Need To Prepare Him. What Can 5 Year Old Expect At Endoscopy?

[Cara in Boston]

We don't go until March 10th, but it is already on my mind. He is extremely (overly) sensitive to pain and very dramatic about it. It took 4 adults to hold him while taking his blood sample. I'm actually a little worried he will throw a fit just going to the MD again since the last two visits involved taking blood.

I want prepare him as much as possible. Can anyone describe the process when it is for a young child? Also, this is with the MD we don't particularly like, but the other one was booked for months. This guy is not super warm or nice. Is the parent in the room for the procedure? Will he be able to eat right away when we leave? Will he be sore or anything? We didn't really get much information from the MD about what to expect, just what to do.

And, the appointment is scheduled for 11:30 AM and I am not supposed to feed him anything before. Not sure how that will work since he is usually STARVING for breakfast at about 7:00 AM and STARVING again around 10:00 AM and, yes, STARVING again for lunch.

Any insights or suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks -

Cara

[October3]

Well, I can tell you our experience fwiw. My son, 6, just went through the endoscopy. He had a colonoscopy as well and for us the worst part was the prep for the colonoscopy which it sounds like you get to avoid. As for the actual day of the scope, our arrival time was 7am so we didn't have to wait around and be hungry. We had the scope done at a children's hospital so they were really excellent with managing his stress. After we checked in they took us to a room and we had a chance to talk to the GI who was performing the scope as well as the anesthesiologist resident and the attending anesthesiologist. We had a nurse who spent time talking with my son to make sure he knew what was going to happen and could ask questions. They had a child life specialist come in and play video games with him while they were getting blood from him and starting his IV so that was excellent. (as a note: when my daughter had a procedure done and was younger and more likely to freak out about the IV they gave her nitrous oxide to relax her before they started the IV so you might ask about that). Once he was changed into his gown and all ready they had him get onto the bed and they took him out of the room and we stayed behind but again, with my daughter we asked to stay with her so she wouldn't be scared and they let us stay until she was asleep from the nitrous oxide. I'm not sure if all anesthesiologists will allow that - the one we had was reluctant to agree. I guess they thought we would freak out when we saw her eyes roll back in her head. But at any rate, then we just waited for the procedure to be done. They said the endoscopy would take about 15 minutes and the colonoscopy would be 30-45 min but it ended up being 2 hrs total for us. They paged us when he was starting to wake up and we hung out while he recovered. They gave him juice and popsicles and then sent us on our way. He was a little off the rest of the day and they said no sports or anything that evening but the next day was business as usual. We had the results 2 days later I think.

For the prep I think if it had just been the endoscopy we could have given clear liquids after midnight until 3 hrs before check in time.

Hope that helps.

[Marlie]

My child had the endoscopy last month. We were all in a private room the entire time except for her when they wheeled her out for the endoscopy. She was tense so they gave her an anti anxiety pill. Then they numbed her wrist with a spray before putting in the IV. She prefers the spray over the adhesive numbing. Upon return to the room she was very groggy. Her throat was a little sore but nothing like getting your tonsils out. She recalled nothing and was asleep for the procedure. No physical activity was allowed until the following day.

[divamomma]

The hardest part was not feeding her or giving her anything to drink. She only asked for breakfast once though.

We told her she was having a tummy test, to see if the gluten was making owies in her tummy. We got to the hospital a few hours early. It was a long wait she played her DSi most of the time. She was called and we went and put on hospital pj's and got height and weight. Back to waiting room. Then they called her and did vitals and applied lots of emla cream (numbing cream)to both hands and covered it with medical tape. Back to the waiting room. Then finally she was called and I went with her. There was a stretcher in the hallway so I lifted her on and went with her as the nurse wheeled her into the OR. It was a small OR, lots of people in there. The dr began asking me questions then the anestisiologist (omg bad spelling!)asked questions as well and I signed a consent. While this was happening people were talking to my daughter, asking her all kinds of kid friendly questions (do you like skating, do you have a sister etc) and they were looking at her hands/veins. They inserted the IV with no trouble and I think it was painless for her. They showed her the camera, pointed it in her mouth and she saw her mouth on the big tv. Then they got the syringe out and I knew it was time to say bye. I gave her a little kiss and said I would see her after. They injected the syringe into the IV (milky white stuff) and she immediately began being woozy, eyes rolled around in her head a bit then she was out. That was the hardest moment for me, for her it happened really fast. I had told her she would be getting some medicine in her hand to make her go to sleep so the test would not hurt her. I did not go into details about what was actually happening I just focused on the fact that it wouldn't hurt her. We were given a pager and told she would be done in about 20 mins and out of recovery 20 mins after that. We went to see her back in the day ward area. SHe looked very sleepy and drowsy. SHe otherwise was fine. She had a posicle and some juice right away. We stayed for about another hour at least. they checked vitals a few times and finally the dr came. She told us nothing was seen by scope and we needed to wait for the biopsy. We bought her a teddy bear and some stickers at the gift shop and she really liked that. We went home and by then she was pretty tired and hungry. She ate some toast for supper I think. SHe said her throat hurt her from the time we got home (about 3:30) to the time she went to bed (about 7:30) I gave her tylenol and posciles. The next day she was fine. No sore throat.

It was a long day, bring something to occupy him at the hospital. I think it was also harder on me than my daughter. Good luck!

[Cara in Boston]

Thanks everyone - I think I am more nervous than he is. My husband is not nervous at all and isn't even planning on taking off work to be there. He just works up the street and can be there to say hi when he wakes up.

So, I was thinking of taking the train to Mass General (about 20 minutes total, including walking to the station from our house) Would this be too much for him after the procedure? We could drive and park (ugh), or take a cab home.

Also, should I wake him the night before to feed him more (like at 11:00 PM?) Dinner is usually around 6 or 6:30 and he is asleep by 8:00. It just seems like he is going to be hungry in the morning.

I am probably thinking too much about this. We really have never had any medical issues before. Biggest deal so far is simply having his teeth cleaned . . .

Thanks for all your advice so far. It is going to be a long three weeks . . .

About how long did it take to get results? I imagine this is the very last test so I'm guessing I'll be able to start the GFD right away - even if the results aren't back yet. I'm pretty confident he is (at least) gluten intolerant and anxious to get that started as well.

I am going through the same procedure (tested positive for blood) but several weeks behind him. It was his test results that prompted the rest of the family to get tested. I wish I was going first.

Thanks again.

Cara

[divamomma]

My daughter was pretty tired after. It would depend on how much of a walk it is from your house to the station. If you are opposed to parking maybe a cab would be a good idea.

I made sure she had a snack right before bed, where usually supper is the alst thing she eats. I also woke my daughter up at the last possible time she could have clear fluids...for her I think it was around 3am. She had jello and a glass of water.

We went gluten free the next day and it was about a week until we got the results.

[October3]

One time that my daughter was having general anesthetic I fed her a big meal right before the cut off time and got reprimanded by the anesthesiologist - I guess they wanted her to have a light breakfast only (her cut off was 8am or something like that for a 2pm procedure). I wouldn't wake him. Just give him a late dinner or bedtime snack. Let him know he won't be able to eat breakfast but you can give him drinks until whatever time and that he can eat afterward. I bet he'll surprise you. We took my son out to lunch after his scope and he got to choose the place and that was a big incentive for him not to fuss about the prep.