Is this normal?

Is the skin beneath the front slab intact? Can you remember seeing a tiny cut- if so this maybe infected. If no cuts, it is probably perspiration.

My leg stank when my full plaster was removed- it just needed a good wash and soaked with cream.

Is the slab for 3 or 6 weeks?

I sympathise. Yes, it's normal. All you can do is to try to thread a baby wipe between the bit where your thumb comes out and the bit where your fingers come out. And when it gets itchy use a pencil with a rubber on the end. I know they tell you not to, but it becomes unbearable.

Charleygirl the slab will be replaced by a full plaster on Wednesday. I don't think there were any cuts but can't be sure.

Thanks MiceElf I'll try the threading through tip.

Is "slab" your local term for a hard plaster?

My DD now in Yorkshire used the word Pot and I didn't have a clue what she meant at first.

It's a back slab that's applied until swelling has subsided then a proper cast can be applied

I once had arm in full length angled plaster for 3 months - you do not want to know the state of the stitches surgical scar underneath or the smell when they finally removed it! Yuk and double yuk!!

Skin does get wiffy under a plaster - skin needs fresh air and opportunities to dry out properly. Some good suggestions here. I hope it will be better soon.

baubles take a supply of wipes with you on Wednesday, there is no reason why you cannot clean your arm as much as possible after removal of the backslab and before the full POP goes on.

Nelliemoser does your DD not mean POP for plaster of Paris. I am aware that it is made of something else now, the name escapes me but it has the same effect. The pea brain has packed up.

No. Everyone in the north knows what a pot is. If it's on your arm or your leg it's made of plaster of Paris. If you mash the tea in it, it's earthenware.

I know exactly what you mean baubles as I asked the same question on here last July. My hand smelt too and I managed to clean it with baby wipes and antiseptic gel pushed down with a chop stick. I then realised that my hand had not been cleaned before the back slab was put on and I had slipped in a garden where hens run free ! My back slab was not removed before a full cast was put on but the whole thing was removed and replaced when my fingers became swollen - go back immediately if that happens to you. I also found a chop stick better than a pencil to alleviate the itching which the plasterer told me was all in my mind ! Like hell it was ! I hope you mend quickly.

When my sons had their plasters removed from broken legs, the stench was awful but luckily they were then able to bathe.
Confusingly, when I first met my Yorkshire MiL, I didn't know what 'washing the pots' meant. I soon found out that the 'pots' in this context were the dishes.

My nurse friend advised me about the rubber tipped pencil. She said if you use something hard you might break the skin and then let in infection and that would be really nasty.

Anno I still wash the pots. I know it isn't, but 'doing the dishes' sounds unbelievably posh to me.

Just thought of something else baubles !
The next plaster is likely to be a fibreglass bandage which is put on wet. It seems to work very well EXCEPT as it is fibreglass the edges can be very sharp. My first one was put on seemingly well but after a short time the edges were cutting into my palm and also near the elbow. The second time (put on by a different person) the edges were carefully covered and the difference was amazing. Check carefully for the sharp edges before you leave the plaster room !