•
Give medicines as directed by your doctor.
•
Call your child’s doctor’s office to schedule a follow up visit.
•
Your child may take a shower. Do not let your child take a tub bath
for one week after surgery. Remove the bandage(s) over the
incision(s) when your child takes a shower or at least one time each
day. Carefully wash the incisions with soap and water and pat dry.
Put new band-aids over each incision. Change the band-aids any time
they get wet or dirty.
•
If your child has steri-strips, leave them alone. They will fall off on
their own.
•
It may be hard for your child to have a bowel movement after
surgery. Walking and eating high fiber cereals, beans, vegetables and
whole grain breads will help. Drinking a lot of liquids may also help.
•
Your child may need to do deep breathing and coughing exercises to
keep from getting a lung infection after surgery. Have your child
deep breathe and cough every hour while awake and if he or she
wakes up during the night.
•
Your child should not lift objects over 10 pounds for three days.
•
Talk to your child’s doctor or nurse about other activity limits. Your
child should be able to return to normal activities in about one week
if laparoscopic surgery was done. If it was an open surgery, recovery
may take longer.
Call your doctor right away if your child has:
•
Pain in the abdomen or shoulder area that does not go away or gets
worse
•
Increased redness, bruising or swelling
•
A fever over 101 degrees F
•
Chills, a cough, or is feeling weak and achy
•
Vomiting
•
Skin that is itchy, swollen skin or a new rash
•
Trouble having a bowel movement or has diarrhea often