When you first visited an ear, nose, and throat specialist it was likely due to something you noticed with your child's hearing or speech. You may have even visited a speech pathology professional that lead to the ultimate referral to your ENT specialist. If the issue with your child's health was advanced, you may be facing your child going in for surgery. You may already know how to help prepare yourself for the surgery, but there are some tips for preparing your child that you should know.
Have Two Adults at the Surgery
Like any parent in this situation, you are likely planning to handle all aspects of the surgery on your own. This could be because you are a single parent or because your spouse is working. Regardless of the situation, try to have another adult present. Make sure it is someone your child knows, like a friend of the family or relative. This helps prepare your child for surgery by giving them someone there they can trust even if you are dealing with paperwork or other issues.
Explain What Will Happen
One of the easiest ways for your child to become agitated about the surgery, and in some cases more fearful of it, is to be left waiting. When you take your child in for ENT surgery, they will have several long waits including pre-registration and pre-op. Take the time to prepare your child for this so they know that nothing is wrong, are prepared to wait, and if possible are able to bring something with them that can occupy their time during the long waits. This will help keep their stress level down and ease into the procedure.
Prepare the Recovery Area
One way to prepare your child for their ear, nose, or throat surgery is to discuss the recovery with the speech pathology professional or ENT professional. This can give you ideas to incorporate for your child to make their recovery and recovery area more comfortable. You can even include them in preparing their recovery area as a way to help them prepare for the event.
These are just a few tips and ideas for preparing your child for their ear, nose, or throat surgery. Make sure you have scheduled their follow-up speech pathology appointment if it pertains to their recovery.
For more information about speech pathology, contact a specialist like Eastern Carolina Ear Nose & Throat-Head.
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