ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

Why going through surgery?

A surgery is nonetheless a surgery, no matter what type of surgery it is.  Be it a laser eye surgery or a C-section, there is always risk involved.  So many people jump on the bandwagon of getting a laser eye surgery for the myth of a risk free surgery that will cure myopia.  The most common laser eye surgery performed in the US is LASIK which surgically alter the cornea without pain.  To claim it risk free and safe proven when the fibrils holding the cornea are cut through and the thickness of the cornea is scrapped off is false advertisement.  Laser eye surgery has the potential of leaving your eyeballs at risk of disintegration and your cornea dislocation in addition to an entire cornea transplant.  Its complication and side-effects are often muted.

At one point, I was considering getting a laser eye surgery as I was getting tired with wearing eye glasses.  I used to wear contact lenses but wearing it for an extended time wears out my eyes and somewhat damaged my eyes.  To keep my eyes healthy, my ophthalmologist suggested that I reduced the time that I wore my contact lenses.  I ended up giving up wearing contact lenses at all.  It is more convenient to wear glasses than contact lenses as I don’t have to wash the lenses and try to put them in.  What I don’t like about wearing glasses is the constant feeling of having something on my nose.  While I was contemplating having a laser eye surgery, I thought about a problem that a laser eye surgery can never overcome.  I would then be forced to wear reading glasses for my presbyopia.  In the end, I still have to wear some sort of glasses.  It defeats my purpose of getting rid of the glasses.  Why wasting my money when my needs are not totally fulfilled and when there is unforeseeable risk!

Talking about C-section, I had both my babies delivered through Cesarean sections.  I did not plan to have Cesarean sections.  Why would a person with clear consciousness plan to have a Cesarean section?  I can never understand.  Is it for the fear of going through the pain of labor or for the absurd reason to pick the most auspicious time for delivery?  A Cesarean section is nonetheless a surgery and it comes with complication and risk like any other surgery. 

My first birth delivery was done through an emergency Cesarean section.  My water broke and there was meconium in the water.  However, I was not ready to give birth.  The doctor and nurses tried to induce the labor.  When there is meconium in the water, it is usually a sign of fetal distress.  My son was indeed suffering from fetal distress.  Whenever my uterus contracted, his heart beat would dangerously fall down to half of the normal beat from 160 to 80.  The umbilical cord wrapped around his neck hindering him to breath.  The doctor decided to pump water into my uterus, hoping to alleviate the problem.  It didn’t work.  The only option was an emergency Cesarean section.  When I was wheeled to the emergency delivery room, I broke down with tears.  I could not feel the pain from the surgery for the spinal anesthesia that was administered on me from the insertion of a needle with the injection of a local anesthetic solution in my spin around my lower back.  I couldn't think.  My mind was blank from the anesthesia. I laid in bed with tubes all over me, injecting more pain medication into my body.  I stayed in the hospital for the maximum days allowed.  Sitting up or moving around was painful.  I had hard time breastfeeding my son as my body could not handle the excruciating pain from the little weight that my baby added to my belly as I held him.  In addition, my body did not recognize that I just had a baby.  I was not producing sufficient breast milk to keep my baby alive.  He had developed Jaundice and had to be admitted into the hospital right after we brought him home from the hospital.  The difficulty of breastfeeding continued after he was released from the hospital.  We ended up mixing formula with breast milk.  It took me over one month to recover from the surgery.  I was lying in bed most of the time.             

When I was pregnant with my daughter, I asked to have a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean).  My doctor advised me against it.  I was persuaded to have a planned Cesarean section to avoid getting into the same complication I had earlier.  I was somewhat saddened by the suggestion and felt pushed to accept it.  Anyway, we can’t plan everything.  Like my son, my daughter decided to arrive earlier.  A planned Cesarean section turned into an unplanned one.  This time, I was in labor.  There was someone with a planned Cesarean section scheduled at that time.  She was sitting in her bed, just waiting for the surgery without any sign of labor.  I couldn’t understand why the doctor would choose to administer drugs on me to slow down my labor to perform the planned C-section first.  I was in pain but that woman wasn’t.  I was in labor but that woman wasn’t.  Just because it was time for her planned C-section, she got to deliver the baby first.  Anyway, I still can’t understand why a person with clear consciousness would choose to deliver her baby through a Cesarean section.  The side effect from the surgery will always be there.  I could never feel pain around the area where the nerve was cut.

What is it I want to convey?  I just want to tell you not to take surgery lightly.  If it is not necessary, don’t have one.

Written by Elisa English

On 7/28/2010 in Minneapolis 

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