My 6 year old son is having surgery for Chiari I and syringomyeila on Tuesday. April 10.
Can anyone tell me what to expect when he’s home and tips for caring for him?
Also thanks to everyone who welcomed me to the group.
Welcome. I am not sure on this but hopefully he's feeling better soon. I cannot imagine how much it is hurting him, I remember how active I was at that age. Poor thing and I commend you, your a hell of a mom, that has to be hard
I am sorry to hear that your son is having surgery. Sometimes I think it is harder on us "moms" than the kids. Anyway, my daughter had surgery @ 4 yrs old. Once my daughter came home, she bounced back very, very quickly. Literally, she was running around the 1st day home. I was surprised. I was sure to have children's Tylenol on hand and plenty of sterile pads and tape for dressing changes. For the first week or so I washed her hair in the sink to avoid soaking the surgical site, though the NS said she could get it wet 5 days post-op. I also opted for shirts that buttoned down rather than ones that would be pulled over her head. She had plenty of coloring books and movies. I got a bed tray so she could sit on the couch and work on things. It was actually a challenge to force her to relax. I kept her out of school for 4 weeks at the advice of the NS.
For us, the most difficult time was the first few days after the surgery. But at that time, she was in the hospital, so she really had everything she needed.
I hope everything goes really well. Thankfully, children usually bounce back pretty quickly.
Hi Cari, Thank you so much for the info. How old is your daughter now and how is she doing after the surgery? Were there any foods you fed her at home after the surgery such as apple sauce etc. or did she go right back to regular food/meals?
My daughter is 6 now and doing fabulous! Once she came home from the hospital she went right back to her usual food. While in the hospital, she was quite sick from the anesthesia and by day 4 the doctors were frustrated. They gave her a dose of steroids & that really turned the tide.
On a different note, a lot of Chiarians had staples to close the incision. Our NS closed with dissoluble sutures, which was awesome. In the words of our NS when I inquired about why there weren’t staples, " do you want to try to remove staples from a child"
I sincerely hope it goes well. My daughter had no symptoms prior to surgery so I can’t really saw we saw a big difference. She did have a lot of problems with balance & now she never falls.
Best of luck. Please post & let us know how it goes.
MommaJam said:
Hi Cari, Thank you so much for the info. How old is your daughter now and how is she doing after the surgery? Were there any foods you fed her at home after the surgery such as apple sauce etc. or did she go right back to regular food/meals?