Children in Hospital.

AppleTurnover

Oh bless you - what did you say?

x

gunsandbanjos

My daughter is nearly 7 and has had loads of operations, she actually likes hospitals:rotfl: Think she may be a bit weird:o

The nurses and doctors we've met have all been lovely and really helped with the stress factor.

I agree with littlenicki about not letting him show how nervous you are. A lot of people have commented that i'm really calm and collected while DD is having some really awful things done - i'm not really inside, but its a front i put on so that DD is at ease.

Hope all goes well for him, i'm sure it will. I know it all seems quite scary, but these people do this job day in, day out and its really routine to them. Take him his favourite snack for after the op too. Hospital food is pretty grim and he'll be ravenous when he wakes up.

Savvy_Sue

365days wrote: »

Thank you. I am trying to be honest. Last night he asked me if he could die!!!

:eek: Reminds me of a child I knew who had a benign cyst which needed removing from his forehead. The surgeon was all for waiting "until he's old enough to understand what we need to do." His mum thought about this for a while, and then decided that there was NO good age at which you could tell a child "We're going to cut your head open", so they might as well do it BEFORE he was old enough to understand more than "the doctor is going to make your head better, it might hurt a bit afterwards but it will soon get better."

smartie12

I've had an awful time with my local hospital BUT the childrens ward was BRILLIANT when my DS ended up being admitted.

He had to go to theatre and the surgeon came and saw me as soon as he had finished whilst DS went to recovery. I was heavily pregnant at the time so extra emotional but the staff were so reassuring so luckily I didn't cry in front of him:)

As DS was put to sleep he asked for mcdonalds!!!!? I was everso embarrassed... especially as it was only 8.30 in the morning!:eek::rotfl:

halight

Hi
just wonted to say good luck to you both.
My twin Girls were born at 30 weeks and spent there first 6 weeks of life in hospital.
Not the same as your lad in know. But my wife and i found the staff on the unit great. they offed us loads of help and suport. Anything we wonted to know was told to us in a straigt and easy to understand manner. The good things and the bad which found a real help. So dont be afrade to ask the staff there anything. If you go to visit him and you would like to see a doctor while you are there then ask the staff thay will go and get the doctor for you.(you may have to wait a bit)

All the very best to you both. Let us know how he gets on.

365days

AppleTurnover wrote: »

Oh bless you - what did you say?

x

I told him that some people can die in hospital (he knows that from relatives dying) but he won't!

The cat needs an op soon, so I am hoping that will help. Shame it's not a male cat really!

AppleTurnover

It's really hard isn't it - my boy only started to ask the scary questions when he was older. You are doing and saying all the right things, and because of that I'm sure everything will be fine.

Having been through a very similar experience, I look back now and think how quick and relatively painless it was for him that time.

After everything had settled down we moved into the more cosmetic side of things. Kids are great - when everything is explained in the right way they take everything in their stride.

Best wishes,

Apple

Dawning

365days wrote: »

My son is due to go for an operation soon. (removal of undescended testes) He is 9. Is there any words of wisdom that you would care to share with me. He is incredibly scared and nervous about the whole thing!

You've had great advice about dealing with his nerves, but I have to ask, is removal the only option? That seems very drastic. Have you had a second opinion? Or am I reading it wrong?

sleepystar1975

I am a paediatric trained theatre nurse, and a Mum to a 5-year-old that had surgery yesterday, so I have seen it from all sides of the coin.
What you and your son are perfectly normal feelings. I would be more concerned if you weren't worried. But like someone else said, try and keep your nervousness inside, as it'll rub off on to hom.
At 9-years-old, he is also becoming very aware of his body, and would be worried about having his personal area operated on.
As the paeds student nurse rightly pointed out, a good unit will offer a tour of the ward beforehand, so that they (and you) can familiarise yourselves with the layout, and with the way the ward works. Dedicated childrens hospitals will obviously be more au fait with dealing with childrens concerns, and have better communication skills with children and their parents.

I would definately agree with telling the truth over likely pain (ok, don't say your crown jewels will feel on fire), say there is likely to be some discomfort, but to ask you or the staff for pain relief as soon as he feels any pain, as there is no prizes for toughing it out. And, it's easier to control the pain while it's mild, than to wait till it's bad enough for him to be doubled up. Let him know that the hospital, and you once you're home will do everything you can to manage any pain he's in.

