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Monthly Archives: May 2013

Wrist surgery

Let’s talk about wrist surgery.  Just because.  No, I am not getting anything done to my wrist.  I have thought about it, but my carpal tunnel isn’t so much carpal tunnel as it is tendinitis, so it’s totally manageable without surgery.  So anyway, wrist surgery.

Apparently, the procedure used during wrist surgery hasn’t changed much over the years.  I have this on secondhand experience.  Mr. Arachnid was telling me tales about his adventures in wrist surgery.

What they do is put a tourniquet on your arm to restrict blood flow through your arm.  It’s kind of hard to operate if this constant flow of opaque red fluid is gushing over your work surface.  Mr. Arachnid said that they actively drain your arm of blood, but I’m not sure if that’s really the case.  I think it might just be the natural outcome of restricting blood flow to your arm.  After you make a cut in the wrist to work on the stuffs there, naturally blood will come gushing out of the wound and it isn’t being replaced because of the tourniquet.  After they open up your wrist, they can poke around and fix things.  Then they patch you up and release the tourniquet.

Here, I found this video showing what happens in the operating room.  Don’t worry, it’s not an actual surgery.  Although you can find videos of those on youtube.

Mr. Arachnid said that the surgery itself wasn’t so bad, but the healing afterward was.  Apparently, once the anesthesia wears off, you get an excruciatingly painful-but-not-really version of the pins and needles you feel as a limb that was previously asleep starts to wake up.  He said it was really bad pins and needles.  And it lasts for awhile.  And you can’t do anything about it.

If you think about it, that kind of makes sense.  Your limb, or whatever, falls asleep when you put pressure on a nerve to that area, like if you sit funny or fall asleep on your arm.  When you relieve the pressure, you get all kinds of interesting sensations in that area as nerve function returns to normal.  The tourniquet was applying pressure to the nerves in your arm and when it gets removed and the anesthesia wears off, you feel all these interesting sensations as nerve function returns to normal.

Mr. Arachnid didn’t like it.  I think he said he’s seriously reconsider having the procedure done next time.  Even though I think he had broken his wrist.  It must have been some really bad pins and needles to seriously consider living with a broken wrist instead.  I suppose I should take it as a warning not to let my tendinitis become full blown carpal tunnel.

Mustache of authority iiiiiinnnnnn ssssspaaaaaaaaaaace!

I’m sure you’ve seen this by now.  Sure of it.

What struck me about the video and well, about Cmdr Hadfield‘s presence in general, is…his mustache.  This has always been the case.  I’ve just never mentioned it before.

Cmdr Hadfield recently came back to Earth after serving as a flight engineer in the 34th long-duration mission to the ISS and leading the 35th.  He is the only the second non-NASA, non-RSA astronaut to command the ISS and the first CSA astronaut to command.

I assume his mission was a success judging by his social media output.  I actually don’t know what his mission was about so I can’t say definitively if his mission was a success.  His mission may have included more than raising awareness of the space programs in various countries and unions.  I’m pretty sure he’s done a pretty good job of raising awareness.  But, you can see his social media output for yourself on twitter, tumblr, and youtube if you haven’t already.  Why haven’t you, anyway?

Anyhoo, I choose to believe that his mission’s success was not based solely on his ability to command and training and preparation.  Stuff I’m sure he has or has done and has worked hard for.  I choose to believe that his mustache of authority has helped a lot.

Do you not know what a mustache of authority is?  Dan has one.  Gordito was also able to grow one by sheer force of will.  Dan was able to use his mustache of authority to lead a guild of ninjas.  Gordito’s mustache helped claim his birthright after his father was tragically killed in a freak circus accident and perform the sweetest dunk.  A mustache of authority can help a lot.  Of course, there are some people who can resist the power of the mustache of authority.

So, I believe that Cmdr Hadfield’s mustache of authority is partially responsible for everything he’s been able to accomplish in life.  I mean sure, he’s put in a lot of hard work and he’s been dedicated to what I assume was his dream.  But also, he has a mustache of authority.