Broken Bones / Wire Removal

[944fan]

My daughter broke her arm last week (horse riding, very dangerous) the bone is held in place with two wires that were put in during surgery.

We went back yesterday and she had her stitches removed (20 of them, open fracture) and we have to go back in two weeks for the wire to be removed.

My daughter is only 7 and is going spare about having the wires removed. The Dr told her not to worry and it wont hurt. All the while a guy in the next cubicle was draining a gas and air bottle and make a right old fuss about having his removed.

Anyone got any direct experience of this? Will it hurt. I don't want to lie to her but I don't know what to say.

[The_Doc]

944fan said:

My daughter broke her arm last week (horse riding, very dangerous) the bone is held in place with two wires that were put in during surgery.

We went back yesterday and she had her stitches removed (20 of them, open fracture) and we have to go back in two weeks for the wire to be removed.

My daughter is only 7 and is going spare about having the wires removed. The Dr told her not to worry and it wont hurt. All the while a guy in the next cubicle was draining a gas and air bottle and make a right old fuss about having his removed.

Anyone got any direct experience of this? Will it hurt. I don't want to lie to her but I don't know what to say.

I've removed hundreds of wires from children.

Sometimes they hurt, sometimes they don't. The wires are often quite loose by 20 days (tell her this)

Talk her down between now and then, tell some well meaning fibs, and on the day make sure the consultant or the reg does it. That way it's over quickly and that's really the only way to minimise the issue. Quick and efficient.

oh, and bribe her afterwards with a treat

Don't try and ask for a general anaesthetic for it, the risks are unjustified for a 3 second job. I wouldn't have my child under GA for wire removal.

[944fan]

Thanks both. We have already greased the rails with the hospital about her being worried about it and the Reg came and sat with her and talked to her about it. Hopefully we can get him back to do the removal. The nurse who removed the stitches, as nice as she was, was a little ham fisted and shaky so would prefer her not to do it!

When she had the accident she had to have two tetanus injections which look like they fking hurt. We have been telling her it wont be as bad as those.

We definitely wont ask for a GA. She had to have one for the surgery and that was nerve racking enough (especially as they said it would be 1.5 -2 hours and was 4) so don't want her to have another one.

I think she is getting herself worked up because of the unknown. Unfortunately there are two to remove. When she had the tetanus the first one she didn't make much fuss, just said it hurt a lot. When they came back to do the other one she was not in a good way.

[944fan]

Wires came out yesterday. Came out really easily, no problems at all. Cast is off as well.

She has seen the physio and has some exercises to do but all in everything is great.

Only downside was she got car sick on the way back from the hospital and vomited all over the back of my S6.

[The_Doc]

944fan said:

Wires came out yesterday. Came out really easily, no problems at all. Cast is off as well.

She has seen the physio and has some exercises to do but all in everything is great.

Only downside was she got car sick on the way back from the hospital and vomited all over the back of my S6.

Bicarb of soda in warm water to remove the smell, once you've finished mopping up the bits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTN7Mhv59KA

trust me, it's the only thing to get rid of the smell.

I nearly threw away a rug, this was my lasp gasp. Liberal dabbing with bicarb then leave your windows open on a hot day to dry out

[944fan]

Cheers Doc, will give that a go.

[The_Doc]

Fix things at work, fix things at home.

Last night, having spent the day in trauma theatre I got home to find the downstairs bog blocked, a yoyo in two pieces, and the wife's TomTom refusing to update.

Slow-forward to 11pm, and 2 out of 3 are mended and I sleep like a baby. Insomnia is for people who aren't busy enough !

best wishes

[FlyingMeeces]

Well done 944fan Jr.

Glad it's all done.

I fell to bits when my daughter had surgery because they'd told me lots of times how long the op was, which really drew my focus to that, but nobody had mentioned she'd be being got ready/sorted out after for AGES, which does not get counted as part of the length of the op because, well, it ain't, but the length of time the surgeon's busy is definitely not the primary information a terrified parent about to have their 1 year old unzipped more or less stem to stern and replumbed needs to know: the expected gap between taking them in for anaesthetic and the return to ICU (or seeing them in recovery) is! With a cooler head and the benefit of 18 months hindsight I can see that clinically the amount of time they actually spend on the table is a huge deal (every op under general I've ever had myself was ludicrously short and straightforward and even with a GA just didn't really have that as a major factor), but as a parent the length of time you'll go before seeing your baby is the really crucial bit. And it really did a number on me. Maybe similar thing for you, 944fan?

[944fan]

Yeah the anesthetist told my daughter she would be asleep for 1.5 - 2 hours when she asked and we assumed that would be the lot. It was 4 hours in total. Think the surgery took a while as there was a lot of cleaning of the wound to do. Used 6 litres of fluid.

But yeah it was very worrying, especially as once they are in theatre there are no further updates, so you have no idea if everything is going fine or if they are any problems. Not something I want to go through again.