I just wanted to share some of the advice that is being given to patients and parents as part of a pain management study being conducted at Children's Mercy Hospital, KC, of adolescent posterior spinal fusion patients.
The mother of one such patient (who shared this with me), and her daughter, received some pain management counseling which mom feels has "truly been key in her excellent recovery."
A pain management doctor, nurse and also psychologist met with the patient and told her what to expect, what drugs would be used to help and also what she could do to help herself. They taught her some guided imagery techniques ("imagine a happy place and how you feel when you are there"), some breathing she could do, etc.
The psychologist also met with the parents, separately and told them how they could help . . . reminding her to do the guided imagery, etc., and to NOT say things like "you poor thing, the pain must be really bad, it isn't fair you have to do this." Mom said that she found the whole thing pretty fascinating and that she "definitely worked hard to not say stuff like that".
I'm not sure who or what to credit for it, but this particular patient is running 3-5 miles per day just a little over two months since fusion surgery.
I hope this is helpful to someone
The mother of one such patient (who shared this with me), and her daughter, received some pain management counseling which mom feels has "truly been key in her excellent recovery."
A pain management doctor, nurse and also psychologist met with the patient and told her what to expect, what drugs would be used to help and also what she could do to help herself. They taught her some guided imagery techniques ("imagine a happy place and how you feel when you are there"), some breathing she could do, etc.
The psychologist also met with the parents, separately and told them how they could help . . . reminding her to do the guided imagery, etc., and to NOT say things like "you poor thing, the pain must be really bad, it isn't fair you have to do this." Mom said that she found the whole thing pretty fascinating and that she "definitely worked hard to not say stuff like that".
I'm not sure who or what to credit for it, but this particular patient is running 3-5 miles per day just a little over two months since fusion surgery.
I hope this is helpful to someone
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