How to stay calm before surgery


 This is how we spent our day….
Dennis had surgery, a man type thing. And before he was put out the anesthesiologist told him,
"When you wake up you may be dizzy or nauseas or vomiting, but remember
(as she is putting her hand on his shoulder) this is completely normal."

What kind of reassurance is that just before going under?

If someone told me that, I would wake up with those exact symptoms. 
My body holds on tight to the power of suggestion.

But not my Dennis. He was a champ. Until I was driving him home. Then the sick happened.
I felt so sorry for him. But what could I do but keep driving.

This past weekend he has been so calm about this upcoming surgery, unlike me.

However, just before he was put out I could tell he was nervous.
His hands were very cold too, which is a sign.

Then while he was having the surgery I was reading an article, and guess what?
 I could have had the cure for his pre surgery nerves but I read about it a little too late.
Here's the deal. According to an article in The Atlantic we can alleviate stress by making a fist
with our left hand. Freaking out is primarily associated with the right hemisphere of the brain.
So researchers found out that making a fist with your left hand actually
draws focus away from the right hemisphere and turns off the worrying part of your brain.
Go read the article…it's interesting in relation to sports.

But come to think of it, it wouldn't have worked for Dennis because he had the IV in his left arm.
I'm not sure making a fist would have been the best deal for him.

And may I just say that we love Kaiser.
That place is a fine tuned operation.
They are incredibly organized, yet every single person
from the check in lady to the nurses to the doctors….
they all are so kind and helpful and cheerful.
Even the honest anesthesiologist.

PS  I've decided as a wife I'm terrible at pre-op. I was in a crummy mood the week night before. 
Worry does that to me. (Too bad I didn't know about the left fist thing yet.)
But I'm great at post-op. My nurturing skills are in full bloom right now. 
Good thing since the doctor said it will be 1-2 months before he is back to normal.




7 comments:

krheasley said...

We were thinking of Dennis all day today! Hope he's able to get lots of R&R in, and recover soon!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for telling us, Jill. I'll be praying for a speedy recovery for Dennis and know that you will be caring for him in the best ways possible.
darlene

Scrapally said...

You are the perfect nurturer! Wishing Dennis and you a peaceful and restful recovery! I like the left fist thing, there are time when I need to try that!

Karen Mortensen said...

Wishing Dennis a speedy recovery. He is lucky he has you to help him.

Rebecca said...

Good thing Dennis has you instead of ME taking care of him, I am a terrible terrible nurse!

Anonymous said...

Cool article! Its actually the RIGHT side of your brain that controls the left side of your body. I have been making fists for years (when I'm nervous) but I didn't realize that I only need to do my left fist. Wishing Dennis a speedy recovery!!
-carly

Grandma Honey said...

You are so right Carly. And I actually knew that but somehow typed it wrong. So I changed it to the left side controlling the right side of the brain. Thanks for catching that!

But this gets me to thinking….right side of brain I've always heard contains the creativity. Now I learn it also controls the worry. So does this mean if a person is very creative they are also a worrier? According to this theory, it would seem so.

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