In honor of the surgical team who treated my daughter

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

At 10 pm we arrived at the emergency ward at the Children’s Hospital with our fifteen year old daughter, presenting signs of acute appendicitis with suspected peritonitis. Five minutes later she was diagnosed, dosed up with morphine and a saline drip.

At 11 she was taken to be prepped for surgery.

At 11.15 she went in to theatre while Mrs Cider and I waited and tried to enjoy back to back episodes of America’s Next Top Model, it being the only TV show available.

1.45, the surgeon arrived. She told us that the operation was a success, but complicated. It was keyhole surgery. The appendix was swollen to the size of two adult thumbs and full of pus, about to rupture at any minute. Too large to remove via laproscopy. They cleaned and irrigated and sucked out the pus till they could remove the recalcitrant vestigial organ.

This surgeon was already eighteen hours into a twenty-four hour shift. She looked tired, but she was candid and friendy. I told her the longest single shift I had ever worked was eighteen hours. But I was only trying to make a graphic design deadline.

So she chatted to us about this and that. She accepted our gushes of gratitude with quiet humility, and when it was time, she picked herself up and left to do her rounds.

At 3 am, my daughter was stable and sleeping in a ward, and I was getting ready to try and sleep on the chair-bed thing they gave me. Mrs Cider went home to bed, because somebody had to be sane tomorrow.

Now it’s tomorrow night. Our daughter is recovering well, Mrs Cider is having her turn in the comfy chair and I’m back at home writing this.

I’m drinking beer. And I’m toasting this surgeon and her team, and every member of the amazing crew at this hospital, from the night nurse to the trolley guy to the lady who mops the floor, for their understanding, their professionalism, their patience, and most of all their amazing devotion to the struggling Australian public health system. This toast on behalf of my wife, who needed an emergency C-section a few years ago. It’s on behalf of the little guy sleeping downstairs who is alive because of that C-section. It’s on behalf of Cider Girl who is alive and well today because of the dedication of these people. And it’s from me, because all could have been lost many times over if not for them.

It takes a special kind of weirdo to be a public health surgeon, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. Cheers doc, and thanks to all of you.

2

raises a glass, drinks deeply

Huzzah!

3

Indeed. I don’t know why these guys do what they do, but I’m sure glad they do it.

4

Both my parents benefited from the extraordinary dedication of the UK National Health System.
Bless them all.

5

I have had some amazing surgeons myself, so I can appreciate your sentiment.

Cheers to the doc and the team who worked on your daughter.

6

That’s great to hear. I’m glad you’re all doing well.

My family also had very good care in an Australian public hospital. My littlest boy had a rather complicated birth, then three hospitalizations for respiratory issues. I can’t say enough about the level of care we got.

7

I’m so glad your daughter is recovering well!!! ::raises glass to the health care team::

8

I’m so glad to hear your daughter is doing well. I’ve been in the hospital for emergency surgical work, and it’s scary as anything I’ve ever experienced. Keep on letting us know how she’s doing!

You know, there’s people who don’t believe in miracles. I happen to be a believer, but I also know that God doesn’t always just step in and go ZAP! to rescue a situation. We have to do some of the work ourselves

Maybe things were arranged so that people were there as needed. Way back someone wanted to be a doctor, and a researcher had insights on medications, and another person was a nurse or aide.

My church’s Book of Common Prayer has a prayer for health care workers, thanking God for their work and asking Him to keep them strong. I found it when my dad had open heart surgery.

Oh, and what kind of beer?:smiley: We can all go out, get the same kind, and have an international toast! Guinness, Southwick’s, Foster’s?:stuck_out_tongue:

9

Your post is your answer, cheers

10

A toast to the surgeons, and good thoughts for you and your family – from one whose family went through the exact same thing years ago, when I was the 13 year old patient.

11

Good job.

12

It would only take a few minutes to write a note of appreciation, mentioning any names you have, and send it via the hospital’s head. Not that it’s a bad thing to tell us too.

13

Doctors are high on my list lately. I’m glad it went well.

14

Perhaps the enormous salary has something to do with it?

15

I think it’s a little less venal than that. There’s no amount of cash you can throw at a schmuck to turn 'em into a superhero.

16

Yeah, write to the hospital administration naming names. And also drop by the ward with a card (candy) addressed in person to the doctors/ nurses who cared for your daughters. Medical staff, in the main, do a great job - and it’s always nice to be explicitly told what a great job you did.

Here’s to them, and medical staff around the world!

::raises glass::

17

When my mate became a junior doctor, he worked 60+ hours a week for several years to learn life-saving diagnosis and surgical techniques. For a pittance.
Now he’s a surgeon and is worth every penny.

18

I’m glad to hear your emergency surgery experience was so positive. My experience when my husband had to have a gall bladder out…was not. Apparently Canadian hospitals have not heard of treating family members of patients like human beings yet. Anyway, glad everything has gone well for you and yours.

19

I’ll drink to that.

And while we’re here, a toast to the doctors and nurses at that same hospital who, three years ago, held down a struggling Smaller Girl (then 7 months) so they could glue her face together after the Blender Blade Incident of 2006, thus saving her from the necessity of being put under general anaesthetic for stitches. (Also whoever invented surgical glue, that stuff is awesome)

Every so often I make reference to her scar (right between the eyes), and people who know her say “what scar”?

20

+1. Does a body good to read a post like that. It’s one reason I became a nurse. Well done to all those who helped you and your daughter. May her recovery remain uneventful and speedy.