school despite it being her writing hand, she just used the other one. She didn't do pe but played out as normal.

Her arm did look quite bent for a while once the cast came off, but it looks fine now and she has had no problems or pain with it.

Hope your dd is not in too much pain and that she makes a good recovery. I was amazed at how well my dd coped with the whole thing.

Thanks.

Sounds all quite straightforward. Yes no food or drink after midnight, DD remembers the doctor saying they wouldn't know how long it would take until they were in there.

Re the anger thing, DS did the same after he was circumcised (medical). He went into a full blown tantrum because his magazine had been moved!

DD2 has had both arms realigned under GA on different occasions (7&8).

No great problem. Only time off school was for fracture clinic.

Absolute no lasting effects, she's 13 and a serious recreational gymnast.

It's too late for you, OP, sorry, but for the benefit of others, we made ds take in a lot of fluids up to the nil by mouth cut off point,nit was the middle of a heat wave, and added to hospital heat..... It meant that he was OK without a drink in the waiting time before he was taken down to theatre.

The accident happened on Saturday and he was back to school on Monday, but I came and took him out for lunch for a while-not for his benefit but to make sure he didn't clock anyone with his plaster! The only thing that phased him was the massive saw they used to take the plaster off......I wasn't prepared for him to be freaked out by that!

Same happened to DS last year aged 9. I didn't find it at all upsetting watching him go under to be honest, he was calm and happy. However he did react badly on coming round, was screaming and hysterical for half an hour (the anaesthetist had warned us this happens with some children). He had to be sedated again to calm him, which meant we had to stay in overnight. He was very tired/groggy/sleepy for the rest of the day and needed painkillers (Calpol) for a couple of weeks. Pins stayed in for three or four weeks under a cast, then another light cast for a week.

The pin removal was the worst part by far, but it was over very quickly and the doctor and nurses were brilliant.

A year later he has two small scars and is still pissed off that he had to sit out Sports Day.

Pantone, DD1 broke her arm three times in the same year when she was 10/11.

First one was a greenstick fracture near the wrist in January, healed with no op and no complications. Second was a proper displaced two bone fracture in the middle of her forearm in August, requiring surgery to realign and a 3 day stay in hospital. That healed fine (so we thought) with only a small callous detectible. Third was in November, shortly after she'd been given the all clear to go back to PE, and she managed to re-break it in exactly the same place as in August. Not as displaced as the August one so they decided not to realign it, as children's bones are apparently very good at realigning themselves. Unfortunately she's never quite managed to regain full rotational mobility in that arm, chiefly because she refused to do the physio. Also the November fracture didn't quite realign as much as they thought it would and she had a detectible callous for quite some years. She's now 19 and hasn't broken anything for years...

Thanks all. OP went fine, nurses were fantastic.

Glad it went well :)

DS1 did this a year ago, both bones, but they managed to realign it by "pulling" it in A&E. He was in a heavy plaster case for 6 weeks and exceeding fed UBS by the end of it. Absolutely no lasting effects and this year he completed the rugby season without breaking anything :)

Unfortunately we got caught between two arguing consultants who couldn't agree on how long the cast should stay on for.

I'll ask at the fracture clinic!

This happened with DS1 aged 10 at the time. Had a cast on for about six weeks and attended school as normal all that time. No after affects at all.

Glad all went well, hope it heals quickly.