Daily Archives: December 4, 2018

i will never be this cool, or this Russian

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During the 6th Soviet Antarctic Expedition at Novolazarevskaya Station, the only doctor in the house suddenly became the patient

when Dr. Leonid Rogozov realized his appendix was going to burst unless he did the unthinkable: OPERATE ON HIMSELF

The date: on April 30, 1961

His assistant: a mechanic.

Length of operation: Two hours.

How he did it: He positioned himself so that he could see his own body using a mirror when doing the surgery. But as he notes, that meant he was seeing things on the wrong side.

He made a 12 cm incision through which he found the appendix.

He published a short note about this in the Soviet Antarctic Expedition Information Bulletin, no. 37, pp. 42-44, 1962.

I did not sleep at all last night. It hurts like the devil! A snowstorm whipping through my soul, wailing like a hundred jackals. Still no obvious symptoms that perforation is imminent, but an oppressive feeling of foreboding hangs over me … This is it … I have to think through the only possible way out: to operate on myself … It’s almost impossible … but I can’t just fold my arms and give up.

I worked without gloves. It was hard to see. The mirror helps, but it also hinders — after all, it’s showing things backwards. I work mainly by touch. The bleeding is quite heavy, but I take my time — I try to work surely. Opening the peritoneum, I injured the blind gut and had to sew it up. Suddenly it flashed through my mind: there are more injuries here and I didn’t notice them … I grow weaker and weaker, my head starts to spin. Every 4-5 minutes I rest for 20-25 seconds. Finally, here it is, the cursed appendage! With horror I notice the dark stain at its base. That means just a day longer and it would have burst and …

At the worst moment of removing the appendix I flagged: my heart seized up and noticeably slowed; my hands felt like rubber. Well, I thought, it’s going to end badly. And all that was left was removing the appendix … And then I realised that, basically, I was already saved.

Two weeks later, he was back on duty.

our schedules are screwed so i never have a day off

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she works every day but monday and tuesdays

and those days im usually on the phone or writing

even sundays i have to work which im sure doesnt please the Lord so i try to do that work after midnight which makes Monday a groggy day

but at least i have work. which is a blessing. even though unemployment is very low one should always be grateful of work. i say that as someone who has found himself in dark places economically, as many of us has

and ive also found my self once upon a time, with his cup running over. it’s a strange dynamic because when youre broke you think it will last forever and when you’re doing good you foolishly also think that this is how it will be until you die

and then you die.

yesterday amber and i took a walk on a quest for food. and halfway through she nearly passed out from low blood sugar and when she got a fix from some coffee she was a totally different person.

is the xbi behind this? are they switching robot babes on me who are running out of battery life? what evil lurks inside Starbucks’ that this one goes in like a dying bluetooth signal and comes out all raring to go? it wouldnt be so shocking but the quick change happens in minutes.

we ended up at Thai Patio, the former home of Palms Thai and she loved it. all i could see were its past glories. over there is where Thai Elvis once sang, on those walls where decorations once hung now theres nothing. the tables that you used to have to wait outside to sit in are now empty. true we were there at 4:20 in between lunch and dinner rushes, but still. the food was good although the soup seemed a bit watered down.

the best was a butch lesbian woman with a crew cut and a xxl tshirt and baggy jeans accompanied by her very femme, thicc, african american date wearing a long red dress. they moved from a window seat to one in a darker corner. two instagram influencers sat near them. how do i know who they were? they told the lesbian couple who introduced themselves.

near us was a table of four Metro bus drivers devouring their meals.

we should have come earlier for the $6 lunch specials.