Procedures

Likes to Sleep Anyway
Anesthesia
Watching Procedures

Crohn’s Disease          Ulcerative Colitis

Likes to Sleep Anyway

All of his procedures were scary for me as a parent; he is my oldest, and I’d never experienced anything like that before. The colonoscopy was scary, but it wasn’t a choice for him; it was just something that we had to do. It was hard for me to sit outside and know that they were performing it, because it’s invasive. But they gave him medication, so he was unaware of what was going on. After the colonoscopy I was a little bit concerned because he slept for a long time; I guess it depends on the person, and on how the medication affects them, but it took him a long time to come out of it. He likes to sleep anyway, though, so that could have been a factor! When he had an endoscopy it was the same thing— it was nerve-wracking, because this was my child and I wasn’t in there with him. Although, to be honest, I’m glad I wasn’t there because I wouldn’t want to see them sticking tubes down my child’s throat or anything. But these tests made it easy for the doctors to know which medications he really needed to be on— which medications were going to help— and he hasn’t had to have either one since. So that’s a good thing.

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Anesthesia

She had the barium x-rays and that was really hard for her because she couldn’t swallow enough of the barium for them. So that was a hard day. I think getting ready for the colonoscopy, you know, having to cleanse your system and having to take all those horrible solutions was really hard for her. We weren’t even sure she’d be able to have the colonoscopy because she kept throwing it back up again. But she did. And it’s pretty scary because it involves anesthesia for a kid. I think the concern about the anesthesia was hard for me.

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Watching Procedures

It was all pretty daunting and scary. I’ve never been through anything like that. It was jarring to stand there and watch the procedures, but still not know what the drugs were going to do to her.

It was also difficult to have to share a room. What she was going through was occupying my head enough, without also having to worry about sharing a bathroom. Just trying to understand and get information from the doctors about what was happening was difficult. I never felt like I was really up to speed. It was a huge relief when she got a single room because there were some moments of peace and solitary time to think and take a deep breath, and that seemed to help.

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