Pictures of my disection

[jbailey]

For the curious, a picture from during my surgery:

(Warning, 1.7megs. (c) 2008 Dr. P Mummaneni, All Rights Reserved, posted with permission. Lots of blood and meat, you've been warned!)
https://sites.google.com/a/raspberryginger.com/public/surgery-stuff/DSC00585.JPG?attredirects=0

I have X-rays and MRIs and stuff to post later on. I'll get to those over the next couple weeks and post when I'm done.

Update: Apparently some people are clicking on the photo link, not being aware that surgery pictures means lots of meat and blood. I'm not sure what else people were expecting, but, yeah. There it is. As one person said, it looks a bit like a BBQ.

Comments

[motherinlawtree.livejournal.com]

It still seems a miracle to me that we have the technology and knowledge to do such invasive procedures (is that really the inside of the body of someone I know?) and somehow, here you are afterward, with the bad part taken out and you healing etc etc. It's kind of crazy, and I'm so happy that it's working for you. Luckily I have a scientist mind working alongside that "It"s a miracle!" mind; it's weird having a foot in both camps.

[jbailey.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine told me that science is "Magic that works". It was a really nice thought to go into the surgery with.

Two things that really blow me away:

We understand the body and the arteries and all that to the point where we know exactly how to do these things, even when dealing with the different variations in anatomy from person to person.

Some of the techniques used on me didn't exist 5 years ago. It's possible that my surgery, because of its good success and the amount of the tumor, may be used as the basis for a journal article.

I think of my dad who, after having a heart attack, had three stints put in through his femoral artery, and was home and happy a few days later. A bypass operation used to leave someone looking like they'd lost a sword fight. Artery punctures heal to where you can't see them in a month.

I also think of my mom who died from cancer. I wonder sometimes how her prognosis would've looked has she just been diagnosed today.

I also think about the fact that science and the knowledge of the average person are also so far apart. The obvious example of this is the evolution debate, where scientists have essentially proven evolution in the past few years; or that Climatologists all agree that man-made polution has an effect on the climate. Yet still, the debates go on amongst the common folk because we can't understand the technology. We can't all follow the science periodicals, or even follow magazines like Scientific American or Popular Science.

It's all truly a miracle. =)

[motherinlawtree.livejournal.com]

That reminds me of one of my favourite Dilbert cartoons where he is presenting something, and the thought balloons are "In order to make an informed decision you would need to know as much as I know." "That's impossible. So instead, by mutual, implied agreement, I will feed you some lies that point you to the right decision." "If we don't upgrade our servers, a herd of trolls will attack headquarters." And the comment from management, "No trolls!"