Sliver in foot!

[tacomaranch]

How on earth am I going to get this sliver out of DS's foot? He just won't let me get near it. I was thinking when he is asleep but I need his foot to stay still. It is small but I can't get any part of it and might have to dig it out.

Please give me your ideas!!!!

 

[KathyRN137]

Hi April!

Ouch!

Well, this job may be bigger than you can handle. Not because of the level of skill needed to take out a splinter, but because of the hypersensitivity your son experiences related to the ASD.

I'm not sure if you have acess to any dermatologists, but the derm I work for takes out slivers/splinters/foriegn objects from time to time. He has better instruments than your average set of tweezers, plus magnifying glasses. (As well as nurses like me who are really good at helping parents hold kids still!)

You can always get the pediatrician to do it, if you don't have acess to a dermatologist.

You don't want to leave it, because it may get infected, but you also don't want to mess with it yourself because you may cut or injur his foot while he is squirming. Plus, who needs all the emotional trauma?

Prior to the appointment, you can purchase an over-the-counter anesthetic cream containing lidocaine to apply to the area so it will be numb when the doctor is picking at it. Some brand names are LMX or Emla. Put it on an hour before. If he is very anxious, you can also "prep" him with a dose of over-the-counter children's benadryl.... it will make him a little sleepy so he wont fight and kick as much.

Hope this helps....


Kathy

 

[SueM in MN]

If you want to try something before going to the doctor, here's something.

One thing that works fairly often and won't hurt anything is using tape. (The best is clear packing tape)
Press the tape firmly on the area where the sliver is and then pull it off quickly in the opposite direction that the sliver went in (so it will follow the same path out as it took in). You don't have to get real close or see really well to do this, so you might be able to do it without him noticing while he is asleep.
I actually removed a thorn from my right thumb with tape this weekend. There was not enough of the sliver sticking out to catch hold of with a tweezers, but it was enough for the tape to grab.

 

[OneLittleSpark]

If you decide to 'operate' yourself, soaking the foot in warm water can help soften the skin, but obviously you can't do that very easily while he's asleep.

Good luck, I hope you get it out all right!

 

[tacomaranch]

Thanks Kathy and friends.

We don't have anything around but a GP for Doc and I don't know if I really trust him. He doesn't believe in autism, just bad parenting.

I am going to try the tape, then the soaking and see if I can talk him thru it. If not we are going to go to the city and have it taken out. Gas at $3.12 makes you think hard before traveling over 100 miles for a sliver but it has to come out and soon.

Thanks so much for the super ideas, we are going to try them now.

April

 

[KathyRN137]

April, I feel for you.

Some medical practitioners don't have a clue about the needs of autistic kids..... it's up to us parents to educate them, it seems!

Example: Billy broke his wrist 4 weeks ago. He was a real trooper through the splinting and the casting; probably because having the cast applied was like deep pressure, which he enjoys. Plus, immobilizing a fracture always makes it feel better.

My real concern came yesterday when it was time for the cast to come off. The physician's assistant comes in and I tell her that he is autistic and very hypersensitive to loud noise and anything metal near his skin.

(Clipping his nails and getting his hair cut are dreadful ordeals. He hates it.)

She says to him, "Oh, it just makes a loud noise like a vacuum cleaner, it doesn't hurt!", as she takes out the "saw" to begin removing the cast. I had to stop her and explain further.

"He is autistic. He is hypersensitive to the noise. He is nine years old and he cannot stay in the room when I vacuum because the noise hurts his ears. The vibrations of the saw hurt; he feels pain when neuro-typical children just feel the vibrations. You will need to work fast and let his father and I hold him down."

She looked at me like I had two heads.

Well, the saw began buzzing and of course, you could hear Billy's screams all the way out to the waiting room.

She struggled to remove the cast quickly. "Hold still, Buddy, it doesn't hurt!" What, are you deaf or something?? It does hurt, he is hyper-sensitive! Sometimes, I just don't know.

Follow your instincts and do what you think is best for Hunter...I'm sending you so it all works out happily.

Kathy

 

[Gabrielsbigtrip]

April, I feel for you.

Some medical practitioners don't have a clue about the needs of autistic kids..... it's up to us parents to educate them, it seems!

Example: Billy broke his wrist 4 weeks ago. He was a real trooper through the splinting and the casting; probably because having the cast applied was like deep pressure, which he enjoys. Plus, immobilizing a fracture always makes it feel better.

My real concern came yesterday when it was time for the cast to come off. The physician's assistant comes in and I tell her that he is autistic and very hypersensitive to loud noise and anything metal near his skin.

(Clipping his nails and getting his hair cut are dreadful ordeals. He hates it.)

She says to him, "Oh, it just makes a loud noise like a vacuum cleaner, it doesn't hurt!", as she takes out the "saw" to begin removing the cast. I had to stop her and explain further.

"He is autistic. He is hypersensitive to the noise. He is nine years old and he cannot stay in the room when I vacuum because the noise hurts his ears. The vibrations of the saw hurt; he feels pain when neuro-typical children just feel the vibrations. You will need to work fast and let his father and I hold him down."

