A Day with Esther

There are people that come into our lives that leave lasting impressions. For any family who has ever had a child undergo open-heart surgery at The Children's Hospital, that person becomes Esther. A nurse at Children's now for almost 34 years, she is the connection between the operating room and the waiting room and the link between the day before and the days after surgery. I got to spend the day being her shadow yesterday as part of my training and it was an honor.

The day started a little before 7 a.m. doing rounds in the cardiac ICU with all of the surgeons, fellows, attendings, etc. They spend about 5 minutes discussing each case in the ICU as they make their way from bed to bed. Watching this group collaborate was impressive. These are some of the greatest minds in medicine working together to save baby after baby.

Esther and I were then off to the operating room (OR). On the agenda was a 6-week-old baby with a condition called Tetrology of Fallot, which is a fancy name for a baby with four heart defects. The bizarre thing was that the baby's mom was born with the same defect and underwent the same surgery at Children's 20 some years ago--and Esther was there for that, too.

We went in briefly while they were getting started (which takes about an hour just to get set up) and then went back to report to the family that things were underway. The rest of the day followed that pattern--in and out of the OR and back to the family with updates, each time with the family nervously awaiting the progress report. Between trips to the OR, we met two other families whose children would have surgery the next day. We gave them a tour of the scary-looking ICU and answered their questions. Esther asked my permission to share with the families that I had been through it and survived and so could they. Her calm demeanor is so reassuring.

Interacting with the surgeons was amazing--they welcomed me in their OR and I stood at the head of the bed watching over the drape for a good part of the day. Watching them go onto bypass, stop the baby's heart, fix it and watching it start beating again was like watching a movie. It is certainly a day I won't soon forget! The photo isn't great, but to follow rules, I couldn't take pics of any faces.