Hello there. I hope everyone is doing okay today. I was wondering if anyone has had this experience and any suggestions/tips to share. My daughter fell at school and broke her right clavicle. I saw the xray and it is literally in half - not cracked. Horrifying. Anyway, she is to wear a brace for 6 weeks and not doing anything where she could fall again (ride bike, climb, etc.). My questions are:
1) any tips on pain management? We are using motrin and tylenol during the day. Her doctor gave us a prescription for tylenol with coedine for the night. Any other tips or insight?
2) any tips/suggestions for clothes? It is HARD to get clothes on her unless they button. I am having trouble finding button-up jammies and shirts for the summer. We live in Texas, and it's about to get hot.
3) anyone find a cute or decorative kid's clavical brace? she hates hers so much. It is just black, and I really think she'd like it if I could find a pink one or something decorative. I am terrible at googling. I tried but have had no luck.

I'm sorry this is long. You guys always seem to have great ideas. Thanks in advance.

Susanne

gbg @ 31.6
5/2006

Hi Susanne,
Sorry to hear about your daughter's fall. Both of my older kids broke their clavicle - one fell off the climbing structure at preschool when he was 5, the other one fell off the dining chair when she was 4.
I am surprised the doc wants her to wear the brace that long. Mine were both back in the swing of things within one week (no more pain when lifting their arm). Amazing how fast these kiddos heal. As long as they wore the brace during that first week, they had no pain and didn't need any meds. We did mostly button up shirts and cardigans/sweater jackets, so they wouldn't have to lift the arm.
Best of luck. You'll be surprised how fast she will feel better. But feel free to pamper her a little - makes her feel special .
Petra
DS 08/02
DD 05/04
BBG 05/09 32.1 weeks

Oh, I forgot to mention this: Don't freak out if there is a really hard knot forming where the bone broke. It will eventually go away but is part of the healing process. It really shoked me the first time around. And the bruising - I had never seen such a rainbow of colors on a person before

DS 08/02
DD 05/04
BBG 05/09 32.1 weeks

One of my sons broke his clear in half when he was about two. It was horrible to look at on the Xray but they didn't even give him a sling. He was literally back in action in about a week. I had to follow up with the ortho after the ER visit. THey saw him a few days later and he was trying to hang, yes hang, from a table. I was about ready to vomit but he didn't seem to care. I had to stop him from doing things because it didn't seem to hurt him at all after a week. I guess all that to say she will be better before you know it at least enough to put clothes on her.

www.myliltees.com

Mom to Ciaran Thomas, Colin Francis and Cormac Robert. Born at 31.5 weeks.

http://lilypie.com>

I broke mine twice when I was little. I remember m mother being frustrated by the clothing thing, but we settled on button up shirts. Eventually wear polo dresses (I remember this because I had a favorite), but it took some fanagling.
Would a paint pen work on her brace? So friends could sign it like a cast? Or iron on patches or something?
Hope she feels better.
Ali
Jack, 8 1/2
Abraham, Dylan and Zane 6 1/2
and now . . . . Tobias, new last June!

Thank you for your suggestions and concern. We are doing much better 2 1/2 weeks from the injury. I haven't been medicating her for pain the last few days. She's sleeping great, though that first week was tough b/c she kept rolling over on it and then crying. We wore button up shirts and sleeveless dresses that she could slip into until yesterday. I'm now able to get her into loose t-shirts. It really is amazing how quickly they heal. We have a doctor's appointment Monday, and I can't wait to see the xray.

A coworker made a slip-cover for the brace. She made detachable pink fairy wings to go with it. Precious.

Thanks again for taking the time to weigh in. God knows we are all so busy!

Susanne

gbg @ 31.6
5/2006