Preparing a 2 year old for hospital/ operation

[Mo2]

My friend's DD, aged 2.2 will be going into hopsital in a few weeks time for a hip operation and will then be in plaster for a few weeks afterwards.

Anyone got any experience/ tips to share to help her talk to her DD about it.
Anyone recommend any good books about hospital visits?

is she going in a hip spica cast???for a dislocated hip???
make sure she gets all the equipment to help her when she is at home because that is the hardest time, tell her to ask if there is a buggy that can help her get out and about...
ideas for hospital/games for at home
bubbles, finger painting,splash mat/dance mat, musical instruments/videos....
encourage her to try and keep her dd in a similar routine even though it is hard
which hospital is she going in?? is she local enough to go and visit it beforehand??
my dd had a hip spica but was alot younger but there were older children on the ward having it done, good luck to her

Chatee - thanks - yes - I think that's what it is. Poor little girl has BOTH hips dislocated, so will have 2 operations in succession and may be in plaster for 3 months or so

She's going to Great Ormand Street so maybe won't be able to visit before.

The Great Ormond Street web site has some pages about helping children cope with hospital.

I don't have any experience myself, but am interested in hearing what others have to say because I expect my dd to have some plastic surgery next year.

Dd had open heart surgery when she was 18months. I read books with her, talked about it, played with dollies eg attached wires etc to the dolly where she would have them
It seemed to work - she was an absolute angel for the whole week.
There is an Usbourne book called "going to the hospital" .The boy is having grommits in or something like that , but I just changed it to what suited our situation.
Dd was on the waiting list for 7 months, so it was just something that she always knew about "when you go to the hospital..." , we didn't make a big deal out of it (sometimes hard when you can hardly talk about it without crying)