There is something about a surgery that makes you stop and reflect. Lying there on the table and surrounded by people in masks, it seems a bit surreal. People move quickly. They have a definite agenda. You may be at center stage with the lights all focused upon you, but as the mask goes over your face and you start to breathe as instructed, you suddenly realize that you are not the subject of all this attention, but the object. You are the “cutee”, and the “cut to cure” process is about to begin.
Rather than blogging during the past month, I’ve had a couple of surgeries. The more painful one was the less serious. Neither one was that threatening, but both engendered their own thoughts and concerns.
One thing that surgery forces you to confront is physical pain. Pain is a very personal issue, and try as they might, no one else can directly share or lift that burden from you. It is yours alone to deal with. Of course, you can drug your way through it, but drugs bring their own kind of pain. Ultimately, we all have to face some of it. Some thoughts -
- The biggest thing you want to understand about your personal pain is its duration. How long will it last. If you can know what that time line, you can deal with it far differently than someone who faces a chronic situation.
- Pain is a great communicator of health status. Synapses shooting through to the brain send the message that you may or may not want to try to move in a certain direction. That alert could increase your cure rate considerably. The hurt may actually help, so that you may want to reconsider the amount of medication used.
- Pain also tells you how your sutures are working. Fundamentally, you are told to keep the wound higher than your heart, but that tough to do when they run across your gut. Instead, I was told to use ice packs, and they were very helpful during the first couple of days.
- Overall, pain is very personal. Each of us has their own level. The best thing to do is respect that individuality and handle it in the way that’s right for you.
Another thought that surgery sparks is about the medical profession. My sense is that lawyers and the insurance industry have unfairly placed the medical profession on the defensive. How often have you heard of a lawyer being sued for malpractice? And for insurance, all we have to consider is the AIG Bail Out. I’m not saying that doctors don’t make mistakes, but fundamentally, these are the people that are out there trying to cure you. Generally, they do a very competent job, and I think that we are all very fortunate that they are trying so hard.
Some of my sutures have been removed. Others are being adsorbed. The ridge of scar tissue that remains, I’ll just have to deal with. But I appreciate the fact that I’ll be able to deal. Fundamentally, at the end of a surgery with a good prognosis, you feel quite blessed.
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