Going under a general anesthetic seems common place these days, most of us would have experienced it ourselves or know someone who has. After all, it all seems fairly safe as our technology advances and only in a small minority of simple procedures does anything really go wrong.
If you have ever been under a general anesthetic you would have witnessed a group of highly trained, professional staff slowly counting you off to sleep after which you wake up in a recovery room somewhere feeling a little worse for wear. But what happened in the meantime?
Those Doctors and nurses in the operating room have probably done this for a long time and they have “seen it all before”, but if you are spending all day in a boring operating theatre taking out gall bladders and re-aligning fractures, you have to lighten the mood somehow right?
To the questions you are asking, the answer is probably yes. Sometimes we do have a laugh at your expense, for example we might giggle at that fantastic tattoo in Chinese that is meant to say ‘God is good’ but definitely does not, or those excess pounds hanging off the side of the operating bed as we try to engineer a way to keep handfuls of flesh from falling off the bed. Not only that, as soon as you’re off to sleep, most of your privacy goes out the window, catheters inserted,clothing removed and you will be intubated. Now, no need to worry, this happens to everyone and is necessary. But if you are a less than well endowed male, yes there may be some giggles at your expense.
Other than the little giggles that may occur, all the patients I have dealt with in my career are all treated with absolute care and respect. BUT, sometimes morale is built at your expense. Take light in the fact that after a 9 hour surgery at least the surgeon got a little giggle from your tiny anatomy or strange tattoo.
-The Doctor