Hippocrates Among the Intellectuals

As the saying goes, the practice of anesthesia is ninety percent sheer boredom and ten percent sheer panic. I once watched a droplet (a.k.a. “snot”) dangling from the nose of my sleeping patient as he lay face down, his head jutting out past the edge of the operating table. As ludicrous as it may sound, I waited anxiously for an hour to see whether the droplet would finally fall to the floor or hold out a little longer against gravity. Most of anesthesia practice is composed of such dull interludes.