7 year old with broken arm an now chicken pox

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My daughter broke her humerus on 17th June. Had surgery 18th June to manipulate the bone into place and had k wires sticking out at the min. She had her original bandage taken off 25th June and a cast put on, and developed the chicken pox spots on 26th June evening. We are on day 3 and she's screaming in pain with the arm and the itching. She didn't even cry this much when she broke it. Iv shined a torch down the top of her cast and can see a whole load of spots down there 😪 iv tried everything antihistamine calpol cool baths calamine lotion nothing is helping. She's not sleeping I'm not sleeping I feel hopeless. I am going to call fracture clinic tomorrow 4 advice but has anyone had a similar experience? Would they take the cast off and assess?. She has spots allover but under the arm pit of the broken arm is so bad I can't imagine what's going on under the cast x

Oh my word the poor little mite, and poor you!!

I probably would ring 111 tonight? They may have an out of hours minor injuries clinic they can book you in to get that cast off her tonight and repositioned when the spots have been treated. Or even some topical pain relief 🤷🏼‍♀️ and they can make that decision for you with a better understanding of what they can do.

It might be nothing and you will have to wait, but they will know 😊

Good luck. Xx

Oh, poor kiddo.
I'd call 111 I think. It may be that they can prescribe something like aciclovir like they prescribe for shingles in a case such as hers. For shingles it needs to be started asap which is why I'd suggest calling tonight rather than waiting for clinic tomorrow.

I think you need to call 111 tonight.

It's an awful combination and it will take some discussion between orthopaedics/ possible paediatrics to find the best way of managing it.

They might be able to split the plaster so you can get to the spots, as someone mentioned acyclovir might shorten the duration although it's most effective earliest on.

You're going to need some more ideas about pain relief too with the ban on ibuprofen because of chicken pox

I’d definitely call 111 now to get as much advice for tonight as possible.

In the meantime can your start with calpol and piriton?

how old is she?

I went exploring into case studies/research and apparently the spots are more likely to be worse under the cast because of the moist environment, heat and pressure - so this is what you were describing and is going to need some help/management for her.

Oh that’s horrible poor thing. And with the heat too. I would echo what others have said about calling 111. Poor thing I hope she gets some sleep soon and you too

Thank you everyone for your replies. 111 advised me to take her to urgent care so I did, they couldn't do anything with the cast but the spots around it and under that arm pit were infected so she has antibiotics. Hopefully if anything is going on under the cast these will help that too. Xx

Thank you for your update. Have you been able to contact fracture clinic who might be able to help on the cast/orthopaedic side of life.

I hope the spots dry up soon without any further issues and that you and your daughter have found some way through the discomfort in this heat.