Understanding surgical patients

Apart from a hernia repair I had done as a kid I've never really been under the knife until recently. I don't remember much about that surgery except lying in the hospital bed and wanting nothing so much as to go home. When I did go home I pestered my mother with questions. Can I do this? Can I do that? It was summer, and I was a very active little boy: running, riding bikes, playing football and basketball, jumping off what looked to me like a cliff into a pile of dirt. Okay, I didn't really ask her about that last one and didn't do it; but it remained an opportunity long after I recovered. I still remember yelling "Geronimo!" as I made the jump. Makes me smile to this day.

My recent surgery was minor, an office procedure to remove two small cysts that were embedded in the tissue beneath the skin in my cheek. First she numbed my face with a local anesthetic, then made an incision and excised the cysts. She then did two deep sutures which will be absorbed by my body and then sutured the incision itself. The wound sutures will be removed next week. All went well, but it got me thinking. I knew it was necessary to solve a problem that had been vexing me for some time.

On the other hand it felt like a violation of my body. Just imagine how patients who have had much more serious surgery feel, people I care for every day. This experience has given me a clearer understanding of what those folks must be going through.

For now, good night.