I would make a good seeing-eye dog

[swan_tower]

(Except for the part where my vision is terrible. And I’m not a dog.)

Some years ago, a friend of ours with a degenerative eye condition told us about the methods used to sort German Shepherd puppies for possible training. I don’t know whether this is how all facilities do it, but at that particular place, they would put a puppy in a room with various blanket and toys and so forth, and then leave them alone there for a while. Some dogs basically curl up in a corner and cry, and those will have a lovely future as someone’s pet. Some tear everything apart and pee all over it, and those are candidates to become police dogs. The potential seeing-eye dogs are the ones who investigate everything in the room, then sit down in a place where they can watch the door and wait.

My husband had ankle surgery today — I swear this is not a non sequitur — and it occurred to me that I am very much a much Dog Type Number Three. In the pre-op room, I wandered about reading every label on every box and drawer, peering at monitors, and generally investigating everything I could get at without touching stuff. When it came time for them to administer the nerve block, one of the nurses said that would be a good time for me to head out to the waiting room; I asked whether it would be a problem for me to stay and watch. The anesthesiologist said that would fine, so I sat in a chair and peered around him at the ultrasound screen while he stuck a needle in my husband’s leg. He even narrated what he was doing at one point, for my benefit!

. . . yeah, I’m a writer. If I can watch a thing, I probably will. Because who knows what I’ll need to know someday?

(In other news, my husband is home and doing fine, though that will probably change a bit when the nerve block wears off and he starts actually needing the happy pills they have prescribed for him.)

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[sovay]

(In other news, my husband is home and doing fine, though that will probably change a bit when the nerve block wears off and he starts actually needing the happy pills they have prescribed for him.)

Glad to hear it went successfully. Good for your anesthesiologist for narrating. I like doctors who can transmit technical information to the patients who want it.

[irina (from livejournal.com)]

(Argh, I'd much rather reply on the actual blog or on dreamwidth, but it's specifically this comment I want to reply to)

When our middle daughter was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, the pediatrician (she was 17 and *much* too mature for pediatric manners) did her best to reassure us, forestalling what she predicted we'd worry about, without addressing any of our actual concerns.

Basically, we wanted to know. Information is much better reassurance than reassurance is.

Then we were sent on to the academic hospital where there was a doctor who saw at one glance that we were all geeks, that Secunda was intelligent and curious and brave, and that none of needed any cushioning. He destroyed the lymphoma, everything is right now, we never lacked for knowledge. Excellent.

[sovay]

Basically, we wanted to know. Information is much better reassurance than reassurance is.

Agreed. Even when it's not reassuring, it's better than reassurance. It's information and it tells you something.

I am very glad your daughter is all right.

[icedrake.livejournal.com]

Wait, your *husband* had ankle surgery? I'm starting to get the sense your family is exceptionally hard on ankles.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

So how do they actually make a nerve block, y'know, happen? Enquiring minds need to know!

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

They use an ultrasound to locate the nerve, then stick a giant needle right up to it and inject a cocktail of stuff -- he mentioned the chemical names, but I don't remember them.