How I Feel About This Waterproof Cast

I HATE it.

I asked the surgeon before she went in for the cast change about the waterproof cast and specifically whether it was equally as comfortable.  He assured me it was and he recommended it.  In fact, he said, you can completely submerge your child in a bath or the pool.  Sounds great!

When Mackenzie came out of the O.R. she was upset pretty much until we left.  I was so happy to see that free leg and I didn't really care about much else besides comforting and consoling Mackenzie.  We rushed to get the cast pedalled despite the annoyance that the tape was not sticking at all.  Later I realized that the cast was likely still a bit wet however the nurse was the one telling us to pedal it, so we did.  I just wanted to get out of there.

When the Occupational Therapist came to check out our carseat situation I also asked her about the waterproof cast and any special care instructions that would be different than her first cast.  She said that while you "can" get the kids wet with no damage to the cast she would not recommend submerging them in water.  The concern would be whether or not the cast would fully dry out on the inside.  This was a concern I also had in the back of my mind so we made the decision that we wouldn't do anything differently than we did when she did not have a waterproof cast.  Sponge baths will continue for another 6 weeks.

The main difference with the waterproof cast is the inside and"stuffing" material of the cast.  Unfortunately it is really hard to get a photograph of the inside of the cast.  In her first cast the inside was cotton and it seemed to be a solid piece of cotton with a layer of "stuffing" between that and the fiberglass.  This cast the "stuffing" is almost a plasticy mesh type material that is long strips wrapped around.  This makes the pedalling terrible because the tape will just stick to one of the layers or pieces of this mesh and that can be moved quite easily.  Pieces end up moving, coming up out of the cast, and worst of all, allowing the tape to stick to her poor skin.

This shows how the tape and stuffing come out the top of the cast.

The inside layers stick to the skin and pull away from the fiberglass

We have also been having a more difficult time with diapering in this cast.  It's not the best for shoving the smaller diaper inside as it is not as loose as the first cast in that area.  We can just fit a size 3 or 4 (depending on type) around the whole outside but it tends to shift down off the cast onto the leg that is free and then can gap and we have had a few pee accidents leaking out of the cast.  At night we do the double diaper, but during the day we just make sure to change her frequently and adjust the diaper if it seems to be shifting.  We had a large blow out after she had been in the carseat and poop got up the back of her cast.  We cleaned it out the best we could and ended up cutting out part of the inside piece that we couldn't get clean and then just taping it back into place.  We are doing the best we can.

At the end of the day, I definitely would NOT go for the waterproof cast again if given a choice.  Given the fact that we still wouldn't get her wet.  There are no plus sides to the cast and a plethora of negatives.