This past weekend was the Belmont Street Fair and our first time participating in this great community event. We had a booth in the "downtown" area and it was so much fun! Being there early in the morning setting up with our fellow vendors and then watching the crowds stream in once the sun came out had us smiling all day. We also had the clinic open for tours and, with the garage door open inviting people in, had a steady stream of visitors.
At our booth we set up a mobile surgical suite to perform Teddy Bear Surgery. We had an anesthesia machine - donated by LEI Medical, iv fluid set up, and imaginary injections of pain medication. Not to mention 70 bears prepared for surgery by our own bookkeeper (and mother-in-law) Barb Sulis. She actually prepared most of the bears ahead of time. Not sure how the whole idea would be received by the community we only prepped 55 bears. As the morning came to a close it was clear the other bears would need to be "wounded" so Barb set to it - finishing all 70. She opened up their center seam, de-squeaked them, sewed the edges of the seam so it wouldn't unravel, placed an eyelet on either side of the incision and laced them up. We stuffed them with various candies such as Hershey's kisses or DumDum Lollipops. Our veterinary nurses, Katie and Melissa, x rayed the bears so after surgery the children could choose which bear x ray matched their patient.
The kids would come to the booth and we'd prepare our young surgeon for surgery first. They'd put on their cap and mask and for some we'd even have them gown and glove up. (Some of the little kids were nervous about the gowning and couldn't function in the gloves so we did a lot of pretending). Then they'd pick a teddy bear patient and we'd prepare the bear. They would give him his pain medication to make him feel better and then we'd attach the iv fluids to keep him hydrated and keep his blood pressure steady during the procedure. Finally we would put on the anesthetic mask providing a pretend mixture of oxygen and sevoflurane anesthesia and the bear would be ready for surgery. The kids would untie the shoelace and look inside. Some of these children were natural surgeons, squeezing the bear to get the lollipop to pop out - just like a neuter procedure! And others would stick in their fingers and scoop underneath the candy - just like we do in surgery. We had one sweet little girl come by twice she loved it so much. And another that was SO into it! We had her put her cap on but she had a beautiful face painting so we didn't put on the mask. You could see her realize that we were pretending to do REAL surgery and once she unlaced the bear INSISTED on the mask and gloves quickly. After surgery she grabbed the stethoscope to check the patient and there was a problem. She closed him up quickly while we adjusted his anesthesia and his fluid rate. He made it through and felt so much better having that darn lollipop removed. All of the bears went home with the surgeons who saved their lives and we are hoping they will practice tying laces and let their imagination guide them through many other surgeries.
We are so grateful to all of the kids and parents that participated to make Teddy Bear Surgery a success. We also really appreciate our staff members coming out to give tours and help with Teddy Bear surgery! Because of them our participation in Belmont Days was a huge success! And thanks to those who came by to tour the clinic and offered such kind words on how beautiful and special our clinic is. We sure think so, but it's nice to know we are not the only ones.