Also, avoid covering up words. My biggest hate of anaesthetist is those that call the propofol (the medicine that puts you to sleep) "Magic Milk"...... Picture this......The children go off to sleep, wake up in a strange room, with strange people looking at him, asking all sorts of questions, their head is feeling fuzzy and the last thing they remember is this "Magic milk", I have seen children go off drinking milk after surgery. I will always encourange our gasmen to simply say "sleep medicine", no bull, it is what it is!

One parent should be allowed in the anaesthetic room till he is asleep, but then you have to leave pretty sharpish to allow the team to do their work. At 9-yrs-old, he may still have a favourite stuffed toy, this will also be allowed to come down to theatre. We have seen all sorts of cuddly toys in theatre. For a smaller child, we will stick a dressing/bandage on the same part of the body as the child, so that the child will wake to find their teddy with a matching "baddie"
As the student nurse said, they will apply a local anaesthetic cream to the backs of your sons hand well before he goes to theatre. It will numb the areas they would be most likely to site a cannula. Please stress to him that there will be NO needle in his hand, all that remains once it's in place ia a little bendy plastic tube. I have tried the cream myself before a blood test, so can vouch for the fact that is does work. Depending on which cream they use (Ametop or Emla usually), you have a good 4 or 6 hour window of when this cream is most effective. My daughter didn't even notice the cannula was in yesterday, not till they started putting the medication in!

Also, with the recovery process, make sure your lad knows that you will be waiting on the ward for him. If the ward/hospital is worth their salt, you will be allowed in recovery with the nurse to collect him, so let him know that you will be there for him the second you are allowed.

Give your son a piece of paper and encourage him to write his own questions down, and allow him to ask them of the appropriate people. That way he feels included in the proceedure and the decision making.

Make him feel as grown up as possible. After this kind of surgery, he may come back from theatre wearing a scrotal support/jock strap. Tell him that lots of the best sports men wear them.

With the Nil-by-mouth thing. It depends on whether he is on the AM or the PM list as to when he can last eat. But either way, on the day of the op I would let him sleep while you and other family members have breakfast, as their is nothing worse than sitting there with your tummy grumbling while watching others eating.

When my daughter was going in for her op, I made the dinner of her choice for the night before she went in, so I knew she enjoyed her last meal before being nil-by-mouth, then I made another of her favourites for when she came home.

As another poster said, never under-estimate the healing powers of ice-cream, and hospital ice cream is pretty nice. Stock up on all his favourites.

If you have any questions you want to ask me via PM, please go for it. I'll answer as best and as honestly as I can, and if I don't know the answer, I'll find a urologist that does.

Hope it all goes well for you both, and you can come back on herr to post about what a positive experience it was for you both.

smartie12 wrote: »

As DS was put to sleep he asked for mcdonalds!!!!? I was everso embarrassed... especially as it was only 8.30 in the morning!:eek::rotfl:

We had a child that went off to sleep asking for a happy meal, he told us exactly what he wanted in it, but fell asleep mid sentence, and woke up and continued the sentence exactly where he left off. He had us all in stitches!
p.s. Don't be embarrassed. Firstly we like having things like this happen, it makes our day. So much nicer to have that than a distressed child. Secondly, a chatty child means we have his/her trust, which means we've done our jobs well.

Savvy_Sue

BTW, specifically on the subject of boys' bits, I was happily driving along when one of mine said "I've got a lump on my testicle." :eek: :eek: :eek:

"How long have you had it?"

"A little while."

"And has it changed?"

"No, not really."

"OK, so have you googled lump on testicle?"

"Yes."

"OK, so you'll know that it probably isn't anything to worry about."

"Yup."

"But you ought to get it checked out, because if it IS something to worry about, then the sooner it's been checked out the easier it is for them to do something about it." (Thank you Woman's Hour and item on testicular cancer!)

"Yup."

"So, who's going to take you to the GP, me or your Dad?"

"Don't mind."

I packed him off with his Dad, and he had to go for an ultrasound. It wasn't anything to worry about.

He was a teenager, so a bit older than the OP's lad, but the approach of "better to do something about it sooner rather than later" may still be useful!