Childhood illnesses, jabs and operations

alirosdan · 23-08-2006, 08:10

He has to go to Birmingham next week for an operation. We visited the hospital a month ago, and he was told that he will need to return. I've been told that he is on the provisional list for w/c 27.8.06. What I'm in a dilemma about is,
1. Do I tell him now to prepare him (but risk the appointment being cancelled, only to have to stress him out all over again).

2. Leave it till we get confirmation, but still give him time to prepare/stress about it.

3. Leave it till the night before and spring it on him.

He had to have a canula fitted when he was having tests, and although he was really really brave, he has said he isn't having any more needles - and still gets upset about the thought of having to stay in hospital.

Zebra · 23-08-2006, 11:03

That's a tough one but you know your son best. Is he likely to get stressed and wound up? Will he take your word for it if you tell him there's nothing to worry about? Can you butter him up about being so brave about canulas? And, although not always recommended, can you distract him by bribery? Perhaps you could offer him a much wanted toy if he is brave about it?
I couldn't possibly give any advice as I don't know your son but perhaps put yourself in his shoes and imagine how each scenario would feel.
I hope it all goes well.

viking · 23-08-2006, 11:07

Be honest and truthful with him.
Ask the person who puts the canular in not to tell him to expect a "Sharp scratch".

Let him/her give you the nod so you can distract him and it will be all done before he can feel it.

Good luck in such a worrying time.

alirosdan · 25-08-2006, 17:19

Well, I decided to leave it for a little while. Thank goodness I did.His op has been deferred for another week, so I'm glad I didn't say anything. It is now going to be the week he goes back to school so he's going to miss a week or 2 but I'm just thankful that they don't think it's urgent enough to do immediately. We had a very worrying time when he was having an ultrasound and MRI, but they are fairly sure it's benign. I think I will wait until we get final confirmation before we broach the subject. I think he may be cheered up by getting an extra long school holiday!

alirosdan · 30-08-2006, 19:27

The decision was taken out of my hands today when my cousin wished him good luck for Sunday/Monday. When we got in the car, he said, "what am I doing on Sunday, I must have forgotten"! Of course I explained what was going to happen, and can you believe the only thing worrying him is the fact that he will have to miss breakfast that day!!! I'm stressing about 101 other things relating to the whole thing and he just (typically) thinks of his stomach!

medusa · 30-08-2006, 19:43

Glad to hear that things are working themselves out alirosdan- there obviously was a right time for him to hear about it, and you've found it.

Another thing that may be of use at the time is that for children hospitals often put local anaesthetic cream on the backs of their hands so that the canulae are less of a scary prospect and you can tell them that the magic cream means they won't feel it.

Hopefully the rest of all of this will be as stress free as possible.

alirosdan · 30-08-2006, 22:19

Thanks medusa. When he was having tests in July, he needed a canula and the magic cream was a god-send. He was just so brave. His bottom lip quivered a little when the needle went in and I have to admit that mine quivered a lot! I think he is the one who will get us through this and we will just follow his lead. He seems to be looking forward to playing some different play station games whilst he's in there. Will post how we went on when we get back on Mon or Tues.

helenbean · 30-08-2006, 22:25

That magic cream is brilliant don't worry. He will be fine positive thinking.

alirosdan · 07-09-2006, 21:36

He had his op as planned, first thing Monday morning. By 12 o clock, he was eating soup, bread, chips and cheesecake!! He was absolutely wonderful.

We were told he had been administered an anaesthetic in his sciatic nerve, and his leg would be numb for up to 18 hours, saving him quite a lot of pain. He wasn't happy, saying he would have rather had pain than this numbness! He also told the doctor that he would have rather stayed awake to see what they were doing rather than be put to sleep!!

From lunchtime onwards he moaned (and moaned and moaned....) that he wanted to go home. Eventually they gave in and discharged him at 7pm. It wasn't easy driving him home from Birmingham especially as my sat nav wouldn't work (ended up on the m6 well on our way to Manchester, but that's another story).

It just goes to show that you have to take your lead from the kids. I had worried about everything, and he just sailed through it (well kind of - they prescribed 40mg of dihydrocodeine 4 x daily which is 10mg over the adult dose and he has reacted quite badly to it). It's lovely to have it over and done with - I think I've aged 10 years over the last 2 months!!

Zebra · 07-09-2006, 23:02

I'm really glad that all went well and that he sailed through like a trooper.

Hels · 07-09-2006, 23:16

So glad to hear it went better than you expected. Hope everything is ok.

cosywolf · 08-09-2006, 07:43

I'm pleased it's gone all right for you and little one. xx

Armadillo · 12-11-2006, 14:08

Has anyone has any experience of this. My son is crying excessively and will not settle after feeds, he goes really stiff when crying and the milk often comes down his nose as well as out of his mouth. I can nurse him for up to 2 hours after a feed to get him to sleep and last night he broke his own record and after a 12.30 feed did not go back to sleep until 6.30am. My midwife says it's just wind/colic and some babies need more winding than others but after googling today for info came across cranial osteopathy and wondered if anyone had any experince of this and if so could recommend a therapist. Thansk

Longshanks · 12-11-2006, 14:16

I took my baby to an excellent one when he was young because he cried so much and wouldn't sleep. She's called Lisa Halse and works at both Greenways in Totley and Stillpoint, Nether Edge (2586133). I don't know what she did exactly but he always calmed down and fell asleep during the sessions, and stayed calm for a few hours afterwards. I don't know if it really did anything but I was desperate! I'd be interested to know how you get on.

