You see, my youngest son broke his leg on June 30. To make this long story short (and it is a long story), we were at our family reunion in St. Louis, he broke two bones on a swing, we visited two emergency rooms while we were there, we rode all the way back to Houston with a temporary cast, we received excellent treatment at Texas Orthopedic Hospital (Dr. Guggenheim, to be exact), and a series of doctor's appointments (and a couple of doses of anesthesia), we are now in the final stages of this whole episode (thankfully!).
In the midst of it all, by son was quite traumatized by the event and the pain. Lots of screaming (him), lots of hand-holding and hugs (me), lots of holding back tears (also me). When we got settled at home and with his new cast (a whole-leg cast), he had trouble sleeping. Well, not just trouble. Try screaming fits - night terrors that were 2-3 per night at 30-45 minutes per screaming fit. Needless to say, we got little sleep in that first 4-5 days with the new cast.
So, what do many parents do when faced with childhood issues?
We said lots of prayers. And we Googled.
What we deduced through our non-scientific internet research is that our son was a) traumatized and b) couldn't get comfortable in the cast while sleeping. We tried re-positioning him and using pillows. This helped some, but we was still periodically waking up screaming.
Enter CastCoverZ. This is a company that specializes in making covers for casts. They have arm and leg covers that are sized to your specifications. There are covers for daytime, sleeping, and even waterproof covers. The covers come in almost any fabric you desire. Who knew?
Timing is everything. I was invited to try this product precisely when we were having this issue. So, I jumped at the chance to explore it. When our kit arrived, we received a daytime cover (called LegZ -in a red Spiderman-type fabric), a flannel sleep cover (called SleeperZ - with trucks), a t-shirt (he is now an official member of the Broken Bones Club), and a CastCooler (for itchy cast relief).
Here's a (poor) picture of the SleepCoverZ product we received:
And here is the lovely handwritten note that my son received from the company.
My son used and enjoyed the daytime cover the first day. When it was bedtime, we anxiously put sleep cover on his leg, with big hopes that the night-time screaming would be reduced.
He didn't scream at all that night. He slept through. And he has slept all the way through every night since.
Ahhh... sleep!
I don't have a scientific answer. I am not a sleep expert, a parenting expert, or a broken bones expert. All I know is that when we began using the SleepCoverz product from CastCoverz, the night terrors vanished. Completely.
My son liked the sleep cover so much that he ended up wearing that one most of the time - day and night. We also tried the cooler, and he said that it felt like there was a fan inside his cast. But since he's not experiencing lots of itching, I can't say whether or not it provides itch relief.
We've since moved on to a below-the-knee cast (and it comes off in two weeks if all is well. Yay!) But, I can't speak highly enough about our experience with CastCoverz products, and specifically, the SleepCoverZ. If you ever find yourself in a broken-bone situation, I highly recommend the products to make an uncomfortable situation more bearable. They are reasonably priced, and there are covers for almonst any broken bone.
If you want to know more about the Cast Coverz line of products, visit their site - www.castcoverz.com.
Disclosure: I received the aforementioned Cast Coverz products for the purpose of facilitating this review. Because I realize that parents highly regard the opinions of other parents, I take great care in sharing my opinion with you. The views expressed by me in the article above are my own and were not influenced in any way by the company. Thank you for reading!
