2/21

Boy oh boy what a busy first day of surgery!  We got to the hospital at about 7:15 a.m. where we met the patients who had spent the night in pre-op.  Our theme day today was Mardi-gra so we passed out tons of beaded necklaces, masks, and hung tinsel curtains to "celebrate the first day of surgery!"After that we started handing out lots of stickers, coloring sheets, and crayons to the kids.  Since they couldn't eat or drink for hours and hours before their surgery they were very cranky and tired.  We were put to the test trying to get babies to stop crying and make sure everyone was happy.  We set up our playroom, where our child life specialist keeps the mother load of toys, stuffed animals, puzzles, cars, you name it and it was there!  Kids would come in to the playroom right before they were called for surgery so we could do some play therapy with fake stethoscopes, band aids, masks, etc.  With the older kids we played matching games, tick tack to, painted, and made jewelry.  The medical team would then poke their heads in and ask for a certain patient by their number.  As the children were whisked away to the OR we took the parents down to speech therapy, and that walk was full of tears and anxiousness for them.  The pre-op was transformed in to the post-op by attaching bamboo poles to the beads to hold the IV bags for the kids once they were carried back by their family.  They will all spend the night being watched by nurses, and they were still very drugged by the time we left the hospital around 5:00 p.m.    Even though it is hot, people's digestive systems are encountering some issues, and the schedule is packed it is amazing to walk in to the post-op and see the kids that you have just played with have a beautiful new smile.   There was a large line for screening again today, as more people show up once they hear that we are in town.  We taught our dental hygiene, burn care, and nutrition information, and thankfully today we had some very good translators.  Time to get some rest, surgery day number two will surely be busy as well!

Anna and Carly