hip spica on 2 year old - not really coping

[veryworriedme]

sorry if this is the wrong topic area for this, i only have a few mins. my ds has broken his femur and was put in a hip spica yesterday under general. we are home, with very little advice from the hospital. every time i lift him it hurts him, i cant find ways to get him comfortable or entertain him and am terrified of doing the nappys! i dont think i am coping emotionally either and am finding it difficult to pay attention to dd (7 months) as i want to be with ds. i do have help from others though thank god. can anyone point me to good threads, websites or indeed have any tips? please tell me it gets better! is there anyone who can come to your house for a visit to look at bed set ups etc? sorry, this is a bit rambling but written in haste

Sorry to hear about your boy's injury to his femur. I don't have much personal experience of this, but there is some information on the Steps website about caring for a child in a hip spica www.steps-charity.org.uk/How-We-Help/caring-for-a-child-in-a-hip-spica.html, I hope this can answer some of your questions. Sorry to hear the hospital haven't been very supportive, is your HV any good, as even if she didn't know the answers herself, you would hope she could get you in touch with someone who did!

Thank you, TheLightPassenger ( that isn't a dexter reference is it?). That website is excellent. My HV is useless but maybe they will send someone else as the accident will have been reported to soc services and they can put me in touch with an occupational therapist or something. It is just so worrying lifting etc when you think you might be doing damage and it would be great to find different ways he could sit. Pretty shocked at how little guidance we were given by the hospital. At the time I was so bleary, I couldn't think of the questions...

yes, it is a Dexter reference glad you found the site helpful, have the hospital planned any follow up in fracture clinic or referrals, it would probably be easier to get a physio referral than OT referral I imagine. If HV/GP are no good, you could always try contacting the secretary of the consultant he was under, see if they have any nurse or doctor available who could give you a call to talk you through your concerns.