It has been a week since our pre-op tour at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. If your hospital offers this type of class/tour, I would highly recommend it. We drove 3 hours just for the tour, and it was well worth it to put G at ease, as well as DH and me.
Currently, at Cincinnati Children, they offer this tour on specific weeknights and Saturday mornings. We scheduled ours on a weeknight since it is a 3 hour drive. We would much rather drive home a bit late, then get up super early on a Saturday. We scheduled our day so we would arrive a few hours early and catch a short day at the Zoo. The hospital provides free and discounted tickets to some area attractions, so we picked up a couple for the zoo. It is located blocks away from the hospital, so it was an easy commute to and from the campus. Both kiddos enjoyed themselves and it was a good distraction of the surgery stress.
We arrived at the hospital campus around 6pm and were greeted by the Child Life Specialist who would be taking us on the tour. These folks are wonderful! Their only job is to help the kids feel at home at the hospital. They will bring crafts, movies, games etc to the room, or escort the kids to the playroom if they are able.
Our first tour stop was the “Getting Ready Room” where she will change into her gown, get vitals, and meet with the anesthesiologist. From there, we were taken to the Induction room. This is where G will be given “sleepy air” to go to sleep, and then they will insert the IV after she has drifted off. This is where you can tell it’s a kid’s place... The “sleepy air” is flavored. G was able to smell the scents offered and think about which one she wants. Her choice? A combo of two… Cherry Bubblegum. I wish I had been given that choice the last time I had surgery!
Attached to the Induction room by a sliding door, is the operating room. G was awe struck at the number of lights and machines there were in the room. It didn’t scare her, but rather made her feel good that she will know what to expect.
The recovery area is next. They have it decorated in a Sea Shore theme. We picked out a few focal points for her to remember, so when she wakes up, she will know where she is. Coming out of anesthesia can be a little scary, so I am curious if this will work. The bright yellow sun found in each room and the Fish curtains were where we called her attention to.
Then it was up a few floors to the ICU. G will spend 1-2 days there directly after surgery to ensure everything stabilizes. We were able to meet a few of the nurses that will be around that day. We confirmed there is a limited number of visiting hours in the ICU, but not for parents. Parents are encouraged to stay all day and night. (I was going to stay even if they had advised otherwise). Cincinnati Children’s has a nice ICU parent’s lounge with a mini kitchen and lockers. They provide free laundry facilities and a very limited number of sleep rooms. Within the ICU room itself, there is a pull out, single chair/bed. I have to be honest, it does not look comfortable at all, but we will see.
The Neuro/Trauma unit is the floor where decompressed kiddos end up. This floor has a smaller nurse to patient ratio given some of the complications these kids can have. It was a busy floor with only a handful of rooms open. Again, there is a single chair/bed in the room for mom and dad. Unfortunately we were told one pull out chair per room is the maximum. Since neither of us want to leave her side, I’m not sure how to make this work, but I’m sure we will figure it out.
The very last stop was the play room. It’s down a few floors from the Neuro unit, but not far. It is stocked with movies, paints, puzzles, crafts and lots of toys. Plus there is always a Child Life Specialist in the room to help with the activities.
The entire tour took about 90 minutes. G had tons of questions, so ours may have been a tad longer than normal.
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