High Praise For Our Plaster Gauze!

My middle son broke his arm a little over a week ago. It's the first broken bone we've had in our family that has required casting (we've done the broken nose and broken tailbone, but it's rather hard to cast those!). Of course, it had to happen at home and, thankfully, my husband had just gotten home when it happened. I have the patience of Job and can remain eerily calm in the face of illness and high fevers lasting for days, but I don't do injuries well. Fortunately, it wasn't a bad break (are there any good ones, though?) and the little soldier only cried for about a half a minute and then said it just felt like a bad bruise.

So, we took a trip to the emergency room where, after much debate, the orthopedic surgeon on call decided to cast it right away. For those with no "broken bones requiring a cast" experience, apparently they like to splint these for a few days first to allow any swelling to go down. We got a cast, though, and a plaster one at that rather than the slick fiberglass ones you see so often now. I have to admit that I was a little excited to see the plaster be brought out because they use the same brand that we use in our belly casting kits! I said something about it out loud and one of the nurses asked what I did with it. I explained our belly casting kits, and she remarked that this particular plaster is the only plaster gauze they use because it's such a high quality product.

Fast forward a week when we went to our first follow up visit with the doctor. Everything looks good so far although he's looking at being in a cast for pretty much the whole summer which is a complete bummer. The doctor sent us to the casting room where my son was going to have a little extra done on the cast. Once again, the plaster gauze brought out was the same brand we use in our belly casting kits. Again, I remarked about this to our son, and the tech that was helping us asked what I did. When I told him, he told me about how it's the best plaster he's ever worked with and, as far as plaster gauze goes, he wouldn't want to use anything else on patients.

Since you probably aren't out there shopping for plaster gauze on a regular basis, I'll tell you that there are several different kinds on the market. For our kits, we tried everything out there and, just like the casting room tech said, we wouldn't want to use anything else for our customers, either. You might think that plaster gauze is plaster gauze, right? It's just cotton gauze with plaster in it, right? Well, yes; but no.

Some gauzes are very thin and flimsy, which results in a less than sturdy cast. Some have hardly any plaster in them, which, once again, results in a less that perfect cast. The plaster we use, though, is tightly woven and FULL of plaster that results in a creamy, smooth finish. Also, more plaster within the gauze means that the multiple layers in a belly cast will stick together nicely, leaving you with a sturdy cast that will last for years.

For sure, if my son had to break his arm, I wish it didn't have to be right at the beginning of summer. However, hearing such fantastic endorsements from hospital staff and someone who spends everyday working with casting materials really started my summer on a great note. At Eternal Maternal, we strive to provide our customers with the very best products. We've always said that we only sell items that we'd use on our own family (and we really DO use them on our own family!), I just never thought that part of our belly casting kit would be used on one of my sons!