May 19, 2004
LUCKY NO ONE "UNPLUGGED" HER:
Ordeal: awake during surgery (MATTHEW BARAKAT, 5/19/04, Associated Press)
The pain in Carol Weihrer's eye was so severe she decided to have it surgically removed, believing it was the only way to get on with life.Posted by Orrin Judd at May 19, 2004 12:41 PMInstead, the surgery was the beginning of an unending nightmare. Her anesthesia failed, leaving her awake but paralyzed for a five-hour surgery in which doctors cut and gouged to remove her right eye.
"You feel really grueling pulling on your eye, but you can't move to relieve the pressure," Weihrer said recently.
She felt no pain from the cutting, because the painkilling portion of the anesthesia was effective. But the tremendous pressure exerted to remove the eye was painful in its own way.
'You're sure you'll die if you can't let them know you're awake, she said. "And you think, `That'd be fine, too, as long as this ends. And then you think, `Maybe you did die . . . and maybe you're in hell.'"
I felt this way during some of the Democratic primary debates.
Posted by: H.D. Miller at May 19, 2004 1:04 PMWhen I was a kid, my family qualified to have me treated by the "school dentist". He had a German accent, worked without Novacaine, and had the bedside manner of Dr Mengele. Nothing quite hurts like a dental drill hitting a nerve without Novacaine.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at May 19, 2004 1:59 PMMy wife had a c-section and the epidural didn't take. she was holding my hand and damn near broke it.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at May 19, 2004 5:53 PMRobert:
Sympathies. I'll bet you just love listening to those guys who gush about how they and their wives birthed together and what an emotionally meaningful experience it all was for them.
Posted by: Peter B at May 19, 2004 9:46 PMShe agreed to be sterilized on the spot.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at May 19, 2004 9:56 PMThis woman is lucky her pain was numbed... I read about a guy who was only paralyzed by the anesthesia, and felt every stroke of some hours-long surgery.
He managed to move his big toe, but the surgeons thought that they'd imagined seeing it.