Post-it Sunday 5-26-27- Outlook not so good, ask again later

The gown card reads “Surgery is not without its risks.”

My favorite thing is when people assume that surgery will solve everything.

Or should I say least favorite thing?

I get it. People want surgery to be an answer. Strike that. People want surgery to be THE answer.

My second least favorite OR thing is when people discount the c-section as not surgery.

Bitch, we opened up your belly like a can opener to get the baby out.

Understand?

I mean, we put it back together and stitched it up real nice. But the point is that someone was inside your abdomen, rooting around. There are all sorts of risks in this.

And people just answer no, no surgeries when asked in pre-op about previous surgeries. Only to casually drop that all four of their babies were born via section.

Um. That is major abdominal surgery. With a great prize at the end. But major abdominal surgery nonetheless.

But back to the least favorite thing with patients assuming that surgery is the answer to all their problems. Nope, not even a little.

There will be the risk of anesthesia. The risk of death. The risk of infection. The risk that the surgery might not even solve the problem that the patient is having. The risk that surgery itself will lead to another list of problems because of the risk of anesthesia, the risk of infection, or even the risk of it not being the appropriate surgery for their problem.

Why?

Because often to cut (do surgery) is to definitively find out what the problem is. Even if the problem was not the one that the patient and the surgeon thought they had.

Because your skin and insides are not transparent and until the surgeon gets a direct view of the problem, there is always the possibility of a missed diagnosis. Because although surgeons are excellent at their job (ahem, for the most part), they are not prognosticators.

This means they don’t have a crystal ball.

All they can do is their best.

And all the OR team can do is support them.

This is how you get the best outcomes for patients.

There is no magic 8-ball in surgery.

Imagine if there was.