Today was incredibly busy in Recovery Room. I came in at 10 am and it was already busy. Wendy and I had 4 patients already in and out before our boss Maria came in at 12.
Christian a young boy who we were told is deaf and blind (later we were told that he had cataract surgery last year and now he can see, but it sure didn't seem like it) came in after a nasal oral fistula repair (a hole between is mouth and his nose). When he woke up from anaesthesia he was flailing all over the place. We got his mom to come in and what followed was priceless. She grabbed his hands and put them on her face and put his face up to her neck. She said that the only way he can tell that it is actually her is by her smell and touch. I felt like I was watching the most amazing connection between a mother and son. She is so loving and patient with him as he is inconsolable except by her. Once Christian woke up and was slightly calmed down he went back to the ward.
Later we received Anthony who had surgery on his jaw. At first Anthony was bleeding just a little from his mouth. Then it was more and more. Then we were constantly suctioning. We went into the OR and told Dr. Gary and he came out, took a look, gave us some tips on how to stop the bleeding and went back into the OR and started another surgery. I went to a staff meeting and came back and Wendy was still suctioning poor Anthony. He was awake the whole time and very cooperative. I took over the suction duty again and tried to stop the bleeding with no success.
I went back into the OR and interrupted Dr. Gary during surgery to tell him I was concerned. God bless that wonderful man. He quickly came to Anthony's bedside and looked inside his mouth and saw a sub-lingual hematoma (a collection of blood underneath the tongue a that pushes the tongue back that closes off the airway... bad). He said "Girls, good catch. If we would have waited another 30 minutes his airway could have closed off." I don't think he could have said anything nicer to us. We adore him. For him to give us a verbal pat on the back made it worth it today.
While all of this was going on we had another guy that came back from the OR with a blood pressure of 55/21. His normal is 120/70. Needless to say we were quite busy.
Christian a young boy who we were told is deaf and blind (later we were told that he had cataract surgery last year and now he can see, but it sure didn't seem like it) came in after a nasal oral fistula repair (a hole between is mouth and his nose). When he woke up from anaesthesia he was flailing all over the place. We got his mom to come in and what followed was priceless. She grabbed his hands and put them on her face and put his face up to her neck. She said that the only way he can tell that it is actually her is by her smell and touch. I felt like I was watching the most amazing connection between a mother and son. She is so loving and patient with him as he is inconsolable except by her. Once Christian woke up and was slightly calmed down he went back to the ward.
Later we received Anthony who had surgery on his jaw. At first Anthony was bleeding just a little from his mouth. Then it was more and more. Then we were constantly suctioning. We went into the OR and told Dr. Gary and he came out, took a look, gave us some tips on how to stop the bleeding and went back into the OR and started another surgery. I went to a staff meeting and came back and Wendy was still suctioning poor Anthony. He was awake the whole time and very cooperative. I took over the suction duty again and tried to stop the bleeding with no success.
I went back into the OR and interrupted Dr. Gary during surgery to tell him I was concerned. God bless that wonderful man. He quickly came to Anthony's bedside and looked inside his mouth and saw a sub-lingual hematoma (a collection of blood underneath the tongue a that pushes the tongue back that closes off the airway... bad). He said "Girls, good catch. If we would have waited another 30 minutes his airway could have closed off." I don't think he could have said anything nicer to us. We adore him. For him to give us a verbal pat on the back made it worth it today.
While all of this was going on we had another guy that came back from the OR with a blood pressure of 55/21. His normal is 120/70. Needless to say we were quite busy.
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