So tomorrow I go in, a nose surgeon will fix a deviated septum first and then after that the neurosurgeon goes through a nasal sinus to drill into the skull, scoop out the growth, patch up the hole, and hope I don't leak any spinal fluid for the next few years.
This is the first major surgery I'm having ever since I was five years old. I had little comprehension what was going on, and it was just eartubes trying to straighten out my hearing for a few months.
I'm quite nervous about it.
The research on the surgery tells me the risks are minimal and that I should recover, but we're talking about my head here. And yes, you trump-worshipping nabobs, I have a brain worth keeping.
But I can't avoid it: If I don't get the surgery I'm going to lose my sight.
So I'm going in. It feels right now like getting ready for a plane trip: I have a huge fear of heights but if I gotta go somewhere I gotta go and I've flown enough times to treat it now as a mild annoyance. I'm trying to rationalize this as a plane flight.
The thing bothering me most right now is that my parents are here to help me out getting to the hospital and back, and making sure I'm good as I heal up. The thing is my Dad's a Fox News watcher, and I've had to suffer through far too much Tucker Carlson than I ever want to. Surgery would be less painful right now. I need Fox Not-News on my TV like I need a hole in my head (yes, I went there).
So in my mind, I'm traveling tomorrow morning.
I hope to see you on the other side.
If I don't make it though: AVENGE ME. STOP THE REPUBLICANS.
And put my Twitter messages into a book collection for posterity, it might be good for a library or two to keep.
3 comments:
Came here from Balloon Juice so see if there were more details... sorry you're going through this, glad they caught it before it became even more serious.
Medical science has come a long, long way just in our lifetimes. I remember my doctor painting my throat with purple goo as a tiny child in the early 1950s, some kind of antiseptic I guess.
Now brain surgery is nearly common place... amazing!
Best of luck, tell you dad the best thing he can do for your recovery is do without Russian propaganda for a week or two.
The only surgery I ever had was to save my eyesight, also. I had cataracts and was blind already by the time I got my surgeries. (Thank you Dr. Huang! 20-25 in the right, 20-40 in the left, don't even have to wear glasses any more.)
My friend Sara in Alabama had emergency surgery for a brain aneurysm a couple of years ago, and she's as good as new, so you'll probably be fine.
May you be much better very soon.
-Doug in Oakland
Your best days are ahead of you, Paul.
Oh, and don't rush your recovery, Fox or not.
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