Today is the first surgery day! We have 13 surgeries scheduled today and Triage is the place to be first thing in the morning. The patients are already at MPSC, prepped and waiting with their families in the post-op rooms. Anthony leaves the Triage room to grab our first three patients. As soon as they walk through the door, everyone scrambles in to action. Two nurses and two doctors start taking pre-op vitals for each child. One volunteer is taking before photos to attach to the child’s medical file which will be handed over to the surgeons. Another volunteer is stationed at a computer in the corner, entering the patient information into the Austin Smiles database. A handful of other volunteers are in the room and using puppets, balloon animals, stickers, and elmo videos to distract the crying babies who have been NPO (no food or drink orally since midnight) on doctor’s orders.
Through all of this, parents are still with the child, patiently waiting and following instructions. Once they leave the triage room, they enter the sterile zone. The parent puts on a gown, shoe covers, and a hair net while we hold and/or entertain the child. Then we hand the child across the gray tape on the floor, separating the sterile from the non sterile environment. From there, they say their goodbyes and the child goes in the elevator with nurses to the OR upstairs. Our lovely Translator Carolina has been hanging out, keeping them company while they wait for surgery to end.
Most of today’s surgeries were for cleft lips and cleft palates, along with a few bilateral myringotomies (aka, ear tubes). As we wind down the day, the team in Triage begins to pick up a bit as they are handling post-op. Everyone is a little tired but very happy with how the day has gone. Especially since we have a birthday today! A chocolate cake was procured for the birthday girl Michele and we all gathered around to sing happy birthday. A great end to Day 1!
