Surgery & your child (if your older toddler/ child has had surgery pls com ein)

If your child is scheduled for surgery & you call the doctor's office with questions, who do you expect to call you back? the doctor himself? or the nurse?

Also, if your child is older (mine will be 4) how do you prepare them for it? did you explain that they are having surgery & about the anesthesia mask, etc?

Message edited 10/18/2013 11:45:50 AM.

Surgery & your child (if your older toddler/ child has had surgery pls com ein)

When my son had surgery he was 8. The doctor's office gave him a coloring book that explained the surgery, etc. so we read that together. As far as questions, if the nurse is getting the answers from the doc. I would have no issue with that.

Re: Surgery & your child (if your older toddler/ child has had surgery pls com ein)

My DD has a clogged tear duct surgery at 2, so we didn't really explain it to her.

But I worked for a pediatric ENT, and the surgical coordinator answered all the questions about the surgery. She worked with the hospital, and it was her job to know about each surgery, and she was awesome at answering parent's questions.

It was also a surgical coordinator who called me to schedule DDs surgery and told me exactly what to expect. I find nurses/surgical coordinators BETTER than the Drs at answering questions, since they seem to put it in layman's terms, while Drs can sometimes be too technical.

They gave Dd something to relax her while we were waiting, then I got to carry her to the OR, and she was literally out w/in seconds of them putting the mask over her face. I think the process is worse for us than for them. DD woke up in a pretty good mood and didnt even seem to remember anything. Good luck!

Re: Surgery & your child (if your older toddler/ child has had surgery pls com ein)

DD had surgery at 5 and she did great. The doc gave her a book to read so she would know what to expect. Most of my questions were answered by the nurse who setup the surgery (she was wonderful!)
We were there until she was put out and then called back in after the surgery was over.

Re: Surgery & your child (if your older toddler/ child has had surgery pls com ein)

I just told her matter of factly. They drew a smiley on the place they needed to cut into her (she was 4). She got a kick out of seeing it in the mirror.

Mostly we just told her she had to go in, they were going to cut out the owie and she'd be asleep and not feel a thing. She doesn't understand all that so she went off of our attitude and we treated it like it was no big deal. Very nonchalant about the whole thing before and while we waited.

They gave her some liquid stuff and she relaxed but they did not allow us to take her back. Which was FINE by me! but we made a big deal about the 'ride' on the bed. They warned us they'd put an IV in her after she was out.

When she woke up we were there and she didn't seem to care about the IV at first. Then the adhesive bothered her and made her cranky. The worst was the removal of that. Once that was done it was back to what are we going to do today, etc.

We always treat these things like they are nothing. She's a pro at them. She showed off her wound to ANYONE and EVERY ONE she saw! we took pictures and she grinned ear to ear. Took her to her favorite place for lunch and treats afterwards. We didn't bribe her and say ahead of time, just more of an accomplishment type reward for being brave after the fact.

As far as question/answers, I'd expect an answer within a half hour pre-surgery questions. Post surgery my docs always call us about an hour or two after we've left. But if I had questions I generally am given a personal cell phone. So far I've never had to call.

Surgery & your child (if your older toddler/ child has had surgery pls com ein)

my sons have had a bunch of surgeries with our ENT- terrible family history for tonsils and ears

anyway most of my questions were answered by the person in charge of surgical bookings. She would also call the day after surgery for everything and a few days later too for tonsils.

after the surgery if I had an issue even after hours I called the main number and usually the doctor called back - we had trouble with my son not drinking for the first 24 hours after being home from getting his tonsils out and more pain a week later. But the doctor answered those questions

as for telling him for my son's last surgery at 4 we told him that he would go to the hospital and he would go under to get his ears fixed. he understood that it would help him. Our ENT uses a loopy drug before they give anestiasa so they go into the operating room without a problem by themselves.

at 2 I did not really prepare any of my 3 boys but I don't think they would understand so I did not bother

Re: Surgery & your child (if your older toddler/ child has had surgery pls com ein)

Thanks ladies! I have medical questions and surgery questions so I really think I'd want to speak to the Dr in this case. So far, it's been 3 hours since I left a message and no one has called me back.

Re: Surgery & your child (if your older toddler/ child has had surgery pls com ein)

My DD had surgery at. 18 months. If I called up with a question the PA always called back to answer. If I needed more specifics or wanted to talk to the dr he would call back but it could take a while based in his schedule.

As for the anesthesia, we just told her that they would be giving her medicine. Honestly, they have her this oral medicine that's supposed to make you a little loopy. I walked her into the OR. And then they gave her the mask and eventually Iv.

When she came out she didn't remember anything(that's what the oral medicine before is for).

Re: Surgery & your child (if your older toddler/ child has had surgery pls com ein)