Hi Dr. Mike!
When my mom had her prodecure last fall I asked the nurse her opinion about how to deal with my children, girls then ages 11 and 17. She said she thought it was best to be honest and upfront about everything. The most interesting part to me was that she recommended that the girls come in and see her about 2 days after her surgery, and then when they would see her approx 5 days later they would see a great improvement in terms of swelling and healing. She said that it gives the children a sense of encouragement.
I appreciated your answer; hard to know what to tell them when you don't know what really happened.
One day while my mom was still in the hospital I ventured down to the resource room. I was told that at Univ of PA they would teach some of the patients and their childrent sign language, if needed. For a room that had so many concerned people it was quite calm.
I'm sure that you made that little 8year old girl feel a ton of relief.
Donna