Guest guest Posted January 3, 2001 Report Share Posted January 3, 2001 My daughter had her CT scan when she was almost 5, and they ended up sedating her for it. Some kids can lie still enough for it, but not usually before age 5. It took her awhile to recover from the sedation, and she was pretty lethargic for most of the rest of the day. >I am really behind on me emails but you mention a CT scan. We are having one >done next week for my almost 4 yr . son. Anything helpful hints you'd like >to share? From my own experience it is claustrophobic. I don't know how >they will get to be still. How long did it last? No one else can be >with the child right?? > >Thanks for any info. > >Tammy Norman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 3, 2001 Report Share Posted January 3, 2001 I was allowed to sit along side the CT machine so I was only an arms length from . Unfortunately he was not able to sit still long enough so we went sedated, still I was allowed to stay and it took about 20 minutes for the scan if I remember correctly. I should mention he was 4.5 years at the time and was and still is hard to keep still. I know others who have stayed still the whole time. ~ and 's Mom dtnorm@... wrote: > I am really behind on me emails but you mention a CT scan. We are having one > done next week for my almost 4 yr . son. Anything helpful hints you'd like > to share? From my own experience it is claustrophobic. I don't know how > they will get to be still. How long did it last? No one else can be > with the child right?? > > Thanks for any info. > > Tammy Norman > > All messages posted to this list are private and confidential. Each post is the intellectual property of the author and therefore subject to copyright restrictions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 3, 2001 Report Share Posted January 3, 2001 Hi Tammy, My son is 4 and he had a CT scan two weeks ago. Both my husband and I stayed with him and I was allowed to have my hands on his body and even parts of his face during all the imaging. We had eye contact at all times, although during one position, I looked at him upside down because his head was tipped back. (I had him laughing at my funny faces until the tech asked me nicely to stop since ' jaw was moving too much. LOL!) The machine was not closed at all...it was like a big doughnut in the middle of the room and only ' head extended into the " center " ring at any time while he laid on a table. The whole scan lasted about 10 minutes but we had a 2 or 3 minute break in between the two positions he needed to be in where he got to sit up. I will admit that my son seems more " compliant " (sorry, I don't like that term but can't think of another) than a lot of children and hasn't had some of the frightening experiences some others have. Still, he's a fairly typical 4-year-old and he did very well with the whole thing. Also, each time the scans began, I asked about how long they would be and I had help me count. He only counts to 20, though, so I kept " goofing " so we had to start over. :-) Carol--mom to , 4.8, mod to severe bilateral SN loss Near Seattle ct scan > I am really behind on me emails but you mention a CT scan. We are having one > done next week for my almost 4 yr . son. Anything helpful hints you'd like > to share? From my own experience it is claustrophobic. I don't know how > they will get to be still. How long did it last? No one else can be > with the child right?? > > Thanks for any info. > > Tammy Norman > > All messages posted to this list are private and confidential. Each post is the intellectual property of the author and therefore subject to copyright restrictions. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 3, 2001 Report Share Posted January 3, 2001 > Some kids can lie still enough for it, but not > usually before age 5. Where Dave works, if the child is young/old enough, they ask the parents to bring a bottle for the child. They tend to hold still longer when drinking from a bottle and they can often avoid sedation when using this tactic. Hugs, Kay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 4, 2001 Report Share Posted January 4, 2001 Tammy, My son was 5 years old when he had his done in August last year and they sedated him. I knew there was no way in h**l he was going to lay absolutely still for it. I was allowed to go into the room with him (even though he was asleep). I'm so glad they did sedate him because it took at least 20 minutes and they had to tilt his head all the way back for one set of scans and I know he would never have held that position for them. I cannot imagine any child this young laying absolutely still for that long. Did anyone mention sedation to you? We had Ben's done at Children's Hospital where they do this kind of thing all the time. He was only " out " for about 2 hours. They try to let the kids wake up on their own because some kids have really bad reactions to being woken up before they're ready. FWIW, had no problems whatsoever with the sedation except the part where they had to put the IV needle in :-( He was groggy when he woke up, but only for about an hour maybe. We were not supposed to let him do any sort of physical activity for the rest of the day or let him eat any solids until we were sure the sedation had worn off. Yeah, right! He was eating a bagel in the car on the way home because he was starving (nothing to eat or drink after midnight the night before) and he was jumping off the furniture by dinner time! These kids are soooo resilient! Terri (5 yrs., mild/mod bilateral sensorineueral) ================================= I am really behind on me emails but you mention a CT scan. We are having one done next week for my almost 4 yr . son. Anything helpful hints you'd like to share? From my own experience it is claustrophobic. I don't know how they will get to be still. How long did it last? No one else can be with the child right?? Thanks for any info. Tammy Norman __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 4, 2001 Report Share Posted January 4, 2001 Tammy, When had his scan done - they gave him medication to make him fall asleep, because he did have to be still. He slept through the entire CT scan and MRI. He was also 4 years old at the time. (at NYU in NYC) I do not remember what they gave him - but right before he fell asleep, he was wild! Then - 20 minutes later - he was out like a light. Good luck, Shirley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 5, 2001 Report Share Posted January 5, 2001 YEAH! Something I can finally put my 2 cents into. Jonny was sedated for his ABR in October (He was still 3). He is scheduled for his CT scan the end of this month and he is scheduled to be sedated as well. We had an option to put him out -- an IV or an oral medication. I think this time we're going with the IV. The oral medication he had was HORRIBLY NASTY TASTING. The nurse warned us... we though Jonny'd take it... nope. He got a little bit on his tongue and spit and spit and spit and spit and.. well, you get the point. We had to hold him down to get him to take it. He was only out for aobut an hour. He was groggy when he came to.(actually, it was almost as if he were drunk. He kept saying " I love you mommy. " And he thought it was really funny to try to walk.) It was a few hours before I completly trusted his balance again. That's probably just because I'm a nervous mom. I honestly think that at this age (4) it's easier to have him unconscious and unaware. Jonny has this " inner-warning-bell " that goes off when we get in a hosptial. It's like his mind says " this is not good. I am not going to cooperate. " Asleep... it's easy on all of us all around. The Dr already said he's going to be sedated for a shorter period this time due to the length of the CT scan vs the time of the ABR. Good luck Hope this helps! Huggos Liz >From: SJ1019@... >Reply-To: Listen-Upegroups >To: Listen-Upegroups >Subject: Re: ct scan >Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2001 21:13:08 EST > >Tammy, >When had his scan done - they gave him medication to make him fall >asleep, because he did have to be still. He slept through the entire CT >scan >and MRI. He was also 4 years old at the time. (at NYU in NYC) > >I do not remember what they gave him - but right before he fell asleep, he >was wild! Then - 20 minutes later - he was out like a light. > >Good luck, >Shirley _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.