Surgery on kids verses adults

[Risa]

Hello Everybody,

I've been reading 1st time surgery on adults and I hate to say it but that site is a little scarey. I take it that kids recover quicker than adults. Has anybodys children has an infection? and the pain that they experiance (adults) This site is the best I have felt good about Marisa's surgery and still do? Risa

[susannajon]

Hi Risa,

From what I've read, kids generally heal faster than adults. Infection was my biggest fear, but my daughter's incision healed beautifully and quickly with no infection. The pain is really bad, but it's harder on us parents than it is on the kids. The brain has an amazing capacity to block out the bad stuff. My daughter, when she first woke up in recovery was in terrible pain, and it was breaking my heart. About a half hour later, after they hooked her up to the pain pump, she opened her eyes, looked at me, and said, "This might be a silly question, but did I have my surgery already?" Her pain was completely controlled, and she had forgotten everything!

So, I TOTALLY remember every moment of her pain, but she definitely does not remeber much of it at all.

[lorrie]

Hi Risa,
Kids do generally heal faster - and my consultant reckons that youngsters with the kind of problems ours have actually handle it better than 'normal' teenagers. Partly because they're more familiar with being in hospital and having people do things to them and also because, not having the mobility to start with, they don't have to relearn walking and such. Also, not generally being great athletes to start with, they don't chafe so much at restrictions.

Lorrie

[Carmell]

Generally, the younger the patient, the easier recovery - for most surgeries, not just scoliosis. Children's bodies are in a rapid growth mode, so when surgery happens, the body heals much faster. As adults, our bodies are not as fresh and ready to heal. I fractured my elbow in January and had hardware put in to repair the fracture. NOT fun. Last week I had surgery again to remove the hardware (the bone has healed nicely). The hardware was an awful thing to have. I didn't like it, and my recovery progress was limited because of the hardware. (I realize elbows/joints are very different subjects than scoliosis surgery, but this is my only comparison.) I know that Braydon heals very well. He has never had a problem with infection nor any major complications. I hope I didn't just jinx him for future surgeries. He is doing wonderfully well.