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I recently had a cyst removed from my hand. The doctors said it was
going to be a minor operation. Technically, it really was a simple
procedure using only local anesthesia. The anxiety of being in an
operating room indeed presents an opportunity for my stress
management skills to be utilized.
There is a feeling of helplessness and not being
in control when one is strapped on an operating table. All around me
was metal equipment green cloth and people whose faces were covered.
It was intimidating in a way, especially since I hardly had any
serious operations done on me before. The entire procedure made me
feel like a lab experiment had it not been for the nurses and
doctors doing something that settled my nerves. They talked.
I don’t know if it’s standard procedure to
have chit chat in the operating room, but even if the medical staff
wasn’t aware of it, the act of communication does help calm down
the patient. I know it calmed me down. I was doing deep Yoga
breathing to calm down my nervousness. But it was when I engaged in
conversation with the staff that my heart rate stabilized.
I expected the topics they would be talking
about would be medical, double checking things before they start the
procedure. Instead it was a down to earth conversation about who got
eliminated on American Idol and where the company summer outing was
going to be. These mundane everyday topics of conversation managed
to divert my mind from being anxious to being calm.
They even teased me when they found out that I
was a martial arts enthusiast for over two decades. They said that I
shouldn’t be worried because martial artists are supposed to be
tough. But I just smiled when I told them that my training never
covered being strapped to an operating table. So I had an excuse to
be anxious and nervous. So then everybody was laughing at the tough
martial arts guy on the operating table worried over a minor cyst
procedure. It was pathetic. The funny thing was, I was laughing with
them over how pathetic my situation was. It was a cyst after all,
not brain surgery.
Whether this is standard procedure or not,
engaging in small talk really does wonders for managing the stress
of the patient. I give my thanks to Doctor Jing Aliling and the rest
of the staff of Polymedic hospital who worked on me. Keep on
talking.
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