Cast t shirts

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

Sorry in advance if this message is too long-winded. My granddaughter, Maisy,

started her casting journey in January of this year at Riley Children's Hospital

in Indianapolis. She adjusted very well to the cast and had no problems with it

other than small marks on her abdomen where the cast rubbed on her hip bones.

Her correction from her first casting was nothing short of amazing as she went

from 86 degrees before the cast to 40 degrees out of the cast on May 6th. When

they applied the second cast (on the same day) she went down to 20 degrees in

the cast. This cast seemed quite different than her first cast as it went up

farther into her armpits and closer to her neck, was tighter and covered more of

her torso. Even though we knew it was more of an adjustment for her than her

last cast she seemed to be doing okay. We used the calendula cream on her

armpits and on her abdomen whenever those areas would get irritated. Two weeks

ago she started getting really irritated on her abdomen and would scream

whenever we changed her diaper. I called the hospital and made an appointment to

get her in. (We live in Ft. Wayne, IN which is a 2 1/2 hour drive to Indy.) By

the time we got her in (a few days later) Maisy didn't want to do anything

except lay down. Upon arriving at the hospital the doctor (not her regular

doctor-Dr. Shyam Kishan-who was out of the country) looked at her and said the

cast would have to come off immediately to see what was going on. Everywhere the

cast was her skin was deep red, severely irritated and the skin on her abdomen

was open and oozing. It was determined that this was fungal due to the heat and

her sweating, etc. The wound care nurses put silver nitrate pads on her abdomen

and we were told to bathe Maisy daily and put lotrimin cream everywhere she was

red. It is amazing how quickly she started to heal! Within a day the oozing

sores were closed and healing well. I took her back for a followup last week.

Dr. Kishan was back and said she was healing well and gave us a prescription for

silvadene cream to put on the areas. I asked him about the t-shirts that I had

read about here and whether or not Riley was going to start using them. He said

that yes they are but haven't gotten any yet because Riley is relatively new to

this procedure. He is not new to the casting as he had done it in California for

quite a while before coming to Riley. He said he is finding that Indiana is

quite different because of the summer heat coupled with the humidity. He is

hoping that the t-shirts will be there by the time she gets recasted. We see him

for another recheck this Thursday and then she will be scheduled for the new

cast. The reason I'm writing is because I wanted to know if there is anywhere I

can get the special t-shirts myself in case they don't get them at the hospital

before Maisy's next casting. I would really like to err on the side of caution

in case they don't arrive and have one that Dr. Kishan can use when he casts

her.

Thanks,

Chris