Talking to a preschooler about surgery?

May 6, 2008 9:24 AM

A friend's preschool aged daughter is going in for surgery in a few months. Can you recommend books, videos, etc. for talking to her about surgery?

Without going into full details, she'll be under a general anesthetic and will have at least one incision made on her neck. So stuff that touches on going under and having visible bandages would be helpful.

posted by Lentrohamsanin to health (10 comments total)

I remember this one fondly: A Visit to the Sesame Street Hospital. Grover gets a tour of the hospital before having his tonsils out. It's been a looong time since I've looked at it, but I'm pretty sure it talks about general anesthesia.
posted by hippugeek at 9:52 AM on May 6

I had a lot of surgeries in childhood (in fact, one of my earliest memories was going into the OR with my teddy bear), but I was fortunate enough to have most of the procedures in a children's hospital. Is your friend's daughter lucky enough for that to happen as well? If so, children's hospitals are fabulous for catering to such events. I used to work here at the hospital medical library, where there were lots of books and advice for patients and families. One of the more popular resources can be found online: Virtual Surgery Tour. While the above may be specific to the hospital I worked at, I hope they give you some ideas for how to help, or where to look for information to apply to your friend's own situation.
posted by carabiner at 9:55 AM on May 6

I second the visit to the SS hospital. One of my earliest memories was a surgery at age 3.5. It was very scary. I wish that someone would have told me exactly what was going to happen. I also distinctly remember getting a very nice stuffed dog as well (and my sister's jealousy).
posted by k8t at 10:04 AM on May 6

I tried to link to this earlier in this similar thread but the site was down. Also most hospitals will have some patient info on their web sites, which can be a little more specific about the practices of a given hospital. Many hospitals, and especially children's hospitals, have child life specialists who do exactly this sort of explaining/teaching and they could point your friend to a variety of resources.
posted by TedW at 10:32 AM on May 6

I would not start talking about this a few months out. I would wait until a few weeks at most. Little kids don't have a real concept of time - they know today and tomorrow but if your friend starts talking about this now, it gives the child too much time to think about it. If it were my kid, I'd start talking about it maybe a week before it was going to happen, no sooner. I'd also get the advice of their pediatrician on the best time to start preparing her. But as the parent of a preschooler, I can say with certainty that a little prep would be good, and a lot would be bad. You don't want to make too big a deal of this, even though I'm sure it is a big deal. The kid will take her cues from her parents and if they're matter-of-fact and confident about it, she'll likely follow their lead.
posted by Kangaroo at 10:36 AM on May 6

One of the books we got for my son before his surgery last year was Going to the Hospital. It's a British book, so things are a little different (such as nurses wearing hats). The child in the book has ear surgery and has a bandage afterwards.

That same Amazon page lists a few other similar books. There's always Curious George Goes to the Hospital, but it's forty years old a somewhat dated (housecalls, nurses in uniforms, leaving George in the hospital by himself overnight, large group rooms), but it would be good for a Curious George fan.
posted by ShooBoo at 10:45 AM on May 6

Is she having surgery at a children's hospital? When I was a kid I had surgeries at Children's Hospital Vancouver and Sick Kids Hospital Toronto and both gave me videos to take home and watch about what the surgery process was going to be like. They completely calmed me down.

I'd ask at your local children's hospital for such a video, even if your friend's child isn't having surgery at one.
posted by meerkatty at 10:56 AM on May 6

Mr. Rogers' book Going to the Hospital is a very good one for this purpose. It's reassuring in a way that few authors who are not Mr. Rogers can achieve.
posted by dseaton at 12:09 PM on May 6

You might try talking to one of the folks working with Penny Arcades Childs Play charity. I suspect some of their volunteers or they will have some information on this.
posted by iamabot at 1:35 PM on May 6

My daughter had surgery at two years old. One thing I remember clearly is that the nurses gave her a mask to play with -- the one used to administer the anesthesia. This helped immensely. Other than that it was just a fun visit to the hospital to play with toys and meet people. She didn't like it when someone else held the mask in place, but after a few seconds of her doing it on her own she wasn't able to put up much of a fight.

All that to say, talk with the nurses first and see if she can play with a mask, or even take one home a few days early. No one feels well when coming around, so make sure mom or dad is there when she wakes up. She'll need someone to cuddle.
posted by kc0dxh at 6:27 PM on May 6