Post-it Sunday 5/5/24- the OR is too hard on its toys

The gown card says “Remember when your sister dismembered your favorite Barbie doll.”

Boy, do I!

Let me set the scene. I had received the Loving You Barbie for a birthday, or it might have been Christmas. This Barbie was awesome! Red sweetheart bodice, sleeves AND skirt that were tulle-like with red velvet hearts on it. I’ve called it the Sweetheart Barbie for years but the doll apparently debuted in 1983. I would have been 7 or 8. She came with a little heart notepad and pencil. In my recollection, my favorite thing about this Barbie was that her hair wasn’t platinum blond, like the others. Instead, it was a warmer golden blonde. At least that’s what I remembered.

Not sure how old my sister was when she got her hands on Barbie. I definitely don’t remember her having access to scissors.

First, she scalped my favorite Barbie. I remember being pissed.

And then she tore its head off. Everyone knows you can replace the head but it is never the same after that.

Little sisters! Am I right?

About 20 years later, after I got married, my husband received a box from his parents. And in that box were the remnants of his Star Wars toys. And I mean REMNANTS. He had a fondness for blowing things up with firecrackers.

Kids. They just can’t have nice things.

This is also the way of the OR.

Every time I see plant engineering fixing a hole in the wall, or putting up hard plastic to protect our walls, or the corners of the walls.

Or environmental cleaning blood off the ceiling.

Or biomedical engineering replacing a piece of equipment that the OR has damaged.

Sorry to all of them.

The OR is hard on our toys.

But the ER? They are hard on the gurneys.

Makes sense when they have upwards of so many patients (hard to get an exact number on the fly). But extrapolated out, the OR is harder on its equipment, walls, instruments, etc.

Sorry.