The day started with the usual rush to get patients ready and asleep. I got a chance to go to the floor to visit yesterday’s patients with Trish to assess pain and be sure medications were being given as ordered. Some needed an extra dose of Tylenol with codeine, others were getting Tylenol and ibuprofen simultaneously instead of alternating every 3 hours. Luckily the doctor on the floor speaks English because my medical Spanish doesn’t go very far.
As we waited for second cases to be ready, there was a commotion in the pre-op area because we were being visited by a group of service dogs. They were great fun for the very nervous patients and cute for staff to see too. A trainer put a very obedient puppy on a bed with a patient and allowed her to give treats as he commanded the dog.
The afternoon got busy with cases starting and ending. Then the young daughter of one of the surgeons came into the OR for the first time ever and fainted. She came to post-op to “recover”. We found that she hadn’t been feeling well, so I started an IV and we gave her some Cipro and anti nausea meds. That helped her a lot.
The day was long. Three out of 5 ORS ran almost until 7. But we managed to go out for good Mexican food. I sat with a few of the PACU nurses in the hotel bar as they were eating a late dinner. Then to bed early to get ready for another day.
The Adventures of Anne 
So wonderful Anne…I wish, in my surgical career as a PA, that I could have done that. A nurse I knew in our OR did the plastic surgery trips from FLA, but,I, being in cardiac surgery, didn’t have a chance at that….
You are doing such admirable work👍
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