Not sure if the right place- but ideas for helping ds cope with operation

[BroomsticksAreForFlying]

New to the sn boards, keep meaning to pop over!

Anyway, ds (9) has finally received the date for his op. It's to correct a squint, he sees double all most of the time.

However ds has problems coping with change, any change, and this is quite a big one. The op it's self he's ok with. He sees the squint as part of him, and in his words 'my squint hasn't done anything to you so why do you want to do anything to it?'

The benefits will be fantastic, he will no longer be concentrating on focusing on things to prevent the double vision, and free up his brain a bit, headaches should reduce, and tiredness.

School suspect ds has/is HFA/ aspergers, currently going through the painfully slow process that is CAMHS for dx. We also have adhd traits in the mix.

So ideas... currently we have running to help him accept:

Dressing Cheeky (gorilla) as a nurse
Danger of getting there and seeing dd1's godmother (student paed nurse/play specialist, and on duty in that dept that day!)
It will be happening, not optional (in response to comments about not wanting op, why does he have to?)
Visit to ward next week

We use a lot of humour to defuse anger and meltdowns when we can spot them brewing.

Looking for any other ideas to help him cope, we got just under 4 weeks to go!

We made a comic / social story thing for DS2 to read a couple of weeks before his op. It helped him know what to expect, and helped him ask the questions he wanted to ask, but couldn't find the language to do it.

It was a different sort of op, and a different situation - it was an op he actively wanted to have - but PM me if you'd like to see it!

That's a good idea. I'm playing the positives at the mo, and trying to get him to imagine how it would be to not have to re-focus his eyes every 2-3 mins.

Xh now kicking off about it... this could be a complication.

My daughter has had a lot of minor operations including a squint correction.

She has a teddy sized hospital gown to put on whichever toy she takes when she puts on her gown. I take a spare cup to pretend to give teddy the pre med liquid before she has hers.

I buy a hospital type sticker book before and we talk about the routine of the day A LOT!

I take her a drink and banana from home for after as she can be suspicious about the hospital stuff.

Good luck, we were very pleased with the outcome of my daughter's op.

Thanks. We've had a trip to the hosp, where he's been shown a photo book fo what will happen, he's visited the wing, discovered the room he'll wait in pre-op overlooks the site of the little asda they're building, so is crossing his fingers they'll still be using the crane when he's there. We will also be making his gorilla a nurses uniform, although a gown sounds fun- I may nab that idea! Play specialist has given him a wristband for gorilla too- must make sure I don't lose it.

He has instructed me to take a jar of strawberry jam for toast after, as he vaguely remembers toast when he had a em op as a 5yo.

Still getting the argument that the squint hasn't done anything to me, the play specialist made the mistake of saying some children need more than one op- he's busy hoping it comes back. That'll be an interesting one!