She looked at me like I had two heads.

Well, the saw began buzzing and of course, you could hear Billy's screams all the way out to the waiting room.

She struggled to remove the cast quickly. "Hold still, Buddy, it doesn't hurt!" What, are you deaf or something?? It does hurt, he is hyper-sensitive! Sometimes, I just don't know.

Follow your instincts and do what you think is best for Hunter...I'm sending you so it all works out happily.

Kathy

Hi there Kathy!

It seems we live in such a mirrored world

My son had to have a cast put on about 2 months ago. He was jumping off the couch at my mother in laws and he smacked his elbow on the coffee table ( at least that's what we think happened because my mother in law was watching him and wasn't in the room that minute and he can't tell us what he did ).

Anyway, he was absolutely excellent getting his xrays and cast. Then came the SAW.

First of all, I WAS HORRIFIED! I tried so very hard to tell him not to worry but I really was scared. It looked to me like if the doctor slipped or pushed too hard he was going to chop up my BABY!

The only good thing I got out of it was that now when he is doing something dangerous I say "Gabriel, you don't want to have to get the saw do you?" and he stops immediately


April - I know I have used Nail clippers to try and clip the outer layer of skin a little bit to help get a splinter out but if it is in a sensitive area you may not be able to do that.

I sure hope you get it taken care of and in a non-scary fashion

 

[tacomaranch]

Hi Kathy and Gabrielsbigtrip,

Thanks for the encouragement. I feel like such an alien where I live in such a backwards world but I can leave the keys in the ignition at the store and if I forget my checkbook someone will bring it to me and smile. Very very small town.

However, they really don't understand at all!!! Remember the Doc said Hunter should not have a HP because there is nothing wrong other than I let him run. Ok, last time we saw that Doc. I have tried till I am blue and I bring him in for his eczema or something non evasive but after that it is to Jackson hole to the ped who specialized in SN.

God bless both of you for not ripping off heads!!! What part of hyper sensitive don't they understand??? Urg.

Sliver is still in foot but he is happy and I am going to try in the morning. He has been going on empty and he just needs to be in a good mood when we try to get it out. He won't even let me cut his nails so this is going to be interesting at best.

I will let you know how we do and I sure do thank everyone for the support. Who would think all this over a sliver?

April

 

[cymomtx]

Do you have a dentist in town maybe that could give him a little laughing gas to help you?

 

[WildGrits]

Is it a sliver of wood?

If the packing tape doesn't work and he isn't in pain, then I would clean the area and let it be. Eventually they will work their way out with normal shedding of the skin or the body will reject them with a minor skin infection.

Call Your Doctor Now If:
Deeply embedded foreign body (e.g. needle or toothpick in foot)
Foreign body has a barb (e.g. fish hook)
Foreign body is a BB (from a BB gun)
Foreign body is clear (glass or plastic)
Pencil lead or other pigment left in skin after foreign body removed
Foreign body is causing severe pain

 

[OneLittleSpark]

Some sort of padding over the area, such as a band aid or taped-down cotton wool, might help remove some pressure from the area, stopping it from working in deeper (and possibly relieving pain, if it's hurting). Even better, if your son would be OK with it, you could get a thin corn pad, the ones with the holes in, and line it up so the hole is over the splinter. You never know, that may help it pop out all by itself!

Best of luck!

 

[tacomaranch]

So far it is just a little sliver of wood from the back porch. It is tiny but he knows it is there because he won't let me near it, still.

For now we are just keeping an eye on it and see if it works out. The minute it turns pink we are straight to the Dr. in Jackson Hole!

Thanks for all the great ideas and now I have more tricks in my bag for treatments.

See you all in Disney in 11 days!

 

[Daydreamer64]

It's crazy but it might help- it worked for us!

We used elmer's school glue- we waited until our child was asleep- deep sleeping works best -a little bit of benedril works wonders for "stuffy nosed/splintery kids "- and we painted the area with glue- it will dry in a few seconds, it has to be clear to be dry not white colored- then we peeled the glue off of the area, as posted above, in the opposite direction of the way that the splinter went into the foot.

It worked for us as the tape has to get a hold but the glue filled in the edges and grabbed the splinter fibers really well- take your time peeling the glue off and make sure that you paint a thick layer of the glue or it will just flake off of the skin and you want it to hold together

HTH

 

[KathyRN137]

We used elmer's school glue-

Cool!! Sounds like it would work well!

Kathy

 

[SueM in MN]

I have used glue before. It doesn't always work, but it's worth a try (I tried it on my thorn and it didn't work on that).

 

[Poohnatic]

I don't know if it's still in there (gosh, I hope not).

For these types of things, I have anbesol in the house. Put it on, wait five minutes and the area should be good to go-especially if he's asleep. I've also used tape, but I'm pretty darn handy with those tweezers and don't really have to dig.

Good luck!

Suzanne