Anyone's child have a bronchioscopy?

[Wild Lupine]

DS (23 months) finally got a referral to an aero-digestive clinic. He'll see a bunch of different specialists to figure out what is causing his swallowing disorder and how much damage his lungs have sustained after almost two years of aspirating fluids.

Part of this involves a bronchioscopy, which I'm freaking out about. I'm trying to prepare myself for how bad it will be. If your child had one, what was it like for them? Was he or she sedated? Were you allowed to be there? How long did it last? Am I right in thinking this is going to be really tough for him, or is it not as bad as it sounds?

[hdirks]

I haven't been through this but I just wanted to give you some Hopefully someone here can answer your question. I know how frustrating it is when noone knows what your going through. good luck with everything! Hope it goes smoothly!

[moongazer]

My son (15 months) has had several due to his birth defect. I can tell you how it has been for us. He has always been sedated. They have taken place in the OR, so I could not be with him. They gave him Versed before he went into the OR, and he didn't mind leaving me at all. In fact, the last time, he was laughing with the nurse as she carried him away. The sedation meant that we had to deal with the feeding restrictions, but that wasn't as bad as I expected. He hasn't ever had a bronchioscopy by itself, so I can't say how he would recover from just that, but I would think coming out of the sedation would be the worst part. You can ask to be in the recovery room as soon as he wakes up. I think the procedure itself lasted about 15-20 minutes.

The research I did seemed to indicate that this is a very safe procedure. Please let me know if there are any more questions I can answer for you.

I hope the procedure is easy for both of you and they find favorable results.
Becky

[MotherWhimsey]

My DS has. They've always been in the OR and sedated. Really a very easy scope for us. good luck!

[Wild Lupine]

Originally Posted by hdirks

I haven't been through this but I just wanted to give you some Hopefully someone here can answer your question. I know how frustrating it is when noone knows what your going through. good luck with everything! Hope it goes smoothly!

Thanks! I find I can always count on someone here

Originally Posted by moongazer

My son (15 months) has had several due to his birth defect. I can tell you how it has been for us. He has always been sedated. They have taken place in the OR, so I could not be with him. They gave him Versed before he went into the OR, and he didn't mind leaving me at all. In fact, the last time, he was laughing with the nurse as she carried him away. The sedation meant that we had to deal with the feeding restrictions, but that wasn't as bad as I expected. He hasn't ever had a bronchioscopy by itself, so I can't say how he would recover from just that, but I would think coming out of the sedation would be the worst part. You can ask to be in the recovery room as soon as he wakes up. I think the procedure itself lasted about 15-20 minutes.

The research I did seemed to indicate that this is a very safe procedure. Please let me know if there are any more questions I can answer for you.

I hope the procedure is easy for both of you and they find favorable results.
Becky

Thank you! These details are so helpful.

Originally Posted by MotherWhimsey

My DS has. They've always been in the OR and sedated. Really a very easy scope for us. good luck!

Good to know!

[2boyzmama]

Connor was 3 or 4 months old when he had his. It is done under sedation, usually in the OR. Connor had oral versed before being taken back, and was completely asleep with just the versed. They did put an IV in, and may have given him meds in his IV, I don't remember. They sprayed his throat with lidocaine to help with any pain after the procedure.

The procedure is very quick, it literally takes longer to prep than the actual procedure does. His Pulmonologist showed me pictures right away, and talked about the results with me in post-op.

Connor had no issues from the procedure, really it was very easy and very informative.