Garment Quest '05

Allo all!

We've been working with a fitter for a couple weeks on all the lovely insurance nonsense that goes with getting an overnight garment for J. We originally measured for two custom JoviPaks, to the knee, with the lycra oversleeve and velcro closure. Got medical necessity approval (yAy!!!), then found out the price I was quoted last week was (gulp!) PER leg. ow. I had just about worked out how to pay for it since they require payment upfront and the insurance may take as long as 60 days to reimburse whatever percentage they cover (60 - 100%, depends on the insurance they said) and then this...

We mainly want to do this to help us be more compliant. J has been missing activities all summer because I hatehatehate doing her massage and wrapping. What take 90 min with me AND the therapist at the hospital takes 3 hours (yes, hours) when it's just me at home with all of home's distractions and pleasures. She's four, still not quite old enough to 'get' that she HAS to do this short of me physically restraining her. So, we skip activities rather than unwrapping because as much as I try to plan, I always manage to not re-wrap til the next therapist visit. The garments will help since they eliminate 30-45min of fighting to get padding and underlays on, and only require one bandage over for a lil extra pressure.

If this is going to work she has to like the garment/be willing to wear it. Well, now we find out if we want velcro (& we gotta have it, she wouldn't even put her foot into the big oversized arm sleev because she didn't like that it was closed in...) we drop down to two colors, both of which she hates...

The jovipak website is seriously frelled right now, or just badly designed since I'm having a ton of trouble with it using my firefox browser...

So, I'm looking into overnight garment alternatives and wondered if anyone has any recs? We are definitely not going to do a Reid sleeve, they are WAY too pricey for the limited amount of time it will be good with her growing. I've looked at these, tentatively, so far. Any input?

J had a tribute boot when an infant, only it covered the foot completely, and her leg to the thigh top, with large velcro tabs across the front and looked similar to a shoe in that it had a large 'tongue' (also foam fillied and channeled) from the mid-dorsum of her foot to the top of the garment. I'd LOVE to find another of these but don't think they make them.

I've looked at the circ-aid silhouette as well, but not sure since it looks like they are all of a piece & would require her to slide her leg in all the way down... Which only works if she's feeling really cooperative.

I found the Contour garment on the Reid Sleeve/Peninsula Medical site, but dunno.

This "Nightsleeve" has intrigued me; I just found it and had never seen any reference to it before but the website is more than a little bare when it comes to sizing info, etc.

I'm curious about Bio-Concepts' product, but unsure about their coverage for lower extremity LE. Plus they look more like stockings than overnight garments, and we all know how I feel about stockings...

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These are the only garments I've been able to find besides the Reid sleeve, anyone else have any ideas? We're looking for an overnight-type garment, not a stocking (she really hates those! And, honestly, so do I, I can never get the durn thing on, which kinda defeats the purpose, and she used to complain that it hurt...)

Thanks!
dy

“I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.”
-Dame Margaret Thatcher