Today we dodged 2 bullets. First we did a thyroidectomy on a thyrotoxic patient. She was seemingly controlled on iodine, prednisone, carbamazole and inderal but she developed thyroid storm after surgery. Luckily, she survived with supportive care.
Next, we started surgery on a baby with a neck cystic hygroma. Our worst fears were realized when Eric, our CRNA, could not intubate the patient. We tried various maneuvers to no avail. Eric maintained control of the airway but, unfortunately, the baby developed stridor. I had to do an emergency tracheostomy. After the tracheostomy, I changed my pants!
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| Cystic hygroma of the neck |
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| Tracheostomy |
