This past week I was at Cincinnati Children's Hospital about 4 times. The first time was a pre-op follow up. In order to get in, you must have a face coving that covers your mouth and nose at the same time the entire time you are in the building. There are signs around every corner you look that remind you of this. When you walk in, there is usually a screening station that has you sanitize your hands, grab a mask, answer a few screening questions such as, "have you experienced any of these symptoms in the past 24 hours?" or "have you or anyone in your family had direct contact with anyone who has tested positive or is awaiting results in the last 2 weeks?" Once you've answered the questions they take your temperature and you have to wear a certain color sticker showing that you have been screened and are good to go. Now, once I was in the appointment things are still restricted. Even though it's only me and 2 to 3 other people in the room masks must remain on, medical professionals must wear gloves, and they try to stay distanced throughout the exam room.
The second time I was there was to get tested for covid for my third time since August. First, you have to call and confirm that the order is in. Once they have confirmed the order they give specific instructions of where to go in the building and which desk you will be checking in at. I called and got told to come in and go to desk 1, so straight from my car that is where I went. Once at the check in desk, they go through similar precautions regarding screenings and then send you to the waiting are. Since I wasn't having symptoms and mine was specifically for a pre-op scan, they sent me to the healthy waiting area. I got called back within about 10 minutes and went into room that is used for drawing blood and other samples. The NP goes over how the test works, side effects, and then whenever you agree they test you. Third time was definitely the most uncomfortable.
The third time was finally for the surgery itself. I was getting a catheter ablation for Wolf Parkinson White Syndrome (wpw). I had one of these my sophomore year of high school and it was successful at first, and then after about a month my EKG went back to completely abnormal and they confirmed it had returned. This surgery was expected to be much shorter than the last one, my first was about 6 hours. They suspected I would leave the hospital around 5 pm that day. When my mom and I got to the hospital there were signed everywhere regarding wearing a mask, washing hands, and social distancing. Once again, there was a screening station right as you walked in where you sanitize, get a mask, answer questions, and get a sticker to show you were screened. After the screening, we headed to the seventh floor to check in. When you enter the waiting are everything is completely spaced out, and plastic separators are in front of every desk and in between seats. During check in, they ask you similar questions as in the screening and confirm that you got tested for covid, and it came back negative. Now that I was all checked in all that was left was to wait. There was no one else there yet, so we could sit anywhere in the waiting area. I got called back around 7:45 am, and got taken to get height, weight, vitals, and any tests that needed to be ran before hand. During this, everything has to be disinfected before and after using it, including the scale, the height chart, stethoscope, thermometer, blood pressure cuff etc. Fast forward about an hour and a half, the IV was in, vitals were checked, the team spoke with my mom and I and I was headed back to the OR at about 9 am. When I got in, they had me position myself (another turn of covid) and they were wiping things down and disinfecting constantly throughout the 30 minutes I was awake in the OR. Once everything was positioned, the fluids and medications were going, and everything was sterile I got put under.
Ten hours later I was in recovery, so much for a quick and easy surgery and recovery. I remember waking up to a breathing tube still in my throat and my mom not there. Covid restricted parents coming back until patients were totally awake, tube was removed, and everything was disinfected again. I don't remember much of that, but in order to leave masks had to be put back on and we had to get temperatures checked one last time. Once we were in the clear, we were good to leave the hospital at about 9 pm.
I thought I was done at Children's for the week, but we ended back in the Emergency Department around 11 am the next day. My best friends mom works there, so she reserved us a room and got us through the process fast, but it still was the same obstacles as before. Once we got in I saw a billion doctors it feels like, had another IV put in, medication and fluids ran, a head CT, and an EKG. After another long day, we got screened one last time and got discharged around 6 pm.
In the end of all of this, covid has made many things much more complicated than they need to be, but it also is just to keep people safe. Things take a little more time, and there are occasional mix ups or people who refuse to follow guidelines. I hope one day we all can look back at how crazy different life was during this pandemic, and I hope its someday soon, for our sake.
Below are pictures from the check in room, before surgery, and ER.
This is my mom, Amber, waiting with me before I went to the OR. 
This is me right before going into the OR. 
This was my nurse in the ER the day after surgery. (fun fact, she is also my best friends mom)
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