Is it what you thought?

I know that it is difficult to imagine what Delaney's cast looks like. When people see her in it they either think it's much better than they imagined or much worse. So I thought I would post some pictures of it to help show exactly what it looks like and explain why it looks the way it does. Before they actually apply the cast they put a tank top like shirt on her. The shirt is antimicrobial, which means it inhibits the growth of bacteria, fungi, and viruses. So it helps keep her skin under the cast dry and healthy. Delaney's cast is under the arms, although some can be over the arms or over just one arm depending on the child's curve. It comes all the way down to her pubic bone in the front and the tail bone in the back. Which makes diapering a huge problem. We have to change her much more during the day and each diaper has to be tucked up into the cast. We have already had a couple of leaks...which means we have to pull the t-shirt as far down at the bottom as we can and hand wash it. Then blow it dry. The t-shirt can not be removed so it is already looking a little worn. At night, because she sleeps through the night, we have to have extra protection. We take an overnight maxi pad (recommended by Shriner's) cut in half, we place one half in the diaper and one half sideways at the top of the diaper in back. Then tuck in the pad as far as we can into the cast, pull the diaper up over the cast and tape it in place. So far this method seems to be working.

Back to how the cast looks. The front of the cast is cut out to allow room for her tummy and her ribs so she doesn't develop a chest wall deformity. They also cut a hole in the right side of the back of the cast. Because her curve is to the left, the cast pushes on the left side of her body to straighten it out. So the hole in the right side is to allow room for the ribs to grow to the right. Obviously, you still see the t-shirt under the holes in the cast. As you can see we chose a pink cast for her although not much pink shows. They apply waterproof tape along the bottom of the cast and over the section under her chin to help keep the cast dry. The nurses apply the moleskin petals, which are brown, all around the edges of the cast to make it softer and to help keep it dry. Shriner's gave us extra petals and tape so that we could change out the old as needed. Delaney's cast weighs about 2-1/2 pounds which is about 20% of her body weight, so moving around was difficult at first. But about 6 days later she was back to doing all the things she's always done at the same speed. The hardest thing was probably sitting up. The cast looks very uncomfortable but she has adjusted very well.

I truly feel terrible for the families that have to go through this for long periods of time. It is quite an adjustment. There are so many little things to think about. Diapering, bigger clothes, keeping her cool, keeping her dry etc.. Not to mention watching them struggle to do everyday activities that were so easy for them before. But children are resilient and so strong. Luckily she will not even remember this time, even though I always will.