Adventures in Anesthesia

My job is a bit harrowing at times on Wednesdays. We go in very early in the morning and administer general anesthesia to kids who are too uncooperative or young to be able to sit through massive amounts of dental work. We inject them in the leg to get them dazed enough to place an I.V., and while they are unconscious, we sit there administering the medication intravenously, monitoring their vital signs, listening to their breathing, etc. And every once in a while, we have to restart the kid's breathing. So my Wednesday activities have become affectionately known around here as "Keeping the Kid Alive" days.


So I came home from work today reminiscing about my own childhood surgery experience, which I had when I was about 3 or 4 for placement of tubes in my ears. I looked kind of like this, but I was spending a lot of my time writhing in pain from repeated ear infections.

For whatever reason, I was not at all nervous. Perhaps it was the preparation by my doctors and parents to get me psyched for my brief stay in the hospital. Maybe it was the fine nurse that put me at ease when she made a matching wrist band for my stuffed Koala bear, "George Washington Berger Bear." (I still have him...see below...But was very miffed that my nurse left off his middle name.)

I was so not nervous, that I looked at the surgery as a chance to prove my phenomenal will power. "I'm going to set the world record for staying awake when they give me the sleepy gas," I silently mused to myself as they wheeled me into the operating room.

"Okay, Honey. I'm going to put this mask on you and then we're going to count to ten. Are you ready?"

"Ready." ****Thinking: "Watch this, Buddy! You're going to be amazed at how long I can hold out! Your drugs have no power over me!"

"Here we go. (Mask goes on) Now start counting."

"One..."

*fade to black*

THE END