For inpatient procedures, the length of stay varies, depending on the procedure and your child's rate of recovery. If he follows the doctors' and nurses' postoperative instructions closely, he will most likely go home sooner. Length of stay often varies from child to child, so be sure to ask your surgeon about the timeline for your child's visit. Your child may experience soreness for 1 to 2 days after a common outpatient procedure such as a hernia operation. The doctor may give him a regional nerve block or caudal block during the procedure while he or she is asleep, and then prescribe pain medication for him to use after the surgery.
Parents are often surprised at how quickly their children recover after an outpatient procedure.
For inpatient procedures, the surgeon and anesthesiologist will develop a pain treatment plan for your child together. They may give your child a patient-controlled analgesia pump or a postoperative epidural catheter. These therapies allow your child to determine exactly how much pain medication is used, and enables him to access that medication almost immediately. This depends primarily on the procedure being performed. Be aware that recovery timelines can vary from child to child.