Dc's and broken limbs! getting through the 8 weeks

[Ingles2]

Ds1 broke his arm on Saturday. He was playing football, in goal, when he saved a really hard ball. Unfortunately he sustained a greenstick fracture.
Atm he has a conventional plaster cast but is getting a fibreglass cast on Monday. I've got a couple of questions if anyone has been in a similar position...
Is it possible to get a waterproof cast? or are there ways to make the cast waterproof? enough to go swimming?
The Dr said no sport for 6-8 weeks...now that's going to be impossible.
does he mean no organised team sport, eg the footie team
or no sport at all? e.g footie in the playground, in the garden
Where do I draw the line and put my foot down?
Any words of wisdom to get me through the next 2 months, with a whiny 10yr old would be much appreciated.

I would be very hesitant about him playing football, for the team or otherwise for the next 8 weeks....it would be too unpredictable and you don't want any even longer recovery period because of it. I wrapped my plastered leg in plastic and bobbed around on an inflatable in a swimming pool but I wouldn't have really called it excercise! He will be able to swim once the plaster is off as that will be good for recovery....just avoid the contact sports.Hope he feels better soon

You can get waterproof cast covers for the bath/shower in chemists. They're basically like a big condom. DD1 aged 2 at the time used hers for both broken arm and leg (2 separate incidents, don't ask!).

You can get a waterproof cast cover from Limbo .

Do whatever they tell you, in order to ensure that his fracture heals properly: no sports means no footie! At 10 he will be old enough to have heard the instructions and realise that it is important.

The computer game is now your friend!

Thanks for your reply scurry... I agree, I am hesitant about him playing football.
Correction...I don't want him to play football but I can't monitor him and I know he's going to play at lunch and break..despite me telling him what could go wrong..
ugh...
this is sooooo stressful.

oh, he heard all right. but in a fortnights time when all his mates are kicking the ball in the playground I'm not sure he'll remember.
Am going to search for Limbo now. Thanks

Sympathies! It's not easy.

Would the school threaten to keep in the library at break if he plays footie?

The school may be very reluctant to have him if he goes against medical advice. In case he were to cause a worse break playing in school and you held them responsible for allowing it.

Star chart for every footie-free day and a BIG bribe at the end? It might help give him a sense that the end is getting closer, even though it seems interminable.

Poor boy.

I would make sure school are aware he shouldn't be playing, if he falls on it or hurts it there could be even more damage this time requiring it to be in cast for longer or even surgery.
I broke my arm when I was 9 and continue on as normal, well when the 8 weeks were up I ended up in another cast for about the same length of time due to not taking care of the cast/injury and that arm has always been a little weaker even though it's my dominate arm.

My dd had a plastic cover that meant he could swim and shower. The big problem with playing football later on is not so much that he might hurt himself, but that the cast might break someone else's nose if they run into it!

We are experts at broken bones here!

DS had 9 weeks in a full length leg cast a few years back, but last summer he broke his scaphoid (wrist bone) and after 6 weeks in plaster, had just 4 weeks clear beore he broke the ulna in same arm!!

We had a Limbo bag, so he could shower & bath. On holiday (betwen breaks) we saw loads of kids in the sea wearing similar things (also good at keeping sand out).

I agree with NO sport at all. Tell the teachers to ban him. If he falls with a cast on one arm he will probably break the other one trying to save himself! DS fell over at camping with cast on and really bashed his other arm & shoulder trying to protect the cast.

Good luck.

My son broke his arm last summer (aged 4) and he had a standard cast for a few days before we went to the fracture clinic and they put a waterproof one on.

It is basically a bandage and then they put this sticky coloured wrapping tape round it which hardens up and it can be completely submerged. Have you ever seen people with those brightly coloured plasters ie pink or green? They are the waterproof ones.

Only two restrictions with it - no beach as sand inside would irritate the skin and you had to give it half an hour to dry before bed time because it needed air cirulating round it to dry out.

Can you ask for one of those at your next appointment? I would highly recommend them, we went on holiday and did swimming etc every day and it was so nice not to worry about it getting wet.

As for running around/playing etc, I must admit I thought it was pointless to try and stop him. He's a boisterous 4 year old hence the broken arm in the first place!

That's the first time I've heard that those casts can be worn in water! Doesn't it get all nasty and damp inside?

I know, I was amazed as well, I didn't know there was such a thing! Very happy tho as you can imagine.

It didn't get nasty at all, the air circulates through it so as long as it was dry at bedtime it was fine.

Great invention!

Please please let me know which clinic you went to. My daughter has just broken her wrist day 2 of our holiday. We live in New Zealand where it is common to have a waterproof cast they work brilliantly and the kids can swim in them. However the hospital in Luton looked at me as if I was mad and said they don't exist! Willing to travel to find someone who will put one on.

We live in Essex, got it done at our local general hospital.

They didn't even tell me it was waterproof until it was on. We were off on holiday too to somewhere with our own pool and hot tub so I had been dreading it - when the nurse said he could get it wet I started crying!!

Sorry to hear about your daughter's accident.

Which hospital was it, I would love to contact them and see if we could go and get one done there. You would not believe how many places I have tried! Most people don't even believe they exist

They are not supposed to even write with broken arm. The hospital told me that 4 weeks into the the broken arm saga......

Colchester General Hospital
01206 747474

Ask for the fracture clinic.

Not a million miles from Luton.

And I believe they exist! I have seen them with my own eyes...