Armadillo · 12-11-2006, 14:18

Thanks, I'll give her a call tomorrow and hopefully get an appointment this week.

scoop · 12-11-2006, 14:20

Hi Armadillo

, Sorry I don't know anything about cranial osteopathy, but I just wanted to let you know that you have my symapathies. I remember the terrible nights of no sleep when my son was a baby. I think it was the hardest time of my life.

Good luck with finding out if the osteopathy will help him, but if you have no joy, remember, there is light at the end of the tunnel and before you know it, you'll have got it licked!

Longshanks · 12-11-2006, 14:45

I'd completely agree with you Scoop - it was the hardest time in my life. I thought it would never end and vowed I would never put myself through that again. But it did get easier over time and by the time he was 4 months things did get better and after doing controlled crying at 7 months we've never looked back. I now have a wonderful, happy toddler who sleeps all night and rarely cries.

babychickens · 12-11-2006, 14:54

Honey, that sounds horrible and you have all my sympathy. cranial osteopathy was suggested for my daughter - either she was attached to my boob, or she was crying; there was very little else to her life for the first month. her record - 5.5 hours for one feed (ok, so she slept on the boob and then had a bit more feed and then slept etc, but taking her off would wake her after about 2 minutes and then she'd be hungry again). at the end of that month she was admitted to the children's hospital for several days to try to get her to gain some weight (still hadn't regained birth weight due to her feeding and my contant mastitis and exhaustion). within 2 or 3 days of giving her a few formula feeds of decent size per day she was sleeping better and feeding less frequently, and the crying just tailed off. we never tried the cranial osteopathy (although it was suggested by my midwife to help with the crying and sleeping) because i was so close to breaking i just couldn't cope with seeing anyone or leaving the house. in retrospect the baby was just hungry (although she didn't seem to be to us). it took a while for her to be able to take a feed of a decent size as she only had a tiny stomach because of the way she fed at first. she used to feed, then vomit some up, so we thought she had finished, but i think now that she was just not used to having enough in her stomach, so brought some back up, and then was hungry again within minutes, but i was so exhausted i just couldn't feed her enough, so she would just cry until she fell asleep. i saw a picture of her when she was 3 weeks old recently and it made me cry - i didn't see at the time how thin she was, and the midwives and gp didn't seem to think there was anything wrong as she was so good at crying - it took the paediatrician at the children's hospital to spot what the problem was and how simple a solution there was.

is there any chance you baby is the same? do you breast or bottle feed? a baby that doesn't sleep for that long and cries instead could well NOT be colic, despite what your midwife says, so i think you should go to the gp and ask to be refered to a paediatrician. obvioulsy it's hard to see how much your baby is getting from a breastfeed, but is there any chance your baby is just not getting enough?

remember to take care of yourself, too - exhaustion doens't do anyone any favours, there's no shame in a few formula feeds if it gives you a break to stop you going insane.

bc

Armadillo · 13-11-2006, 13:50

Hi, thanks for taking the time to give such a long reply. I do breast feed but I am sure he is getting enough as his weight gain is quite good. Just as i was ready to scream and really at the end of my tether he had a much better night, last night. I gave him a sponge bath about 9pm then gave him a really long massage, I then fed him about 10 put him down at 12 and he slept until nearly 4am, hurray. After I had fed him at 10 I held him for about 45 minutes and during that time he was burping and f**ting a lot but quite gently whereas he usually burps really hard and sicks up some milk. I am not sure if the massage was purely coincidental but I am going to try the same again tonight. When he work at 4, I got him back down for 5.15 he cried for a bit but was asleep for 5.40 ish which is so much better than usual. While I am on, what's good for dry skin. I've tried baby oil, sunflower oil and vaseline but not much improvment, in fact it's getter worse on his face. Thanks

babychickens · 13-11-2006, 15:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armadillo

Hi, thanks for taking the time to give such a long reply. I do breast feed but I am sure he is getting enough as his weight gain is quite good. Just as i was ready to scream and really at the end of my tether he had a much better night, last night. I gave him a sponge bath about 9pm then gave him a really long massage, I then fed him about 10 put him down at 12 and he slept until nearly 4am, hurray. After I had fed him at 10 I held him for about 45 minutes and during that time he was burping and f**ting a lot but quite gently whereas he usually burps really hard and sicks up some milk. I am not sure if the massage was purely coincidental but I am going to try the same again tonight. When he work at 4, I got him back down for 5.15 he cried for a bit but was asleep for 5.40 ish which is so much better than usual. While I am on, what's good for dry skin. I've tried baby oil, sunflower oil and vaseline but not much improvment, in fact it's getter worse on his face. Thanks

i'm really glad for you that you got some extra sleep! i wish people had warned me that the first month of my daughter's life was likely to be the worst of mine, but i don't suppose it is for everyone - i really wasn't expecting it to be that hard. i'm very glad your son is gaining weight fine, though, although if he had been hungry all the time there would have been a quick and easy (although not ideal) fix.

i did some baby massage stuff (a course run by one of my midwives) and foudn my daughter rather enjoyed it, although by that point she didn't have any problems with crying or colic or sleeping. some of the other ladies did, though, and thought it probably helped a little - particularly the stomach massages. how old is your son? you shouldn't need to use anything other than sunflower oil to massage with until he's about 3 months old; olive oil is supposedly good for dry skin, but you shouldn't use vaseline or baby oil - just pure olive oil or sunflower oil, and hope it gets better by itself.