Monday and the power failed!

Monday started with Mr. Balloon Man folding and twisting! He's Glenn Day and he's our anesthetic technician. Glenn deals with anything anesthesia including mechanical, monitoring and also IV insertion. I didn't know about his balloon skills before today.

This is Lenin Quinotoa. He's 8 but has cerebral palsy. He needed some tendons released so that he has more mobility. He doesn't smile easily but the balloon girafe helped him smile!

Now Lenin is down in the pre-operative area outside the quirofanos or operating room. He's still smiling.

Now it's Vanessa's turn for a balloon creature. Vanessa has displastic development of the hip and needed an open reduction of her hip and a pelvic osteotomy.

Here's Vanessa's X-rays. Notice the hip on the right side of the x-ray is out of position or dislocated. Vanessa walks with a limp.

While Vanessa was interviewed by Dr. Shelley Scott, her anesthesiologist, I got a shot of my wife, Eileen and Sarah -- one short and one tall!

Here's Shelley Scott with the anesthetic underway. That's the anesthetic machine on the left with the bank of monitors that we have brought from Canada.

Here's the surgery underway on Vanessa before the lights failed.

And now Vanessa is in recovery room with her beautiful green cast! That's Charlette Opper, the pediatric recovery nurse on the left and Dr. Shelley Scott on the right.

Here's the x-rays after surgery on Vanessa. Note that hip on the right of the x-ray is where it ought to be! Thanks to the team of Canadienses in the pediatric OR.

Meanwhile in the preoperative area, Dr. Saifee Rashiq is starting the IV on Luis Aquirre. He's got bad osteoarthritis of one hip -- the other isn't bad.

The surgeons are looking at the x-rays of Luis. That's Carlo Panaro looking over the shoulders of Paul Moreau and Ron Henderson. Notice the phenomenal viewing system. In Canada it's all digital now -- with great flat screens for viewing. Here it's still "Hold it up to the light!"

But with the surgery underway - in fact with the femoral canal still to be prepared to recieve the prosthesis the power failed! We only had the tiny lights on the ends of the laryngoscopes to illuminate. Mathew Moreau ran for two blocks to buy flashlights. Over in the peds room, Vanessa was getting her cast. Shelley Scott had only the feel of her pulse to judge the anesthetic.

Here's how the team moves a patient from stretcher to bed in the tiny two patient rooms on the second floor of the Tierra Nueva. There's barely room to drop the siderails let alone squeeze in the manpower for the transfer.

Adela Sandigo and Linda Ushkowski are two of the ward nursing team.

Craig Blanchard leaned into a picture of Katie Vigen. Katie is a pediatric ward nurse. Guess what blue soaker pads are for.

That's all for now.

John