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Austin Babies
broken leg :-(
What a day, Megan fell off the swings at the park and fractured her tibia (sp?). She's doing better now that we're home and they said it should be a quick recovery (about 3 weeks). We have to go tomorrow and see about getting her a cast, she's in a splint now. She's finally napping so I had a moment to post. Any prayers and dust for a speedy recovery would be greatly appreciated. And if anyone has an ideas or experience with things to do with Megan while she's recovering since she can't walk or put any weight on it.
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Re: broken leg :-(
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Welcome to the club! It will be worse on you than it is on her.
Babytaffy broke his leg the end of February and has been in a cast the entire month. He will hopefully get it off this week. It has not slowed him down at all.
I'm guessing you have the soft splint/cast today? They'll take that off and replace it with a hard cast that she will be able to walk in. They'll give you a special velcro sandal to put over the cast so that she can walk. She'll need to wear the sandal both to protect your floors, to help her walk evenly, and to keep her from wearing a hole in the cast. Babytaffy has worn some spots in his on the side, where he drags it on the floors as he's sitting and playing, so it could definite get holes in the bottom if they walk without the shoe.
The cast will most likely go from her toes to the top of her leg. They'll bend the knee a bit so that she can walk. They have to do the cast that high because if they did it to below the knee, she would most likely wiggle right out of it.
I'd suggest seeing the pediatric orthopedists at Strictly Pediatrics next to Dell Children's. We first followed up with the on-call adult orthopedist recommended by the ER staff, and that doctor missed the fracture so we went almost a week before we got the right diagnosis and a cast. They are very good at Strictly Pediatrics. She'll be given about a dozen color choices and she can pick her own cast color. Babytaffy really liked being able to do that and it helped him with the process to have some control. If you didn't take your x-rays with you, you may be able to call and get a CD of them burned (that's what I did). However, the doctor was also able to pull them up from the computer system because most of the medical places in town are networked. That was nice.
We only had to give Motrin once the day he broke his leg and other than that he's shown no signs of pain. It has not slowed him down one bit. He was actually climbing over chairs and up on the exam tables both in the ER and a week later at the doctor's office. For the first week, I kept him kind of calm and then we resumed normal activities including parks. I only let him go to playground playscapes that are for toddlers (not far off the ground) and with slides that are slow where he stays on the slide at that bottom - not the fast ones where he'd fly off at the end. We don't go to crowded play areas where I'd be afraid that he'd perhaps get knocked down by other children. His school was very accommodating and helped find other activities to do when they would normally have outside time. We've stayed away from places like Jungle Java or indoor restaurant playscapes because those would be too dangerous until he's uncasted and walking normally again.
I wear ankle workout socks and when we do go outside, I just put one of my socks on him over the cast to keep dirt/rocks/sand from entering the cast. The sock goes up to his knee.
I try to keep him in long pants which also keeps stuff from entering it from the top. The first week I put him in pants that snapped up the legs or lose jogging-type pants, but by the second week I started to get braver and found that many of his regular pants would fit over the cast, too.
Bathing has been the most challenging. I reverted to sponge baths on my bathroom vanity, like I did when he was a newborn. I lay down a bunch of towels, then wrap another towel around his leg, and then use a washcloth and soap to wash him down, part by part. I let him lay on his tummy and splash in the sink for awhile, and I let him pour the water cup over his head to rinse the shampoo out. He loves it! Makes a huge mess, but his leg stays dry and he has fun, so it's worth it.
As far as other activities, we have been doing a lot of crafts and indoor playdoh parties lately. He gets a little more TV and computer time than usual. But really, it hasn't affected our activities that much.
I'll send you an email with a few more details. Feel free to ask any questions, I'll be happy to put your mind at ease.
aw- poor Megan.
Jake broke both his tibia and his fibia a while back. I had NO clue until he started limping about 5 days later. By that time, according to the xray it was already starting to heal and had set itself correctly (thank goodness). So, no cast for him or anything. It is amazing how resilient these kids are. The hardest part is going to be trying to keep her still since it is so early!
Good luck and keep us posted on what the docs say tomorrow.
Jacob David (01/07), Matthew Isaac (12/08) & Kasey Elise (9/10)
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Oh no! Poor Megan and Poor Mommy. That must have been scary for both of you!
I am sure she'll heal super-fast but I'll still send tons of dust!