Shades of Grey's

I've got to admit that I enjoy medical series such as Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, House, Private Practice and even Nip/Tuck in it's hey-day before it all went cray-cray! Unfortunately, these were the basis of my expectations for surgery.

Intubation--This is basically where they stick a tube down the patient's throat to keep their airway open during the procedure. What the shows all fail to mention is how your throat feels after the fact. My surgical nurse, who I unintentionally insulted while she briefed me before surgery, said that it might be sore for a few hours after I came out. It most certainly wasn't comfortable and I had a nice, sexy, gravelly voice for about 24-hours. Also, everything tasted like plastic tubing which kind of ruined my first meal post-surgery.

Operation Room Lighting-- In all of the aforementioned shows, surgery takes place in a fairly dark room with spotlights just above the patient. On Nip/Tuck, there's usually a poignant song played while they operate to keep things interesting. Much to my surprise, the room in which my surgery occurred was very well lit.

On-Call Escapades-- Thankfully, there was no hanky-panky in the on-call room at least as far as I could tell. Of course, I was on the good stuff at the time and may not have the clearest recollection of what the nurses and docs were up to!