Children's Recovery

[sbdingu]

My 6 year old grand-daughter will be having the decompression surgery in 2 weeks.  Do children recover faster than adults after this type of surgery?  What special needs will she have during her recovery time?

[selmaS]

Hi and welcome to the chiari forum.

Glad u found us, but so sorry the reason that brings u here.

Yes, children do recover faster with most surgery anad this is not different.It also depends on the extent of her issues she had prior to surgery.

A nice place where she is not exposed to too much avtivity once she is home bcuz over stimulation can be diff to take...plus a way to sleep in a reclined position instead of flat.

Things to keep her busy...mayb keeping a journal of her recovery....and her plans for when she is doing better.....

I had a few autio books....reading was too much b4 and right after surgery.

The NS will give her PT RX to be done once she is home so u may want to check out some places near home that understand children and chiari.

I hope this is helpful
if u ne othe r questions  just tac them on here : )

Godspeed
"selma"

[lu7997]

i shall add your grand daughter to my prayer list.   I hope all goes well and she gets th relief she needs.

children generally bounce back faster and tolerate things better.   It does depend on her condition though as everyone is different.

one thing I will say  is she will not recover fast enough for you or the rest of your family.   No child sick even if only for a day seems to get better quick enough.  It is so hard to see them down and not them selves.
Angela

[sbdingu]

Thank you for the info about my grand-daughter's recovery.  I will forward the info to my daughter.  My little angel has had no symptoms other than being deaf in her right ear since birth and it was her ear dr. who had the MRI done  and found the Chiari and syrinx.  Right now, she doesn't want to talk about the surgery at all.  She is very bright and I want to help her be prepared for the surgery and recovery without scaring her, especially since she is feeling so good right now.  I would gladly take it all upon myself if I could.  How much does she need to know about the surgery and recovery?
Thanks,
Sharon

[selmaS]

If she asks a question don't lie, don't don't go into details.....it is scarey fro an adult to face surgery...nekind....so only if she asks...and then be truthful....kids can tell....and let me tell u, I had my tonsils out when I was in second grade, I was told I could have all the ice cream I wanted afterward....that was a lie.....ice cream creates phlegm ...I was only given jello...and a mistrust of adults for a while....be truthful.

"selma"

[lu7997]

have to agree with selma......fear is in the unknown.  and more so to kids then adults as they have less experiences to base things on.   Try and tell her as much as you can  but make sure she understnads it (if you are going to tell her she is going to be asleep during it make sure she knows it isn't like sleeping at night)  .  be truthful and tell her what she is going to have to know.  also it helps to give them something to look forward to afterward  such as a favorite thing or maybe a new thing she has been wanting.

I myself have not had the surgery so I can't help you with what it in tales but I hope this can some what help.

so glad she had a careing doc to figure this out and get her help.

[dpulum]

My nephew had the decompression surgery done when he was 6 yrs old also.  He recovered soooo much more quickly than my sister who had the surgery as an adult.  With Stephen, the biggest challenge was keeping him still, he wanted to be up and about when he wasn't healed yet.  I wish your grand-daughter all the best, I hope her recovery goes very easily. :)

Tina

[sherimom]

My son was 15 when he had the surgery. The hardest part for him was laying flat on his back, but I believe surgeons have different opinions about this.  The things that seemed to help him the most were ice packs on the back of neck (but not too full)  and rolling a blanket into a "u" shape so that he could rest without pressure on his incision.

Hope some of this helps.