Newsletter v.3.9 | Surgery
Hello,
And welcome to the [S][J][P] Newsletter, a newsletter that almost did not get written at all. Why did it almost not get written at all? I'm so glad you asked, and if you read what's below, I'll tell you.
In the prior edition of this newsletter, I mentioned that I would be having surgery to repair an inguinal hernia repair on my right side. I was scheduled to get the surgery on Wednesday...
I got a COVID test on Sunday. That was negative. Great.
Wednesday
I went to the hospital, got checked into the hospital on Wednesday. I signed the papers saying I understood all the bad things that can happen and that I still consented to surgery. No problem there. Then, I got gowned up and had an IV placed in my hand. I was ready!
I sat like that for what seemed like a long time. Then a nurse came in and told me the surgeon had gotten in a car accident on his way to the hospital, so they needed to cancel my surgery.
"Oh, my gosh! I hope he is ok." I said.
I get dressed and all that. The surgeon's scheduler calls me and tells me it was not a serious accident. Be that as it may, you don't want someone operating after any stressful event.
"Makes sense to me," I tell the scheduler. The surgery got rescheduled to the next day, Thursday.
Thursday
I go to the hospital early Thursday morning. (Needing to fast before surgery resulted in some very odd eating windows.) Again, I do the paperwork, get in a gown, get an IV run.
Because my last COVID test was Sunday, I need to get another one, so I do that.
And then I wait. Again. For a long time.
The hospital did not tell me why I waited for so long. They just told me things got backed up. My guess is that one of the surgeries went long for some reason that they don't just share with everyone. By the time it was my turn to get my body cut up, lots of the day had gone by.
The anesthesiologist came in and gave me something. After that, I don't remember a thing. Until the time when I woke up.
When I woke up
When I did wake up, it felt like the world was a roller coaster. I was dizzy, and if I saw light, it made me feel like I wanted to vomit and die. This was what people call a "bad reaction to anesthesia."
And let me tell you, it was bad.
I threw up, and throwing up after an abdominal surgery hurts in ways I don't currently know how to describe to you. I don't remember a lot of what happened when I woke up with clarity, but the pain when I threw up: is burned into my memory. That's something I can recall with clarity.
The going theory is that the Fentanyl they gave me when I was in recovery caused the "bad reaction."
(Sometimes, you'll hear about Fentanyl and Fentanyl laced heroin, killing people in the news. After this experience, I can't understand how or why anyone would ever take Fentnyal willingly!)
At home
They gave me some other drug to counteract the dizziness and light sensitivity, and my wife got me home. When I got home, I crashed hard and stayed asleep till the next morning.
(Remember the strange eating windows I mentioned earlier? It was about 35 hours of fasting before I could eat anything the next morning.)
Friday
When Friday came around, I had a different problem. I could not pee.
I called the surgeon's office, and he called me back. I drank lots of water but still could not pee. He told me to go to the ER, which I did. In the ER, they ran a catheter, which got the pee out.
Getting a catheter inserted under any conditions is not pleasant. After abdominal surgery? I'm sure you can guess how that might be double-plus lots of hurt.
Saturday
Come Saturday, I had been to the hospital three days in a row, and I seriously needed to get into recovery mode. As I write this, I'm somewhat recovered, but I'm far from back to normal, which is going to take longer than I'd like.
Having told you all of that:
Here are a few short updates.
Podcasts:
I recorded a short thing before the surgery, which I'm calling Super Informal. I released this as episode 047 of the InForm: Podcast. If people like it, I might make it a somewhat regular bonus sort of thing. (i.e., I plan to make Super Informal a podcast that is only for members of [S][J][P].)
If you listen to the episode, please let me know what you think of it! If you like it, say so, that will make me more likely to make more. Likewise, if you hate it, please say so because I don't want to make something that people hate.
Living in the Jackpot
From the NYtimes The Morning email newsletter
In Arizona and Nevada, it’s been so hot that doctors warned people they could get third-degree burns from the asphalt. Wildfires raged in Montana and Utah. Power grids in Texas strained as officials asked residents to limit appliance use to avoid blackouts.
The levels in Lake Mead, which supplies water for millions of people, are at their lowest since the 1930s. In one California lake, the water was so shallow that officials spotted plane wreckage from a 1986 crash.
Reading this, and so many other things, makes me think of climate denial as a form of psychosis.
Ghosts of my life
Sticking with the topic of climate change: Many years ago, I read The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson, and I thought it was amazing. Since then, I've been a fan of Robinson's writing, but recently I started to read/listen to The Ministry for the Future, and this book is incredible! Mind-blowing, seriously mind-blowing. So good!
Expect to read more about what this book is making me think in future editions of the newsletter.
Fin
Till next time, make glorious mistakes!
- N