Anyone here have to bring their child in for a surgical procedure at a surgery center?
I have a few weeks before my son's procedure is scheduled and I am struggling with what to tell him is going to happen. He's 6, so he understands what is going on, he has been in the room when we've discussed the procedure, but he's also very anxious, and I don't want him to get too worked up before hand.
nectarine / 2821 posts
@looch: definitely reach out to the child life department at the surgery center. If they don't have one, check at the main hospital. They are so, so awesome.
persimmon / 1286 posts
We had ear tubes done for DS last week (he is 2.5). Obviously it's a different situation, but I tried to calmly explain what was going to happen, stressing that it would be FAST and he would be back with us quickly. And we would have milkshake when he woke up.
Maybe focus on a treat/toy he can have when it's over? Sending you all good vibes.
coconut / 8430 posts
@looch: My daughter was 3 when she had to have a brief procedure done. She understood why it was happening. It wasn't a painful procedure (no cutting, so no recovery time) so it was a pretty positive experience for her. She went back to the OR with DH and was ok with it all. She was really excited for the recovery room Popsicle and teddy bear that they gave her.
My son is having a procedure done in a few weeks and I'm really nervous about it. He's only 1 so he won't remember, but he also won't understand why he's hurting. 
grapefruit / 4418 posts
Definitely call child life. If not, I'd just discuss it with him the day before. Start vague and see what questions he asks.
pineapple / 12566 posts
We haven't gone through this, but I think I would probably start talking about it with him. If you already know how the procedure is supposed to go, I would maybe narrate a discussion about it so he knows what to expect. With my son, I definitely wouldn't spring it on him a day or two beforehand. I would probably also promise some kind of toy/treat that we could go pick out (if he's able) or bring to him in recovery so that he has something to look forward to.
pomelo / 5678 posts
We are about to go through this. I don't plan to tell her ahead of time, but she's 3. I'm not sure what to do.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
I will try calling the surgery center to see if they have a child life department, thank you for those suggestions.
From what I gathered, the anesthesia will be administered via a mask. The procedure is all of 5-7 minutes, so the wake up and recovery is what I am anticipating to be bad. I think my husband will go back to the OR, I can't calm down and get jumpy in those situations, so he'll do a better job of calming him down.
I have thought about telling him the day before, but I think he'd want some time to process, so I think maybe the Saturday/Sunday before the procedure would be a good time to show him pictures of what it might look like? We're staying in a hotel close to the center the night before because our call time could be anything after 6:30 and I think it would be best if we just have a short ride there.
persimmon / 1286 posts
@looch that's how it was for my son, when he woke up from being under he was angry and disoriented and thirsty. he drank 2 cups of water and then threw up (this is common side effect). I know some kids get even more upset from throwing up so keep that in mind. This period only lasted like 20 mins though.
coconut / 8430 posts
@looch: from what I understand, a short amount of exposure to anesthesia results in a short recovery time. My daughter was exposed for 1-2 minutes and she recovered immediately. My son's exposure was a few hours and it took him a little while longer to wake up and recover. They warned me that my daughter might be loopy the rest of the day, but that wasn't the case.
persimmon / 1427 posts
Also ask if the surgical center does anything special for kids. The surgery center we have gone to gives kids a stuffed animal.
We're in a similar situation with our 5 year old. She knows about her procedure and we've walked through it with the doctor to prep her.
Here's what we've said:
We talked about how we have to get up REALLY early that morning and she'll still be in her pjs. We explained we'll go to the place where she'll have (the procedure), we'll wait in a waiting room for a bit, then we'll go back to a little room. The nurses and doctors are so kind and they'll give her a stuffed animal. Then we'll see Dr.XX and meet another doctor called an anesthesiologist, who will help her go to sleep so she doesn't feel a thing. Our doctor explained that he'd take LO back and she'd wear a funny mask and take deep breaths like she's blowing up a balloon, then she'd fall asleep. When she woke up, (the procedure) would be over and Mommy and Daddy would be with her. We explained she might be a little tired or feel funny from the special sleepy medicine. Then we'd go home and she can watch as much TV as she wants for the rest of the day.
She's asked a few questions, but seems satisfied with the narrative and doesn't seem afraid at all. We haven't had the procedure yet, but she understands (in age appropriate terms) what will happen.
honeydew / 7504 posts
This may be a little young for your son, but when D had a heart cath (it was an overnight, but we checked in the morning of surgery), the Child Life Specialist at CHOP recommended the book Franklin Goes to the Hospital. It really helped explain what would happen when we got to the hospital, when he went back to the OR, etc. Every step of the way we could say, "Remember when Franklin did [x-y-z]?" He was not quite 3, but still.
D did not come out of anesthesia well - was really thrashy and agitated. The nurses had me lay on the bed with him, bear hug him with his stuffed Simba, and turn on his favorite movie. So if you can, bring some comfort items and a tablet with his favorite music or movie loaded up and ready to go.
Good luck, Mama!
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
@lioneyes: Was this the reaction from the gas only? How long was your child under?
@sunny: Can you tell me how long it was before you were able to leave the center with the shorter procedure?
