SOJR PACU

It was my first time to be a PACU Intern today and my first patient turned out to be quite too strong for a 3 year old.

She came in a little past lunch, asleep from the general anesthesia.  She was wrapped in linen, carried by a nurse, assisted by another nurse together with her anesthesiologist.

I was there to receive her and monitor her vital signs every 15 minutes.  So I got her baseline VS.  Good so far.  IV line patent, VS stable, drop light, check.  In a matter of a few minutes, she was awake.  And not just awake.  I mean, A-W-A-K-E!

She was crying, shouting, hysterical, taking off all the monitoring paraphernalia attached to her body, she even removed her left eye's pressure patch.  I didn't know how to go about it.  From my rotation in surgery and in anesthesiology, I never had a screaming post-op patient.  Just a few groggy, confused ones.  So there.  Good thing her mom's with us.  She was, I guess, just as confused.  She was cuddling and ineffectively restraining her.  For a three year old female post-op patient, she was really STRONG.  Three adults could not restrain her.  I ran to the nurse's counter to get a micropore so we can put her (hopefully) not-yet-infected eye patch on.  Then I saw one senior ophtha resident, asked for help, and in a short-while, 5 of them came.  

Whew.

Never underestimate the physical strength of kids. 
 
Always count on a mother's lullaby's calming potential.  

Cellphones have a role at OR - a father's promise of a pasalubong from abroad can always divert the patient's attention from the pain to the happy thought of having a barbie doll or a chocolate.

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