Been there, done that..

I never thought that I would see the inside of an operation theater. At least, I never thought that I would see it this early in life ( 27 is still early in life you know) . Unfortunately for me, the trend of things unexpected and unyearned for happening to me with unflinching regularity continues. There are quite a few things that I look forward to in life and they, with the same miserable regularity, never even look in the direction of my universe. So, see the inside of an operation theater I did! And what’s more, I even got to lie on the operating table! And surprise!! Surprise!! I was operated upon!!!

Ok..perhaps I sound a bit too excited..it was not all that exciting really..the whole thing took just around 10 mins.

Genesis : One fine day in November, I was doing the usual thing in front of a mirror ( I said ‘USUAL’) – I was staring at the reflection of my face..and out of nowhere, something that looked like a pimple was found occupying centrestage on my forehead. Bang in the middle. Funny, I thought..that wasn’t there the previous day. Rather, I hadn’t noticed it the previous day. Wonder how long it had been squatting there. It didn’t really look like a pimple..it looked more like an insect bite. It would probably go off in a few days….. I thought.

And days became months. I grew rather used to the swelling on my forehead. It didn’t pain. It was just there. Every now and then I would try and push it down in the foolish hope that it would disappear into my forehead. I also tried using my finger nail on it. But it remained where it was..the centre of attraction..

This past Saturday, I finally made it to the doctor of the hospital in my home town. “Sebaceous cyst” came the expert opinion. He told me that it was some kind of oil accumulation which my skin wasn’t in a mood to let out. So…can we have it removed? I ask. Sure, he says. When? I ask. I wondered if he could just suck it out with some syringe like thing. Not now, he says. You could come over to the Operation Theater in the afternoon and we could get it done then. Just like that? Yea..just like that.

The way he said it, it sounded as though I was to walk into a grocery store, buy yet another pack of noodles, and walk out. So it was that at around 2 PM on Saturday, I finally saw the inside of an operating theatre. No urgent shouts, no nurses running helter skelter, just abt 3-4 people in the room. There was a nurse, but I didn’t get enough time to ‘check her out’. I was asked to lie on the table. When I looked up, I could see the bulbs..looked like 3 or 4 headlights tied together.

Then all went dark around me. No, I didn’t pass out, nor did I pass away. They had just put a cloth over my face..with a small hole in the cloth through which they could get to the cyst. The only part of the whole procedure which pained was when they administered the anaesthetic. Felt like a big mosquito with a metallic proboscis poking into me 4 times. Then onwards it was all smooth operating. The doc and I even had a casual chat, the green cloth on my face notwithstanding, he was quite relaxed about the whole thing. I too hardly felt anything..well..i had been anaesthetized after all.

A few minutes later, the cloth came off my face, and I saw bright lights again. I was alive! The doctor showed me what he had scooped out of my forehead. It looked quite harmless and silly really. Looked like a very small ball of fat. For half a second, I thought of taking it home as a souvenir..then sanity and good taste prevailed. I left it there…

Walked out of the hospital with a rather loud bandage across my forehead. The bandage is gone now..Five stitches remain…And I’ve lost count of the times colleagues have asked, “What happened to your head? Did you fall down? Did you get hurt? Did you…”

Life has become faster I guess..and there is a lot to show for it..but a walk in operation almost takes the cake.

Ciao.

Shain