J. M. Johnson Consulting

If you read part one of this series, you might be wondering what happened to the lady who refused general anesthesia and instead opted for an epidural. If you have not read it, I encourage you to do so before you read this.

To review, right before surgery, a woman pressed her doctor and anesthesiologist to give her an epidural as opposed to general anesthesia. General anesthesia was the gold standard for the type of surgery that she was having. After much debate, the woman’s doctor reluctantly acquiesced. He conferred with the anesthesiologist who was not enthusiastic but consented to do it.

As the epidural was placed, the woman felt relieved that she would not be under anesthesia and would know what was happening, which was in fact trying to control her environment. When the epidural was started, the woman panicked as she could not feel herself breathing. She felt as though she was not breathing. She WAS breathing. She could not feel her body breathing. Apparently, part of the anesthesia went to her upper body when all of it should have gone to her lower body. She said “I can’t breathe!!!!!” Her doctor was not pleased with the situation. He told the anesthesiologist ” put her out.”

After the surgery, the woman regretted making the request to have an epidural. She realized that her desire to be in “control” and aware of her surroundings at all times during surgery was irrational. There was no way that she could have done anything to control the actual surgery while it was underway. For whatever reason, in that moment, she did not want to be in a situation where she was under the “control” of others while they performed surgery. She felt stupid and she was embarrassed.

The reality is that there are many things that we cannot control. There are also many things that we can control.

Here are some questions for your consideration and self-reflection. Have you ever tried to control a person or a situation? How successful were you? How did that work out? If you were not successful in controlling a person or a situation, did your desire to control change? How much energy did you use during your control trip? Was it worth it? What and or who can you control?

Why do you think that she made that irrational request? I am not sure. Did she think that she could direct the surgeon from the operating table by saying, “hey, you should use this technique not the one you are using!” “Use xyz sutures when you are closing me.” “Hey, do you see that suspicious area over there?” “My blood pressure looks a bit low.” It was the misconception of control.

I think that more than wanting to be in control, she did not want to be out of control.

We will be discussing more on control including its benefits and drawbacks in the near future.