@Bluebonnet: My husband suggested that we start practicing our post op exercises before the surgery, so I think we'll have to say something sooner than later. I just ordered a bunch of stuff from amazon that will be here tomorrow, so I know as soon as my son sees the z vibe and chew tubes, he's going to have questions.
@littlebug: Thanks for the book suggestion, I am going to try that!
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
@looch: My DD went under general anesthesia last month. We didn't prep her too much. Just told her she'd help the doctor blow a balloon (when she in/exhaled through the mask, a green balloon would in/deflate) and when she woke up, she might be in a little pain, but she'd be all better.
Seeing her go under was crazy. After she passed out, her body contorted for a short time. The anesthesiologist warned me that this would happen, so I wasn't TOO freaked out.
Seeing her come out of the anesthesia was hard for me... she was disoriented, was slurring her words and a little emotional. She was under for about 30 mins and after she woke up, I held her for about 20 before we were ready to leave.
Recovery was amazingly quick and the only thing that she complained about was how the stitches were bothering her.
(she had oral surgery to remove a mesioden aka extra tooth).
I was nervous and anxious leading up to her procedure, but everything worked out. Hope your son's procedure goes well too! Good luck!!
coconut / 8430 posts
@looch: I think we were there for maybe 20 min after the procedure. It was fairly quick since she woke up and wasn't groggy. She ate a popsicle and I think we were allowed to go after that.
persimmon / 1286 posts
@looch yes just from the gas through the mask. he was under for less than 10 minutes, and then 5 minutes after that we could go back and sit with him while he woke up and had some water and juice. within 30 minutes we were able to leave.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
@chopsuey: ah, also an oral procedure! We're getting my son's tongue tie released. It's been a long road to get here, but hopefully, this will address his oral motor issues. I am concerned about the recovery, but I hear that the mouth heals really fast and that he'll be back to normal by the next day.
@sunny: oh wow, that's a lot faster than I thought. thank you!
@lioneyes: alright, thank you. I feel prepared.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
Bumping this up, the procedure was yesterday.
Leading up to it, we told him that he was going to see the doctor and the doctor would be looking at his tongue. He was fine with that explanation and didn't ask any questions.
He did fine right up until the nurse said that we should go to the waiting room...I had thought we'd agreed that my husband would bring him back to the OR, but it wasn't on our paperwork. Not a problem, though, my husband got suited up and brought him back.
Procedure was all of 5 minutes, the surgeon came out to tell us how it went and off we went to recovery. All in all, things seem to be going well, my son is home today, but is going to school tomorrow.
eggplant / 11716 posts
@looch: How bad was his tongue tie? Did he have a lip tie too?
My kids both have posterior tongue ties and lip ties. I clipped the older one was she was a baby, but it didn't help nursing. Then I didn't do LO2 at all...but hers seems more severe. It's something I am keeping an eye on to see if it affects speech--so keep me updated on your son's progress.
I know you guys already work with a speech therapist, right? Do you also have "bodywork" lined up?
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
@Anagram: Lip and tongue tie. The kind of tongue tie that he has is in the side to side motion, he can lift it up and stick it out, but he can not sweep it from molar to molar, so that is what we had fixed. He also has a very thin upper lip to begin with and we fixed the lip tie since we were in there (we wouldn't have if we weren't doing the tongue).
The thing is that he's been in speech therapy since he was 3, but basically, no amount of exercise was ever going to fix the issue, so we made the decision to release. I just wish we had done it sooner.
The next step for us is actually feeding therapy, so he can learn how to use his tongue to move food and also some speech therapy to be able to relearn how to pronounce some sounds.
eggplant / 11716 posts
@looch: Let me know how it goes. I have a pretty bad tongue and lip tie, and my daughter's doctor said some people learn to compensate (like I never needed speech and have never had issues eating). But the doctor also said the degree of the tie doesn't necessarily tell whether or not it will cause issues--sometimes a less severe tie will cause more issues.
So I'm kind of waiting and watching both my girls.
Did you go into the city to have it done? Was it sutured or lasered?
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
@Anagram: Will do!
My son was starting to do the compensating, like talking out of the side of his mouth. His issues though, with food are rather problematic. That's what I was originally seeking to fix, not the tongue tie, we had no idea!
I found the ENT (affiliated with Yale New Haven Hospital) through our feeding therapist. He does both the procedures, depending on age. For my son, since he's 6 and wouldn't react well to being restrained and awake for the laser, we went with suturing which did require about 7 minutes of general anesthesia.
eggplant / 11716 posts
@looch: yeah, all of that can be related to tongue ties. I hope that's the magic ticket for your son. The ties caused all my nursing issues with my kids, so maybe I should have just done the full laser already. I don't know, I guess time will tell.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
@Anagram: The thing that really gets me about it is that I was literally with a lactation consultant for every feeding for the 4 days following my son's birth. I would have thought that they would have checked his mouth! I didn't know enough to ask at that time, I just thought the issue was my supply. If I only knew then what I know now. I am not sure they would have even fixed it though, being Europe.
I am glad we did it now though, because there was no other avenue left.
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