Musical Surgery

In my opinion, a chemotherapy port is a sizable piece of equipment to have implanted... so to remove it under a local anesthetic seems like something I wouldn't want to do.  When he was 17, they put him to sleep - at 22, Greg was awake and able to give us a play by play.  He sent an email today with this report:

So probably the most interesting thing this week was my port removal surgery. If you're not a pediatric patient then you don't get put out for it. And if the doctor has some strange reason to not show up (I don't know what happened) she sends her PA to do it. ( I am really bummed that Dr Scaife did't get to do it. I really like her.) Nathan came up with me and got to watch. Everyone got to watch except for me. I was just numbed with lidocaine and then they sliced, pulled, snipped and all kinds of stuff while I tried to keep a conversation going that would keep me distracted from what was happening. So the port is out, I survived, and it really is purple. Now I just have a huge bruise from all the messing around.  

 A fun note about the surgery. They asked what kind of music I wanted. I didn't care so I said classical because that's the best kind to go along with a surgery, keep everyone calm. But the music kept keeping time to what was happening. As the doctors got ready the music was sad and tense, as if it was a dramatic TV show. Then as they operated it was sad as if I was dying and my family waited outside in the waiting room anxious to hear about me. The music came to a triumphant end right as they pulled the port out! kind of fun. Then there was a commercial break on the radio, just like TV. As the doctor sat and held pressure on my neck to make sure I didn't bleed out, the music was slow and thoughtful. Perfect for an end of episode montage. Me in the room, good news to the family, the guy who hit me in a car accident being led out of the court room. The lawyer being thoughtful, back to me and the music ended again right as the doctor was done sewing me up. That was kind of funny and we kept laughing about that.