Hi, I hope you don't mind me posting here, but I thought you guys might encounter this sort of thing more frequently than others.
In a nutshell ds1 (8) was diagnosed with a brain tumour on 9th Sept; on the 13th Sept the whole tumour was successfully removed. The biopsy found it was a medulloblastoma (malignant tumour), so he is now under the Royal Marsden for radiotherapy and chemotherapy to (hopefully) ensure there is no regrowth.
He has had a portacath line (aka port) inserted in preparation for the chemo and numerous other times they will need to access it for bloods and other medication. This presents the first problem - he completely freaks out when the needles appear. It took 2 people to restrain him while the nurse attached the external line earlier this week, while he screamed the place down.
So the next problem is that he has refused to cooperate with the planning stages for his radiotherapy (he needs to lie on the table with a custom made mask on so they can take measurements for where the beams need to be directed). As a result of this the whole of his radiotherapy - 5 days a week for 6 weeks - will have to be done under general anaesthetic. The GA will have to be administered through his port.
The hospital are arranging for the child psychologist to meet with him, but I would imagine it will take some time for him to be able to talk to a stranger about his fears.
So, I am at a loss as to how we can help him. How can we make him understand that by refusing to cooperate he is making everything much harder and more stressful for himself?
Any advice would be so much appreciated.
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How do you deal with a child who will not cooperate with treatment?
14 replies
Stinkyfeet · 14/10/2011 22:43
OP posts:
PipinJo ·
14/10/2011 22:51
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