NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH !! hi all. following on from various accounts of past life .Elizabeth's account of the face mask reminded me as a very young nurse, just 17, I was on the children; ward, twice a week we admitted 8 lids for the removal of tonsils and adenoids, in those days removing them was the cure all. Looking back it was brutal,the kids were carried into the surgical room,placed on the table,the anaesthetist had the mask ready to drip the ether, the surgeon then appeared with a snatch instrument and removed the tonsils and the scrapped out theadnoids ,the kids were then brought rounds having their face washed with cold water. the small of ether, blood and vomit remains me today 50 years later. Lord only knows how much damage we did to these kids Jenny C