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Imagination Can Get You into Trouble
NMB, Florida November 7, 2001 A.H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published Now and
Then. Opinions Pro or Con Are Welcome.
IMAGINATION CAN GET YOU INTO TROUBLE
Now I'm not saying Carol is unimaginative. All I'm saying is that I have
enough for two of us. For instance, I notified everyone who receives
THINKING ALLOWED that yesterday was the day of surgery on my thumb that
happens to be a "trigger finger". We were almost late because of traffic.
I had decided not to take the fly-over that would eliminate most of the
traffic for a critical two miles. But, we still got to the hospital on time
for my 10 a.m. appointment. This is a fantastic facility, Jackson Memorial
and Bascom Palmer Institute associated with the University of Miami Medical
School.
We needed to sign in and Carol took care of that. She is proud of her
neatness, efficiency and accuracy. Then an x-ray and then waiting. It was
two hours more before the doctor arrived. He was embarrassed to be so late
but the early appointments were late and so on.
Now my imagination comes into play. They took me into this room where new
devices had been installed. There was this plotting machine that had
crossed red laser beams that pinpointed the part of my thumb where the
operation was to take place. Now this is the new millennium where
technology has triumphed. Would you believe that this machine accomplished
the operation without breaking the skin? Would you believe that they were
able to determine where the sheath on my tendon was so they could make two
small incisions with a new kind of beam that disrupted the atoms on that
sheath without drawing blood?
Now that the operation is over and I have no bandage people ask how it went.
I tell them the above story and say that the swelling is barely noticeable
and that if you touch the base of my thumb you feel that it is a bit hot.
Do you believe this? There are people I have told this story to and they
actually believe it. Actually, the doctor asked me to wiggle my thumb and
tell him if there was any pain. Of course there was none. That pain went
when I knew that only a few days were left before the operation. He said,
come back when you feel it. Carol didn't want me to use my imagination or
tell this story. Carol's Evaluation: 10 out of 10.(Thanks for the many
people sending me good wishes.)
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