Sunday, May 8, 2011

Surgery, It's All in the Family

Tonight both Raphaela and I consulted with our family doctor;  I showed her my staples and had her examine me, to make sure there were no resultant infections.  Raphaela had her "make-up" consultation, the original appointment had been canceled as I was in the hospital at the time.

Good news, I suppose:  our GP said that my surgeon "did a great job," that I will have no scarring and that my body is reacting in a normal post-surgical path.
Bad news:  Raphaela will most probably need adenoid surgery.  I don't begrudge my daughter the gift of mucous-free breathing, but when our doctor explained that the procedure requires general anesthesia, I freaked. 

Used to be that the word "lice" set me off, it has now been deposed by the concept of general anesthesia.  Yes, many children have this surgery and go to Gan the next day, and have a higher quality of life.  But since my own recent surgery, rationalizations and intellectual validations only make me feel more angy and more frightened.

This appendectomy affected me, deep into my core, and I need the time to process the frustration, the anger and the fear on an emotional level.  Telling me that "it could have been worse" and pointing out the statistics of the success of various surgeries does not help me at the moment.

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