United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Elisa -

I am also going to suggest that the person who is the most relaxed about the splinting be the one to be the active participant in the splinting.

I know that it's very hard for you to imagine how this is going to work out but it will. If there's any chance that your son's behavior is specific to his relationship to you, then I would highly suggest you rethink even being in the room.

I am saying this with a very compassionate heart and I certainly hope you don't take offense to this post. I'll tell you where I'm coming from... Maia is a very different person to Lou then she is to me. I cannot take her certain places because she acts up so badly - but Lou can and she's an angel (much to my chagrin).

When I was younger and still very scared of the dentist - so I made my husband take my eldest daughter to the dentist so that it would be a positive experience - I knew that my "vibes" would translate into a stressful situation.

So just some thoughts for further consideration....
-francine

Elisa,
We were told about 1-2 hours. They put on a baby mozart tape and Matthew played with some toys but he really didn't seem to mind me holding his arm. Part of me thinks they understand. Even when it comes to the not eating/drinking. I was worried how that would go but it wasn't even an issue. Mod Quad was much easier for us to go through because we went through with primary so we knew the drill.
(for mq they even made a splint for Matthew's teddy bear we took down with us).
The best advice I can give you is to relax and take it as it comes.

We took elmer's sparkle glue and decorated the straps when Matthew was sleeping.

The way the splint goes on if you go to TCH there's no question of a best stretched it's just fits in the splint the way it's supposed to go.

When it comes to bathing we got the wipes with soap on them that you can warm in the microwave. My hubby would hold the arm, I would take the splint off, wash-dry-then powder-then rom, then put the splint back on. We got shampoo in a cap so we were able to wash his hair with no problem at all. You learn how to streamline the splint process.

Cindy

As for the sparkle glue....I personally hate the stuff...so, I sat in the recovery area and made velcro decorations for Juliana's splint. I had purchased at Michaels (the craft store) a quantity of foam shapes (animals, flowers...) and some foam glue and some self-stick velcro. Remember, the straps for the mq splint are the same material as the "loop" part of velcro, so you only need the "hook" part. I made the decorations and then attached the velcro. I brought with me little scissors. We happened to wait a long time in recovery, so this helped to pass the time. Juliana got to pick which decorations she wanted on the splint. Now that she is older, I would include her in the manufacturing of these things. We still have them.

As stressful as the day is, don't forget to eat!

And, I agree with Francine, that the more relaxed person should be holding the arm. Juliana and I have not had this problem, she is always cooperative during splinting. And, I think they do "know". At one point in the holding room before biceps lengthening, she said "I want some chocolate milk" and I said "oh, we'll have that later." And that was okay with her. Normally, she would have kept on...

I can say that all will be okay, because I was there already, and it was okay. And I think mq is an INCREDIBLE surgery and gives so much to these kids. Because Juliana had the surgery at 14 months and she is now a few months past 3 years old. And mq seems so long ago. But it gave her movement she would NEVER come close to having with out it.

hope it helps,
claudia

Hi Elisa,
we just went thru the splinting ordeal about 3 weeks ago. I was like you very worried, Aaron is 16 mos old and is the busiest little boy I've ever met. However, time flew by while splinting. The OT was excellent, she talked and played with him, gave him toys, changed the channel or whatever it took to make him settle down and be happy. It really was no problem. I also freaked out when he started to move around with his splint off and me holding the arm. She just told me that this surgery was not like the primary where one wrong move could undo what was done. The only thing is that the arm has to be kept up in the air. So it was a relief. He liked the idea of his kitty sylvester getting splinted also. He kissed sylvesters big red nose when it was over. Also, there were other kids around getting splinted at the same time so Aaron spent alot of time watching them. Relax, it will be fine.
Paula

My son had mod quad at TCH also. The splinting process was a little difficult. Brandon was 14 months and very, very active. He broke the after surgery splint by banging it into the crib. He was crawling around like a fool two hours post op. The doctors affectionately called him the wild child. Tylenol three didn't even keep him down. We did the splinting with no Tylenol three because he was having problems with it making him crazy...wouldn't sleep or anything. We gave him regular tylenol and he was fine. It did take two child life specialists to keep him busy, but bubbles worked the best for him. They blew this child bubbles for at least an hour. They were great and I agree whole heartedly with the post op splinting since he too was quite swollen and if I remember right he had drains to prevent infection.