Tonsillectomy tales, part 4 -- What went right

Fortunately, many more things went right with the visit to the hospital compared to what went wrong. I offer this information to people who work in hospitals across the country as models of what should happen when a child goes to the hospital. First, registration went as smooth as could be. No long wait. No big crowds. No hassle when we were called in. The receptionist gave my daughter and two-year-old son a pack of crayons, a hand puppet to color, and a small slinky. They were so excited and played with these things for about an hour combined during the wait for the surgery, which was about three hours.

Then we arrived in the pre-surgical area where we had our own room to prepare for the procedure. This involved a change of clothes and it was nice that the gown had some little tigers on it to make the child feel comfortable. All the nurses wore clothes with kid-friendly themes such as various cartoons that my daughter instantly recognized. The floor was clean, with bright colors on the walls and child-appropriate themes in each room such as animals, smiling children, and doctor cartoons. Different ethnicities were incorporated into the cartoons so no child felt left out. In the hallway, there were pictures of Sesame Street characters, which my children loved. The best part was that the hospital provided individual kiddie cars that my children could ride in up and down the hallway. They had an absolute blast doing this and it was a terrific idea. Anyone who has children knows they usually don't want to be cramped up in a small room and the chance to have them move around in a kid-friendly hallway was terrific.

All of the nurses and doctors were very nice and made an effort to speak on my daughter's level so as not to scare her. They tried their best to make everything seem calming and relaxing and to incorporate fun themes into everything that was happening. For example, instead of giving the child a scary-looking anesthesia gas mask to wear, she was told that it was something that would let her smell a scent she chose from a special bag. The scent is used to disguise the smell of the anesthetic gas. My daughter chose cotton candy, which is apparently the top pick among kids.

After the surgery, a hospital staffer took me on a tour of the unit and told me that the hospital philosophy was to treat the child as if it was your own. That's nice to say but I could tell this guy really believed it. The person who transported my daughter to her room was very nice and caring, which made her feel very comfortable after awakening from the procedure. The floor had security cameras all over the place to dissuade anyone from even thinking about stealing a child. They had slurpee machines, lots of food for family members, and almost immediately wheeled in a TV with a DVD player and gave my daughter a selection of age appropriate and contemporary titles to choose from, which held her attention until she fell asleep. As you can tell, the hospital really did a good job so thumbs up overall. I go back in a few weeks for my son's tonsillectomy and so we may have another exciting "tonsillectomy tales" series yet again.