A short note without pictures today, as I left my camera in my hotel room. I did want to add that I did make it to Easter Mass at the Catholic Cathedral and it was awesome. Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter.
Today we had 3 surgeries scheduled. The first patient was a 12 y.o. girl and we repaired her cleft palate. Cleft lips are repaired, but they don't consider the palate an issue. The surgery went well, and after a few hours with the anesthesia cleared, she was waving to us and smiling.
The second patient was a 17 y.o. male with a protruding jaw, so that was repaired. He too did well.
The third patient was a 20 y.o. male who spoke wonderful English. We spoke to him for quite a while, since he was done later in the day. He too, had an overbite and a small upper jaw. He had lots of questions about America: is it hard to go to school there, where do you live, do I have any children? He knew of Seattle as his teacher attended University of Washington. This young man had many questions about the surgery and what to expect after surgery. The other aspect of being here is the post-op teaching: using ice to control swelling, head elevated, the importance of nutrition, as their jaws will be wired.
This patient then brought tears to my eyes when he said "I am an introvert because of how I look, but I am really an extrovert. I stay inside a lot because of some stares I get". It was heart breaking for me. I wanted to give him a hug. I just told him I thought he was handsome now, and he will only get better.
The conditions in the Recovery Room and the Operating Rooms, is definitely not what I am accustomed too. The bathrooms in the hospital were another matter. I am glad I have a strong bladder. We even saw some rats scurrying by on the floor below us (there is an area where Recovery is, where you can walk into the hallway, and look down to the 1st floor). No rats in the OR, at least not yet.
The staff does a wonderful job in caring for their patients, with the means they have. They do not do Vital signs as frequently as we do initially after surgery. That is hard for me to get used to.
We left the hospital at 7pm tonight (we are 14 hours ahead of the West Coast), and then the doctors took us out to dinner. I guess they are taking us out to dinner each night this week, plus they brought us lunch today too.
I am quite tired. Off to bed, only to do it again tomorrow. I will bring my camera and share some pictures.
Good night all!
Hi Jackie!
ReplyDeleteDarn it, I typed up a great comment, and then *poof* it was gone! Will start again here.
Sounds like you are doing a wonderful job acclimatizing, and shopping, and sightseeing! It's nice that you had some time to do so before getting down to work. Loooongggg days......are you feeling a bit better about working there now? Seems like the first day, just to get over the hump, really helps.
I cannot believe the IV Tylenol....did anyone bring any narcotics to use? How do the patients do with the Tylenol? You will never be able to view a whining hernia patient who's just gotten Dilaudid again!!
Your photos are amazing, and I want to find out how you got them IN your blog and larger, rather than mine which are teeny tiny and on the border.....but we can do that later. My beeper just went off, I'm on call today. The weather here is rainy icky, and you are not missing a thing!
We had a wonderful Easter too, I'll be waiting for your next blog,
Terry
No narcotics used in recovery. They do use propofol, fentanyl and versed in the OR. Also, rocuronium and reversals as needed. They IV the patient in the OR, no prep of the skin, no tourniquet, just pressure by a 2nd RN on the upper arm in place of a tourniquet. butterfly IV's are used. They give propofol for the intubation, versed, I didn't see use of sux, but not sure.
ReplyDeleteRecovery is sometimes full so 2 patients will share a bed, amazing. The patients do well post op, but some nausea and reglan given in recovery. We do round throughout the day on the previous surgeries to see how they are doing. Lots of family involvement.
Yes, those whiney-gynies won't get much sympathy from me....Good to hear from you.