How Can I explain upcoming PICC line and surgery to my 3 year old?

[rosesixtyfive]

How can I explain to my child that he is going to the hospital for a bronchoscopy and picc line and then going back in a week for a sinus surgery? How can I help him when he wakes up with a PICC line in? I am afraid he will try to take it out and that it will be a horrific experience. He is 3 years old and very nervous about many things because of procedures in the past. Thank you so much, rosesixtyfive, mother of Sam, ddF508, 3 years old

 

[Rebjane]

We went through something similar when my daughter was 2 1/2. She did not have sinus surgery but did have a bronchi and PICC line. It was not necessarily a planned procedure when it happened to us so we just did the best we could. If it makes you feel any better; my daughter does not have bad memories of it; only a small scar where the PICC line was; which she will proudly show people. (She is now 10). I think the whole experience was harder for us as parents cause we totally understood everything.

Have you spoken to child life specialist? We explained stuff just before things were happening as matter of fact as possible. I told my daughter she was not allowed to touch the PICC line. I told her it would bleed if she did. When we were home I bought wrap to cover the PICC; someone had suggested a sock to cut over the PICC. I think it was a cute Hello Kitty sock; but it kept falling off. They do have different colored wraps however, cause I feared she would pull at the PICC; which she never did.

We had people helping us; with our non CF son as well. We had people sending gifts; to keep her busy, The Bronchoscopy made my daughter's cough worse; which is normal after. She had lots of popsicles after to soothe her throat. She was in a Clifford phase(the big red dog). So the room was filled with Clifford stuff. I remember her being "high" on Ativan prior to her PICC line insertion singing to a giant CLifford balloon. It was funny and sad at the same time.

 

[LisaGreene]

I would definitely have the child life specialist explain this. They have dolls and samples of the medical equipment to show your child what will happen plus the skills and language to explain at their level. Here are some things to remember about this age. Good luck and feel free to PM with questions.

The way that preschoolers think and process information is very different from adults. Their emotions can affect their ability to think and understand. The Preschool Thinker is:

• Magical- Unable to explain how things happen in a logical, step-by-step process.
• Perceptual- Dominated by what he sees, hears, feels or smells.
• Egocentric- Able to see the world from his point of view only.
• Immediate- Focused on the present only.
• Absolute- Tends to see everything in extremes; sees few relationships.

Here is a link with specific things you can do with preschoolers to help them learn about CF: http://www.happyheartfamilies.citymax.com/articles/article/7733564/172011.htm

 

[JENNYC]

Abby has had a lot of surgeries starting at a young age. And had one of them gone wrong...I'm pretty sure it would have been a nightmare to get her to go back and do another!! Abby literally thought that surgery was going in and doing a weird breathing treatment that made her go to sleep with mommy there and then she would wake up with mommy there and she would have an IV and as soon as she would drink or eat a popscicle she could go home and we always took her a present for being so very brave. The doctors at our hospital bent the rules a little for us by letting me gown up and hold her in the OR until she was asleep so she did not get scared. They knew that she would probably be back many times so they allowed it. And Abby was happy and not scared when it was time for surgery next time. I told her only what I felt she needed to know. I didn't tell her that they were cutting anything I just told her that they were gonna help her breathe threw her nose. I also told her that her nose was gonna have a little bit of red stuff come out for the first day or two but it was perfectly normal and was ok. The only part she didn't like was the IV and they put it in after she was asleep. Well I take that back she didn't like the breathing treatment (sleeping gas) either because she felt like she was losing control and I imagine that was scary. Kids are so much stronger then we give them credit for!! It's the mommy in us that gets us!! I always squalled like a baby until I knew that she was out and everything was ok....and she had 10 sinus surgeries....it never got easier. But she did make me stronger because she was so brave and didn't let it bother her at all!! Now Abby has a very very high pain tollerance as we have learned but she a few times came home with a headache but I always had to trick her into taking her pain medication because she has a real issue with losing control is all we can figure. She refused to take pain meds!! And I mean all out battle refused!! After a while it got to where I couldn't even trick her. I would ask and see if they will let you go back with him and explain that he may have to have several surgeries and you don't want him to be scared in the future. Hope this helps

 

[Ratatosk]

DS is terrified of needles, freaks out any time he's going to have a shot or blood work, so I don't tell him beforehand or he worries about it. In fact, he knows he has to have a baby tooth removed in a couple weeks, but I'm not sharing the details with him. He loves going to the dentist and we don't need him freaking out about that. With his last PICC, he was sedated. We were able to go into the room with him, they put flavored lip smacker in the mask they used -- once he was out, we left the room. He was a little cranky about not be able to move his arm right away to play video games, but was fine about the whole procedure.

 

[rosesixtyfive]

Hey, I just wanted to update on this. Before we went, we played doctor with the stuff animals. We used large Lego blocks as picc lines and taped them onto the animal arms. I let Sam choose which animals were culturing bacteria and which ones were not. Then, I let him use an old Tylenol syringe to pretend like he was injecting the Legos with antibiotic. I showed him pictures of kids with PICC lines from the internet and told him not to be scared if he ever woke up and he had one in his arm. We told the animals over and over again, "It's okay, it's just to give you medicine, but only the doctor can take it out." Well, Sam did fantastic. He was not phased a bit when he woke up with the PICC line. In fact, I think he was more confident after going through something major like that and getting lots of positive reinforcement. He actually stayed in the nursery at church the same week he got the PICC which was a major step toward confidence and liberation. ...So, don't be scared if your child needs a PICC line, these CF kids are super-resilient. rosesixtyfive, mother of Sam, ddf508, 3 years old