How can i prepare my son for surgery? - Children's Health Message Board

~mandy~ · 04-18-2001, 12:09 PM

I just found out today my 6yr old is going to have to have his tonsils out. I want to know how i can get him ready for the surgery, he's only been to the hospital once and is scared of needles and hospitals freak him out a bit too. If anybody has any suggestions or books etc i would be greatfull.

ENUFISENUF · 05-28-2001, 07:06 PM

Hi, Mandy.
Based on the date of your post, I'm guessing your son has already had the surgery (?). How did it go? What was his reaction? I hope all is well. The only suggestion I can offer at this point is to make sure that you talk about it with him if he needs to. I had surgery at that age myself and, to this day, I have not been allowed to discuss it! NOT GOOD to say the least. I still have nightmares (decades later). Make sure he knows he didn't do anything wrong and it's okay to be scared.
Take care. Let me know how it turns out.

~mandy~ · 05-29-2001, 04:08 AM

Thanks for the reply, he hasn't had the surgery yet, it's 3wks away. He's going on a tour of the day surgery unit a week before his surgery. I've talked to him quite a bit about it and i've also scheduled a visit to the family doctor to talk about that among other concerns. He's pretty ok with it so far, i've told him they'll put him to sleep so he won't feel the operation and that his throat will be really sore afterwords, but reminded him he can have lots of frozen treats afterwords.
He should be ok, i've had surgery and i've talked to him about my experience so he's dealing with it well so far.
Thanks for the response, :0)

ENUFISENUF · 05-29-2001, 05:31 AM

Well, good luck with everything! He sounds like a lucky kid to have such a concerned mom. I'm sure everything will turn out well. I'm a little jealous about all the ice cream he'll be getting!
Take care :-)