Broken wrist

[heybets30]

In true 2020 fashion, my son fractured 2 bones in his wrist at school today.

He’s in a plastic brace to allow for swelling, and will get a plaster cast next week.

We’re supposed to head to WDW in 2.5 weeks. Obviously he’ll need a plastic bag for the water rides (since he doesn’t need to brace himself), and the big coasters are out.

Are there any rides that were unexpectedly toss & turn that you needed to hold on & weren’t planning on it?

Could he do FOP in a wrist cast? I heard Dinosaur is like Indy at DLR - that’d be too rough, right? He is so bummed. More about the pool time.

Trying to stay positive!!! I am so done with 2020. This all but guarantees another Halloween blizzard in Chicagoland this year. Like - what else can you pile on me!!!

Thanks!!

 

[Chernabog1940]

You don't say how old your son is who broke his wrist - 13 or 11. Many older children should be able to hang on with one hand. (And many do it 'no handed'.} You have to know your kids and their strengths.

 

[heybets30]

Good point - my 11-1/2 yr old son. He isn’t an arms-in-the-air kinda coaster boy ... more sit next to me & I throw my lower leg over his to reassure him that he won’t fly out (space especially - tho I guess WDW is single seats), big thunder he rides in his own seat but holds on. He would hold on for dear life on everest, so that’s a no, and no way he could do an upside down coaster, he’d need to feel safe by having a death grip on the supports.

He’s ridden Indy, and I think dinosaur is same track more or less? That one would be tough getting thrown around. Truth be told - I can’t ride Indy without making sure I have my best support bra on!!

Definitely not worried about Kali (he doesn’t hold on to Grizzly Rapids at DLR at all - will cover cast for sure), splash is fine, we’ll watch slinky first. Buzz, Star Tours.Pirates will be fine - and that’s his fave (next to space & BTMM), so he’ll get to ride many rides for sure.

Are there others besides splash & Kali where he might get wet???

 

[Best Aunt]

Pre-covid, you could get wet on the frozen ride in epcot. Not sure about now. Might depend on total weight of people in the boat. People will reply by saying they stayed dry but i got very wet.

i also have gotten wet on pirates.

 

[heybets30]

Best Aunt - I ALWAYS get wet on the 2 Pirates drops at DLR. last time I got Really wet, was crazy!! Glad I’m not the only one!

 

[rlk]

Have you thought about getting your son a waterproof cast?

 

[heybets30]

A waterproof cast?!?!?! Never heard of such a thing!! He’s in one now, sort of - a molded plastic support with velcro until the cast goes on next week.

 

[rlk]

My son broke his arm one summer while at sleep away camp. The waterproof cast allowed him to participate in most water activities.
https://orthotoc.com/regular-cast-vs-waterproof-cast/

 

[LizzyDragon]

FOP should be fine in a cast. There's a test seat outside the ride he can try out. The ride has some motion, but he should be fine one-handed. Dinosaur is like the Indy ride. That said, if he's comfortable being able to brace with just one hand, that would open up pretty much everything (assuming the doctor also gives the go ahead). Only RnR has an over-the-shoulder harness that would make it a little tricky to brace one-handed. Pretty much on everything else, you can brace leaning forward on the one arm.

If he's got good core strength, he may not need to brace at all. And really, if you don't brace, all that happens is that you lean into the restraints more. A bit of a weird feeling, but maybe one he can get used to by trying something gentler first.

 

[heybets30]

Thanks, LizzyDragon!! He’s in a hard cast - doc didn’t feel a waterproof one would be appropriate for the 2 breaks, he got put in a traditional cast. We trust the doc very much - has helped us thru 3 other broken bones between kids- he said his son same age as Andrew had a wrist break similar last summer and he wouldn’t use the waterproof one on him either. He also said Andrew has such sensitive skin that the lining on the waterproof one could cause an irritation even if not wet. This is Our first cast, as the broken kneecap had a massive cut too so couldn’t be closed up - brace; broken foot got a boot for 8 weeks; broken elbow got the molded plastic brace as it was healing quickly, so no casts.

shockingly - doc did say, have fun at wdw and gave us guidance for the rides. I was upfront & said Nov 7 we are hoping to go. Since he’s a younger doc,I think he gets “it”. He was like “looking at the numbers, you may be better off at wdw than Illinois!”. No Aerosmith Coaster for sure, Doc said if he’s ok hot holding in BTMR & Space, those would be ok, just not to hold his arm up way high! I was respectful & made cast off appt 5 weeks from today. The 4 weeks is less than 14 days after our planned return, so I couldn’t pass the hospital entry question “have you been out of state in the last 14 days?”

we have a watertight sleeve, will bring baggies for Splash & Kali probably, but may just tuck the sleeve in my day bag.

 

[Lumpy1106]

What specifically did he break? Reason I ask; I broke my scaphoid bone snowboarding years ago (caught my hand going through trees). It was REALLY slow to heal. I was in a plaster cast 6 weeks, went back to the ortho (still broke), cast #2. Went another 6 weeks, went back to the ortho, (still broke) - HOLD ON! I was done with the plaster cast - it was driving me nuts. I just wanted to wash my hands and wrap it so I could play soccer. I said no more plaster - put me in a removable plastic cast. The ortho was reluctant, but did it anyway. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!! My mindset improved 1000%. I could do THAT, practically forever. 6 weeks later it had healed.

OK, but you are about 2 weeks out now - that will put him in a plaster cast, but it should be short - like a gauntlet glove. The ortho will give you, or at least tell you about a plastic sleeve you can put the cast in so he can shower. That will work (really any plastic bag, but the cast-specific ones will work better). He's not going to get THAT wet on a ride.

Side note: Once the wrist was in a cast, the ortho did give me the green light to do one activity in particular - snowboarding. A cast is the best brace you can have - I wasn't going to break it again while I was in a cast.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

I hope you have a great trip

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

I will say just be very careful because you do NOT want a lot of movement or jostling. My sister broke her wrist when she was much younger (she was 6), both bones, it was terrible. We obviously didn't do a theme park back then but because she was active they ended up having to re-break her wrist because it wasn't setting right!