He's scared about the new cast

[justamom]

K is having his temporary cast off tomorrow and having a new fiber glass one put on... I am very honest when he has to have anything medical done, i have learnt from experience that it pays not to beat around the bush with him and it helps avoid any comeback.

 

I explained to him that tomorrow they will have to cut his exsisting cast off (went on to explain the drilling thing they use). He hates a hairdryer or clippers because of the noise it makes, i have to dry my hair in a different room, so you can imagine his fear of the drilling near his arm.

 

He kinda fobbed me off when i explained to him about the drill, but he has brought it up about 4times this evening about the drilling. He is scared of the noise and he says "what if they cut me"..

 

Do you think i should see dr first without him present and explain to him about his AS and see if they can use scissors instead of a machine. I'm not sure if they will be able to do that i dare n't mention this too him because thats when my problems will start....

 

Has anyone else been thru this with there children...

 

Justamom

[annie]

Hi Justamum,

 

When Alex broke his hand last year (twice), both times they used scissors to remove his plaster. I would ask if they could do the same. Alex was scared of the scissors at first, but the nurse was so fast it was all over and done with within seconds.

 

Annie

xx

[justamom]

I think that i will do just that Annie, i have also thought of ear phones for his mp3 player - that could help out alot.

 

 

Thanks

Justamom

[Brook]

Hi Justamom,

 

If it is a temporary cast they should be able just to use scissors.

When they put on the proper cast you could ask for 'soft cast' alot of kids have this

if it's appropriate for the fracture, with 'soft cast' when it's time to have it taken off

it can just be cut with scissors or even unwound.

 

Brook

[Paula]

<'> <'>

 

I hope it all goes ok.I too was going to suggest ear plugs or a mp3 player.

[justamom]

Hi all,

 

Just wanted to let you know how it went today... Poor kid was scared sh*tless, he wet the bed last night and he has been dry for the past 2mnths... I had to sleep in the same room as him he was that worried. We got to the app and it was so busy we had to wait for about 50mins and while in the waiting room, a little girl was called thru and K heard the drill and freaked out, i calmed him down and he seemed to settle, people were staring at us but i didn't bother looking at them. He put his jumper over his head to bloke things out and it worked for him.

 

The dr called us thru and i explained to him that K has HFA (his dx is AS, but with experience i have learnt that people dont really understand what AS is, when mentioning autism they understand). He was so nice, and suggested that K leave the temporary cast on and come back in 3weeks because he was that anxious. We left and half way down the corridor K says to me "NO, mommy i am a big boy i want a full cast", so had to go back and apologise and say he will attempt the full cast. I was so proud of my little lad, he really surprised me.

 

Had to explain all over again to another lady, who was doing the cast and she was even nicer than the dr, she understood about AS and explained everything she was about to do. Poor kids was so frightened he was shaking, she calmed him down and said today she would not use the drill but next time she would have to.

 

I asked if he could look at the drill, just then the phone rang and he jumped sky high, i had to stop myself from laughing out loud (the lady contained herself very well, coz he wouldhave been really peed off if i had of mad fun of him)Bless me !!!!

 

He was still quite shaky afterwards so its back to school tomorrow!!!!

 

Justamom

[justamom]

Forgot to add that i could not find the bleeding mp3 player in his room, typical coud not find it in all the mess and his game boy was not charged thats why he heard the drill..

 

Anyway it ended well

 

Justamom

[LKS]

justamum so glad to hear it went well. Why can you never find things when you want them

[Paula]

Glad it went well.Brave young man.

[patrick w]

Glad that went ok. I have a ridiculous history of medical situations... i have a 13 year old boy with AS (i also say HFA as fed up with the "what...." response)... the worst being trying to convince St.Thomas to bump him to the head of the queue when he split his finger open and needed surgery... they wanted to put him on the list and he would have to stay over night and maybe for a few days until he came to the top of the list.. Yeah... right..as if that was going to happen...Luckily there was a brilliant doctor who knew about As and made it happen..and my son conveniently semi-trashed a cubicle which also got things moving.. Bit heart breaking though, cant seem to handle the pressue or the sudden changes and uncertainty.. it took me 4 years to get him to a dentist ,,,, i tried about 10..half of which he just freaked out in.. got there in the end though, again via a dentist who had experience with AS..