Three weeks ago I had to have a fatty tumor removed from above my right eyebrow. It was nothing serious and turned out to be benign. The plastic surgeon gave me a shot of novacaine, lidocaine, and some other muscle relaxant that made me want to snooze for hours after surgery. Too bad I couldn't sleep during surgery. I was wide awake while Dr. O'Connor explained the whole procedure as he carefully made the first incision.
His first comment was, "Does it hurt?" And I said, "I thought that's what the novacaine plus was for; and no it doesn't hurt!" Then he gave me his good news bad news report during surgery. The good news was it indeed was a fatty tumor, nothing unusual. The bad news was it went deep and wrapped around a facial nerve and a muscle. 'Oh great,' I thought. So I asked him, "What does that mean?" "It means we have to go deeper than I thought and I'm not sure the novacaine plus will cover that."
I gritted my teeth, sat on my hands so I wouldn't lose control, and said three Hail Marys. The worse that happened pain-wise was a slight pinching feeling when he cut into the muscle. After that it was a serene experience. That injection he gave me had something in it besides novacaine. I was ecstatically happy for 24 hours...until the injected coctail wore off.
The lump is gone from my forehead. The incision is healing. Now I have to figure out how to get Dr. O'Connor to remove the rest of the fat from my body. Then I'll be really happy.
