Snowbrush

When you’ve been anesthetized for surgery, you’re advised to spend the rest of the day with a responsible adult, and warned not to make any ...

The anesthesiologist had said he would knock me out just long enough to get the primary painkiller started, leaving me awake for the surger...

Not long ago, the anesthesiologist called about my surgery tomorrow. “You’ll be given two painkillers,” he said, “the first to kill the pain...

My neighbor, Ellie, also has carpal tunnel problems. Hers is advanced, so a return to normalcy is unlikely even with surgery, but Ellie is o...

This has been a doctor week. Yesterday, I saw an orthopedist whose specializes in hands, wrists, and elbows; today, an orthopedist who works...

Last week, I repeatedly mistook the same chair for Bonnie, and I heard voices coming from a radio that was unplugged; both no doubt due to a...

I biked to the library in the rain this morning just to get Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations . I had avoided Wittgenstein because...

Sleep? Not much. Maybe four hours a night—five if I’m lucky—and it interrupted every hour or two by nightmares and headaches. I arise severa...

I just talked with Peggy. It was ten p.m. Paris time, and she was on a busy street. Spotlights highlighted Notre Dame; the Eiffel Tower twin...

What a pleasant morning. I remained in bed a sinfully long time; the sun is shining yet again; I’m listening to happy harpsichord music; and...

Peggy made it to France on only three tranquilizers. I knew she had taken one in Eugene, so when waited to take the other two in Atlanta, I ...

The ultrasound showed the source of my abdominal pain and swelling to be a hematoma. It is large enough to be visible through my clothes, an...

The surgeon said on Wednesday that he would order an ultrasound if the swelling didn’t go down by Monday. Today—Monday—I was at his office a...

I had hell-week until Wednesday night. I had been in significant pain since Saturday when a lump the size of several inches of garden hose a...

Rain all day, as usual. Last Sunday—the day before my surgery—we had five inches of snow—a phenomenal amount for the valley floor—and I spen...

The lymph node biopsy came back negative, but now the surgeon wants to biopsy the other side. I had an iodine-contrast CAT scan yesterday to...

Surgery went well, as far as I know. The doctor was running 2 1/2 hours late, and I spent the last hour, as usual, in a line of ten gurneys ...

We’re like the people in the Twin Towers just before the planes hit. We can do nice things for others; we can enjoy good food and good books...

Peggy asked if I thought she would still go to France if I have cancer. I said she should consider the prognosis. Her response was that ther...

The following is a weeks worth of medical errors—or at least medical system errors—and I haven’t even been to surgery yet. 1) My internist s...