United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Okay, yet another question about the caps...Are shirts worn over or under the splint? Juliana is scheduled for April, very changable weather here in NY. By the time it is off, it could be summer. Does a coat fit over it? How many sizes up do you need to go?
Francine: I took a look at your photos from the new hospital, you could really fit all your stuff in the room? I am going alone, but was considering keeping the hotel room for the carseat and such.
thanks, claudia

My daughter just had the caps 16 weeks ago. We just finished with the second 8 weeks in the brace. I would say if you are the only one going with your daughter I wouldn't pay for a hotel. There is quite a bit of room in the rooms and the staff is really helpful. If something doesn't fit I'm sure they will help you find room for it. About the clothes, my daughter wore a size 3 before the splint and we bought her size 6 t-shirts to fit over the brace. It worked well. She could even wear some size 4s. She didn't wear anything under the brace. We did have a couple of soft t-shirts in case she broke out from the brace. But she didn't need them. For a coat we bought a couple of Arizona fleece light jackets from JC Penneys. They were size 6 and they zipped all the way down. We also discovered that large sweat shirts fit too about size 6. Stretchy materials work best. We didn't buy a heavy winter jacket. If it was really cold we put a sweat shirt on her and then one of her fleece coats on top. I hope this helps if you have any other questions feel free to email me robnjodi@olypen.com
Jodi

claudia - whatever you are carrying on the airplane or car -- well at least 5X that amount can fit in your room! they are huge! and there are storage compartments everywhere - even behind the pillows on the couch!!

As far as clothing is concerned - Maia normally wears 6-6X and she was in size 10. The caps splint was different for mod quad because maia had a 90/90 bend and it took up more room in the sleeves.

The coat - we had gotten a size 8 coat on sale (for later on) and it didn't fit - the size 10 did however. Thrift stores are great for splinting clothes!

We always do undershirts underneath because she has major skin breakdown and I would put a size 10 turtleneck on top (when it was really cold) or just a t-shirt on top. She did have a size 10 sweatshirt that worked well. Ask your friends if they have an older child if they have any extra coats/clothes hanging around - ya never know.

I have all the caps pictures on the site now...and the splint pictures...did you see those?

-francine

Claudia....my son just had the mod quad/caps surgery in Feb. We stayed at the Crowne (across the street from hosp.) We did not keep our hotel room while we were in the hosp. The hosp. rooms are plenty big enough, with lots of storage space.. There were two of us staying in my sons room and we were comfortable. As for the clothes....Kyle was a size 4 before surgery. I bought size 6/7 for after. They work fine. I could still actually get his winter coat on, just not with his hand out of the sleeve. I hope this helps....if you have any questions feel free to ask me.
Take care.
Karrie

We also live in the NY area so we can sympathize with the crazy weather we have been having. My son Justin had his caps done eights weeks ago and we just removed the splint on Monday. He is doing well. I would recommend a size or two above regular size. It looks like a big contraption but most of Justin's clothes worked o.k. We cut the sleeve of an old leather jacket and that worked fine. If you have any other questions, please feel free to write. Good luck to you!

Hi, Claudia. Mostly just posting to reinforce some of the others' comments. We've never put shirts on underneath the splint, just over them. I think that the therapists recommend that you don't put a shirt on under the splint so that you get a better fit. I would say the exception would be if Juliana has any skin breakdown problems, etc. Thankfully, we haven't had that problem. Nicole was mostly wearing 3Ts before the Caps surgery and mostly wore size 6 after surgery. Sometimes the long sleeved shirts are a bit tougher and you might need a size 8 or be willing to cut the seem at the wrist b/c it's tight in that spot especially. You might find the same thing for a coat. Try to find something with a loose fitting wrist b/c again that's usually the hardest part.

If it is just you, then I would DEFINITELY say don't keep the hotel room. The hotel might even be willing to store the car seat for you after you checkout if you want to avoid having to lug it over to the hospital. If you do bring it to the hospital though, it will fit in the room. The new rooms are very big and have lots of closet space -- even if you had a travel companion, you'd have room.

Oh and another thing about clothing, if Juliana likes to wear dresses, I've found that the best dresses to get with splints are the kind that you wear over a shirt. I don't what you call that style, but it works really well b/c you have a large opening for the arm and you just put it over the splint first, then over the head then over the other arm. Sometimes you can even get away with the same size that they're already wearing. I've decided that I will buy this style for most of Nicole's dresses that way if I've already bought her clothes for the season and she has surgery, I'm pretty much set for dresses -- just need to buy a differen / bigger shirt for underneath it. She's tall too so she usually has a little extra room in her clothing.

I hope this helps. Keep asking ?s as you think of them. I hope all goes well. You prob. haven't had time to think about it, but any idea about a NY gathering with Dr. Nath? Thanks.

-Tina )