I decided to stop working for the duration of Malcolm’s recovery. Our kids needed both parents at home during this time. While we all focused so much on Malcolm, keep in mind our determination to ensure a normal life for Sophie and Nicole.
Here are a few insights and experiences of living with a 2-1/2 year old with a spica cast. We used the internet to get very helpful and useful information from other parents who blogged about their experiences. I will try to cross post the information below to make it easier for other parents in similar circumstances to benefit from our story.
BODILY FUNCTIONS
We were extremely fortunate on two critical points:
1) Malcolm is a boy. Boys can pee in bottles.
2) Malcolm had become fully potty trained a couple of months before his leg break, which is not common for 2 year old boys. This made it much easier for him to communicate what was happening – number 1s or number 2s – so we could help avoid messes.
Malcolm didn’t like the idea of using diapers / nappies with the cast so we mostly let him have his “freedom” in that respect. It wasn’t a faultless experience but let’s just say that looking back it was mostly tidy and it could have been FAR worse.
Bathing wasn’t too bad – we used lots of towels around him for washing hair, aided by bowls of warm water. We sponge bathed him elsewhere and he usually helped which made it a much easier process.
Eating was actually ok as Malcolm has always been a good eater. Soups could be consumed easily with a straw (we puree our soups over here, French style). Finger foods were also very handy. Occasionally we would do more complicated foods that required a fork or spoon.
STAYING ENTERTAINED
Having toys and books nearby is important. Cars, little people collectibles, big puzzles, musical things etc. It was also fun to build castles out of blankets and pillows, and later on when the weather was nice, playing in the garden on our patch of grass – often in our 2-man dome tent. Most important of all for us was having some electronic entertainment nearby (smatphones and ipads). This was a life saver during the hospital stay – luckily I had loaded various videos and games beforehand which has become standard procedure for our long car and airplane trips. Once we were back home, using an ipad or smartphone seemed to help Malcolm feel more in control and less dependent. He could self-select apps and videos without too much help.
GETTING OUR CASE TRANFERRED TO A LOCAL DOCTOR
This wasn’t as bad as we were expecting. Our local UK NHS hospital readily accepted the referral from the French hospital. We were dealt with efficiently if not always speedily. The treatment set in motion in France was carried through as originally intended by the UK Orthopedic team. Through our various appointments, we came to realize that lots of kids and adults alike break bones!
TRANSPORT TO DOCTOR APPOINTMENTS
We were concerned about this topic due to the need for special transport as Malcolm couldn’t ride in a child car seat. There are special seat belts you can purchase that basically strap kids like him in laying down in the back seat but we wanted to avoid any more mental trauma to Malcolm. We could have opted for ambulance pick up and drop off but that seemed such a waste and a lot of hassle to organize. We also didn’t want to tie up an ambulance which would risk depriving some poor soul who might have an emergency need.
Luckily, our local hospital to which Malcolm was referred is just over a mile from our house which is an easy walk. Also, due to my procrastination, we still had our trusty five year old Phil & Ted buggy in the shed. If you aren’t familiar with the Phil & Ted navigator buggy, have a look here:
http://philandteds.com/uk/Products/Push/navigator#.UukJunk4nbQ
These are a necessity for any parents with two or more children less than 4 or so years apart. We had an idea that proved to be the best solution: a) put the buggy into the “newborn” configuration, seat laid flat, then b) pile small pillows to create a soft flat platform riding pad.
Although his legs & cast stuck out of the front, it proved to be the best way to get Malcolm to the hospital and back. It took about 20 minutes each way. We made the round trip journey 4 times and we made other journeys to get out and about. This was an unexpected amount of freedom which lifted all our spirits. We could go to local shops and our local market – hooray!
EMERGENCY SUPPORT
Prior to Malcolm’s incident, we had booked another USA summer trip for July. Nicole’s passport was due to expire before then so we had to apply for a new one at the US Embassy in London. This required both Nadine and I to appear with her which created another challenge. How could we do this with Malcolm’s requirements? The solution made itself available to us pretty much without having to ask: school parent network to the rescue!! Thanks again to Sandrine and Elizabeth (who Malcolm knew and was comfortable with) for providing vital sitting services to enable us to get Nicole’s passport renewed!
