Musings on Pre-Surgery

I just finished my month on Pre-Surgery rotation.  For the month of July, I joined the special people who show up to UT Southwestern OR's at the crack of dawn.  Or maybe before the crack.  My alarm has been set for 4:30am since July 1st, and my bed time has been consistently 9:00pm, sometimes earlier!  Arriving at the hospital so early is equal parts creepy and peaceful.  It's quiet and I found myself really enjoying the time alone in the Chaplain's office area to center and focus myself.  It's creepy in that there's no one in our area at 5:30am, so every noise seems a bit misplaced.  During my time on pre-surgery, I've learned a few things about myself and about pre-surgery that I thought I would share. 

Learned Things About Pre-Surgery:

• It takes special people to work this early shift.  While it sort of is like working a night shift, it also isn't, because you leave work with plenty of daytime, normally around 2:00 or 3:00 pm.  The nurses I worked with were a lovely balance of perky and calming - something that is most definitely needed for many surgery patients so early in the morning. 

• Surgery is all about vulnerability. I wouldn't say all patients are necessarily willing to have surgery, but most don't just end up laying half exposed in our beds just for a giggle. To walk into a place where you willingly know you're going to be knocked out and cut open is a bit surreal and sometimes, scary.  People respond to this vulnerability and anxiety in a variety of ways, covering the entire range of human emotions. 

• Medical School Interns are HILARIOUS at 6:00 in the morning.  Especially on July 1st, their first day at the hospital. 

• Always check to make sure the patient's room number matches the name of the patient. ALWAYS.

• Sometimes a doctor will start a surgery a few hours early.  Sometimes a doctor will start a surgery a few hours late.  Flexibility is key. 

• The Unit Clerk is a key person to know on the surgery unit.  Seriously.  THEY KNOW EVERYTHING. 

Things I Learned About Myself on Pre-Surgery:

• I can be a morning bird.  I can be a night owl.  I cannot be both.  Especially on the same day. I turn into something quite wicked.   

• I can do anything for 30 days. Such as waking up for a shift at 4:30 in the morning. 

• I love people.  People are wonderful.  I thrive around people.  They bring me energy and life.  But, sometimes, after meeting with 15 families in the span of an hour, and then everyone else within another hour, I meet my people max by 10:00 am.  I have to go and put myself in isolation just to regroup and center myself.  

• I love stories.  I love hearing people's stories.  One of my favorite aspects of Pre-Surgery round is being able to hear patient's stories.  It doesn't happen every time, but when it does, man oh man is it special. 

• The foam in/foam out procedure KILLS my hands.  I have to wash my hands every other foam, and even then, my hands start to remind me how much they dislike the foaming.  

• Chaplains are the one person people can kick out of a room. And that's ok. If people can feel an ounce of control or power by asking my out, that is perfectly fine.  I make sure to leave them with a blessing, if not in the room, as I step outside and hand sanitize.

• Knowledge is power, but when it comes to pre-surgery, ignorance is bliss.  Especially in regards to the medical procedures being done to patients.  There is something in letting the patient's tell me what is going on with them.  I play a bit dumb (but really, I don't understand half of what the medical stuff is) and let them articulate what's happening.  This saves me from having to google a medical term, which I have found often does not end well. 

• I google more medical terms than I want to admit. And then I spend some time convinced I have that/will get it etc. 

• Laughter is medicine.  Humor can break down barriers and walls and transform a space, a face, and many a morning.  I love laughter.

• I need about 30 minutes after I wake up to just wake up.  This often involves my coffee and some Morning Edition from NPR. By the grace of God, I have about a 30 minute commute where both of these things are addressed. 

• Not the last thing I've learned, but maybe the best reminder I've remembered on Pre-Surgery - the Spirit works in wonderful and mysterious ways.  I never know how God's gonna use me when I walk into a room with a time limit maxed at about 5 minutes, but I know God is at work within me. It's another part of that wonderful, mysterious, and sometimes confusing way that God calls us into God's ministry.  And within all that mystery and within that 5 minutes, I know it is enough, and I am enough.  

Praise be to God!