Discussing Endoscopic Procedure With 7 Year Old

[jsmasudek]

My seven year old son will be undergoing an endo procedure soon. He had this done 4 years ago when he was diagnosed but does not remember it. Anyone know of any books/pamphlets on explaining this to a child of his age?

[celiac3270]

Be careful about explaining it...to someone of any age it can be scary to know what will actually go on...try not to tell him what goes on technically, but just that he'll be going to the hospital and the doctors will make him go to sleep and then they'll do a test to make sure he's ingesting no gluten (is that way the endo??) and then he'll wake up and go home.

[gf4life]

It probably wouldn't be a bad thing to let your son know that they will be puting a thin plastic tube down his throat with a tiny camera in it to take pictures. That shouldn't scare him, and he might even think it is cool. My son did!

If it were me I would let him know that it won't hurt, he can still breathe and swallow while the tube is in his throat and that he will be asleep during it, but that the tube might rub on his throat a little bit and if it is a little sore after he wakes up that you can give him some medicine that can help it not be sore.

My kids are pretty brave I guess, but I also believe that they need to know at least some of the details of what is going to happen to them during any medical procedure, from routine tests, more invasive tests like MRI's, CT scans, Endoscopy and Colonoscopy exams (all of which at least one of my kids have had) and even surgeries (two had their tonsils out by 7 years old and the other has had 2 sinus surgeries, the first at 7 years old). I feel that the more aware they are of what is going to happen to them, then the less scared they are. I do NOT go into extreme detail and I don't tell them the risks of complications, just a basic description of the procedure and how they might feel afterwards.

You should decide what is best for your son, based on you knowledge of how he reacts to things like this. You know your son better than anyone else.

God bless,

Mariann

[Guest nini]

may I ask why he's going to have another one after 4 years?

[Hennessey]

My seven year old son will be undergoing an endo procedure soon.  He had this done 4 years ago when he was diagnosed but does not remember it.  Anyone know of any books/pamphlets on explaining this to a child of his age?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I had it done a couple of months ago to widen my esophagus, unrelated to celiac, and I didn't recall anything. I think if it were my child I would just say the doctor is going to take a peek in your mouth, serioulsy by the time the medication kicks in he won't even remember a thing. I don't have any recolection of any tube in my throat at all. I was just laying on my side and that was it.....your son will be fine, I don't know if you can be in the room, if you can that would be great and I hope you can be, but seriously once they make him groggy he won't even remember a thing....but i know just the getting him there is the tough part, I have a 10, 3 and 1 yr old, all have been hospitalized for one thing or another. It's not easy, but he will be ok and you will be ok too.

[Hennessey]

I had it done a couple of months ago to widen my esophagus, unrelated to celiac, and I didn't recall anything.  I think if it were my child I would just say the doctor is going to take a peek in your mouth, serioulsy by the time the medication kicks in he won't even remember a thing.  I don't have any recolection of any tube in my throat at all.  I was just laying on my side and that was it.....your son will be fine, I don't know if you can be in the room, if you can that would be great and I hope you can be, but seriously once they make him groggy he won't even remember a thing....but i know just the getting him there is the tough part, I have a 10, 3 and 1 yr old, all have been hospitalized for one thing or another.  It's not easy, but he will be ok and you will be ok too.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I just had to add that you have to take into consideration he is 7, no matter what other advice you may get from well meaning people, he is just 7, a baby. The less said the best...take it from a teacher, special ed, preschool, elementary, mom...and you know your child best....7yr old doesn't need all that technical information....again my advice say as little as possible to keep him comfortable and once they make him feel comfortable the rest in in the hands of the specialist, and it will be about 10-15 minutes max that he won't even remember, best to keep it simple.

[jsmasudek]

may I ask why he's going to have another one after 4 years?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks to all who have replied. Matthew is a very curious type of boy and will need some inormation. As for why the test, his original test should some results not typical with Celiac. There is some concern that he may have something else going on as well as he continues to have sme stomach pain and recurrent soft bowel movement. His movements have never been what I would consider normal.