Roles Reversed

Timmy Said:

Sometimes you never want to be in another person's shoes. Sometimes you'll be curious and think about it, but deep down, you never want to feel what another person's feeling. If you're rich, you never want to feel how it is to be poor. If you're beautiful, you never want to feel how it is to be ugly. If you're a doctor, you never want to be the sick patient you're treating. Well, that happened to me yesterday. From a doctor's point of view, what I had was a fairly simple procedure - a hernia repair - something you shouldn't even be worried about. Try telling that to my wife and my friends though. Any kind of surgery has its risks, no matter how simple or complicated it is. You still need to be tubed, be given general anaesthesia, and.....(ouch) have a foley catheter placed. It's real simple telling that to a patient, but it's way different if you're the one getting that information. I can't really explain the feeling....it's just surreal. Its funny for them to explain procedures you already know by heart. Sometimes, you just want to stop them mid-sentence, and say "I know, i'm a freakin doctor also, just do what you have to do". But of course, these are your colleagues, and you need to treat them nicely and with respect.

Three things I remember from this ordeal though: First, never, never order subcutaneous heparin UNLESS needed. Those things hurt like hell! I still have this huge hematoma on my right arm from the injection site, and I order these things to 90-year old women three times a day, without even thinking! Second, general anaesthesia + Percs (or any opiod analgesics) are not my cup of tea. Waking up from the effects of the anaesthesia, feeling groggy was an understatement. The last time I felt like this was in 1st year college, after a night binging on Absolut Citron and Goldschlager at Ritchie's place (and throwing up the morning after). But looking back, this was actually worse. It was a mix of the worst hangover, having had no sleep for 3 days, and being high (I never knew how this felt, but I think now I know). And some nurse sitting me up and trying to wake me up every 20 minutes DID NOT HELP. And three, i'm just lucky to have Tammy beside me the whole time. She's just the best.

Right now, im bloated and in pain. I have the prescriptions for the Percocet (very high street value, here - i'm actually tempted to fill it and sell it so I can buy myself a PS3 - with money to spare), but i'm toughening it out and just taking over the counter pain medications. That high was probably what druggies and alcoholics seek, since those meds basically act on the same receptors in the body. But I've never enjoyed that feeling, and i'm happy i never did. In a few months, i'll be having another surgery to fix something else, and i'm dreading being put to sleep again. At least now, I can empathize with my patients, that nothing is too trivial especially if it concerns you and your body.