Wednesday, February 9, 2011

What good is after the fact?

I spent pretty much all of last week being scared.  

I was scheduled to go in for a procedure at the hospital on Monday.  The procedure itself was pretty standard, but I was going to be anesthetized, and this scared the bejeesus out of me.  

When I was thirteen I got hit by a car and broke my leg in three places.  The aftermath of the accident became all jumbled and blurred.  Due mostly I believe, because I was in shock.  Now shock, that is a great state of being.  I felt no pain.  I wasn't anxious.  I remember being pretty calm for a kid who had a balloon cast wrapped around her leg.  The sounds from the ambulance were soothing.  That's right I said soothing.  Have you ever heard an ambulance?  They are a lot louder when your inside of them.  But for whatever reason, on that day, it was soothing. 

Probably because I equated it with being safe.  I don't know.

I did a lot of reading on the procedure I was scheduled to have on Monday (thank god for the Internet) and by the time Monday rolled around I wasn't nervous about that part.  I have been seeing this doctor for about twelve years and I keep up on her credentials yearly, but the Anesthesiologist was a total mystery to me.  The hospital could not tell me who would be working my case as they are staffed by an anesthesia group.  Yes, I did call the group.  All they could tell me was they had ten people scheduled to work the OR's that day.  Ten.

Yes, I did check all of them out (whatever) and no red flags for any of them.  So guess what?  Monday, the doctor and CRNA who showed up for my procedure were not on my list.  Go figure.  So here is what I want to know.  I have their names and I can research them now, but is it worth it?  What if I find out something bad?  Will I freak out?  Would you? Come on, you just read this post right?  I am a little bit neurotic and I don't know if knowing would be a good thing in this case, especially since the procedure is over and I feel great!  What do you guys think?

4 comments:

Candyland said...

Hmm. Personally I would just go get it done and not look too much more into it. If you need it done anyway and it's not life-threatening, that is. Otherwise, research away.

Linda G. said...

Whew! Glad that's behind you now.

I'm a researcher too. I probably wouldn't have looked up every doctor in the group, but I can understand the need to. :)

abby mumford said...

i'd say you've done all your research already. you did all you could and it still wasn't enough because the doc wasn't on your list. but all that researching gave you something to do with your nervous energy, so it wasn't in vain.

the procedure is over. you're on the mend. i don't think there's any reason to research that doc now, because you've already researched him/her. it was just conducted in person, on the operating table instead of in your chair over the internet.

Jamie D. said...

Glad I'm not the only one scared silly by the thought of anesthesia. I've never had to be put under, and just the thought starts me quaking. I hesitate to think what I'll be like should I ever need to experience that...

All that said, I'd let it go now. Anything bad, you don't want to know at this point. LOL

And congrats on a successful procedure!