Undergoing Surgery

Having an operation is nearly always scary.

• What if something goes wrong?
• What if they find something bad?
• What if it's cancer?
• What if I don't wake up?
• What if I'm incapacitated afterwards?
• What if the "thing" is too far gone?
• What if I die?
• What if......

To make things worse, most operating rooms are intimidating. Lights are too bright. You can't see people's faces behind the masks. All the equipment is strange. And you have to lie butt-naked on a cold table...

So here are a few tips that may help to ease your fears.

• Make sure you fully discuss your surgery with the doctor
• While it's good to check facts, too much googling probably won't help
• Don't overthink the situation; it usually is not as bad as you think
• Have support from a partner, friend or family member
• No matter what doctors say, don't have any surgery unless and until you're fully prepared and persuaded.

Everybody has fears of "not waking up". With the massive advances in anaesthesia over the years, this fear is virtually a thing of the past. Modern anaesthetic agents are much kinder, much better tolerated, and cause much less toxicity than in the past. So don't worry about this.

The bald truth is that, when you really need surgery, there's probably not much you can do about it. The best thing to do is to accept it, prepare your mind and trust in God and the surgical team. In the vast majority of cases, all goes quite well.

One common question tends to be:

Why is surgery so expensive?

A common assumption is that doctors like "nuff" money. Hemm.....well, who doesn't? But consider the following.

Training

Medical specialists undergo years of rigorous training to hone their craft. While mistakes in non-medical specialties can be serious and cause you financial ruin, a mistake in the operating room can cause death. The level of medical training reflects this reality.

Equipment

Medical equipment and supplies are made to the highest manufacturing standards often utilising semi-precious metals like titanium. Any items that have to interface with biological tissues must resist corrosion and invasion by bacteria. This means that common cheap materials like steel, iron, copper and aluminum cannot suffice. Additionally, many surgical consumables are designed for single use and are not usually re-used. This invariably raises the cost of all surgical material.

Anaesthesia

Added to this is anaesthesia, in which a number of drugs and gases may be used to put you to sleep or induce anaesthesia. Your anaesthetist literally holds your life in his/her hands. While you are asleep, this highly trained individual has to oversee your breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and kidney function. Normally these functions are automatically regulated by the body. During deep anaesthesia, this is not the case.

Hospital Staff

Apart from your surgeon and anaesthetist, there is a fleet of nursing specialists in attendance as well. Some assist the surgeon at the operating table, providing various tools as needed. Others "circulate", fetching various items. Yet others keep a careful watch on the number of swabs, needles, sutures and other disposable items to make sure that at the end of surgery all is accounted for.

So while you are blissfully asleep, your surgery is a carefully choreographed dance involving many actors, all with their own unique training designed to provide the optimum medical care. Now, does all that sound CHEAP?