“Hi Mollie,” Luz tells her, in her thick Latina accent. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, Luz,” Mollie slurs.

Kelly and Dayna stand on either side of Mollie and help her stand. Kelly then pushes the chair back while Dayna unties Mollie’s gown, leaving her backside open. They help Mollie turn and sit on the table. Before turning laying her back, Dayna opens Mollie’s gown and places the heart electrodes on Mollie’s upper back.

“Don’t they go on my chest?” Mollie asked.

“Usually, but we’re operating there,” Dayna answered. Mollie nodded. Dayna and Kelly then turned Mollie and had her lay right back into the head cradle. Kelly covered Mollie with a couple of blankets from the warmer, then placed the safety strap over her hips. Dayna unsnapped the sleeves of Mollie’s gown on the right arm, then places the oximeter on her index finger, which starts the beeping of the monitor, one beep with each beat of her heart. Dayna then straps Mollie’s arm onto the armboard. She then repeats the unsnapping of the gown on the left side, places the blood pressure cuff on, and secures the arm to the armboard. The blood pressure cuff starts to inflate almost immediately. Dayna then pulls Mollie’s gown off her, leaving her covered under the blankets. Mollie’s eyes grow wide.

“We have to be able to see where we’re going to operate,” Dayna tells Mollie as she prepares the last of the monitors. Dayna then reaches under the blankets and places the last electrode on Mollie’s left ribs.

“I thought that I’d be asleep when you did that,” Mollie said. “Where’s the camera guy?”

“He’s around. He has a bunch of remote cameras already on in here, so he may be looking at them now,” Kelly tells Mollie. Mollie’s eyes grow even wider.

Almost on cue, camera guy comes into the OR. He sets up a camera to Mollie’s right side on a tripod, focusing on her armpit that remains covered with the blanket. While he is setting things up, Dayna and Kelly don their non-sterile blue gloves. Dayna takes the clear mask from the top of the anesthesia cart, opens the package, then places it onto the breathing circuit. She turns a few knobs, green one up to 6, then she pushes a button and Mollie sees the breathing bag come alive.

“Ok, Mollie, it’s time for a bit of oxygen. Just take nice easy breaths,” Dayna tells her. Dayna places her left hand under Mollie’s chin and brings her head back, just ever so little. Kelly takes her position on Mollie’s right side, blocking camera guy’s view. Dayna lowers the mask to Mollie’s face slowly, then presses it firmly but gently to make a seal.

After a few breaths, Kelly looks Mollie in the eyes, seeing the mask mist as Mollie exhales. “You’re doing great Mollie,” she tells her. Dayna watches Mollie’s chest rise and fall with each breath. After a couple of more minutes, Dayna nods to Kelly. Kelly then takes over holding the mask on Mollie’s face, keeping her head tilted ever so slightly back.

Dayna takes four syringes from the shelf of the anesthesia cart. She screws the first two on the IV tubing at the manifold and lays the third and fourth ones next to Mollie’s arm. “Mollie, I’m going to give you some medicine in your vein so that it numbs everything, so that none of the other medicines burn. Keep taking those nice breaths. You’re doing great.” And as she finishes her statement, Dayna starts to inject 25 mg of lidocaine into Mollie.

“I’m going to give you a little more relaxing medicine now. You’re not going to go to sleep quite yet, but this is going to bring you down a little more.”

Mollie mumbles under the mask, “Ok.”

Kelly rubs Mollie’s right shoulder with her left hand while keeping the mask in place with her right. “You’re doing really great Mollie.” Dayna injects another 3 mg of Versed into Mollie’s vein. Mollie starts to feel the effect of the medication a few seconds later. Any inhibitions that she had before are all gone.

“Camera guy is gonna want to do me when we’re all done”, Mollie mumbled under the mask. Dayna and Kelly look at each other and chuckle. Dayna changes the syringes on the manifold. Camera guy thinks to himself that Mollie is wrong – he would do her now.

“Ok Mollie, it’s show time! Time for your nap. Think of yourself on a beach, cocktail in hand, with the warm breezes against your new boobs.” With that, Dayna starts to push the propofol into Mollie’s vein.

It takes a few moments, but Mollie starts to feel the medication. Her muscles start to relax, she starts to feel great, more euphoria than she has ever felt. Her eyelids start to flutter, and she lets out a long, soft sigh, as her eyes close. Dayna watches Mollie’s chest rise and fall, watching for apnea. After a minute or two, she picks up the laryngoscope. “Ok, we’re ready to tube her”.

Kelly takes the mask from Mollie’s face. Mollie’s mouth falls open. Dayna places the blade over Mollie’s tongue and down her throat into the vallecula. She pushes the jaw forward. Kelly hands Dayna the 7.5 tube, with a stylet in it and the lubricant on the outside. Dayna sees Mollie’s vocal cords. She pushes the ET tube into place, right between the cords, then takes the stylet out, and inflates the cuff. She holds the tube in place while Kelly places the breathing circuit on it. Dayna then squeezes the bag with her right hand and looks at the monitor. Mollie is making carbon dioxide, so she is in the right place.

Kelly takes a foot-long piece of silk tape and hands it to Dayna. Dayna tapes the tube to Mollie’s face. Dayna takes a second piece of tape from Kelly and tapes the tube on the other side. She then turns the green knob down to 3, turns the blue knob to 7, and the desflurane vaporizer to 2. Dayna then tapes Mollie’s eyes closed. “We’re all set up here – you folks can get started down there,” Dayna tells the room.