Digital Improvement
Update on Adam’s injury by Adam:
As many have asked…….
After getting lost and arriving a half an hour late to the surgeon, I sat in the front waiting room for another half an hour, then 45 minutes in the exam room (all supplied with interesting magazines). Finally the surgeon breezed in.
He said he was amazed at how well it was doing, asked my permission to remove the stitches, then, in fits and starts over 15 minutes, caused me some of the most minutely excruciating pain I can remember (something like 21 stitches, perhaps 7 of which were especially memorable). Afterwards, he apologized, and thanked me for my forbearance (my word), saying that people having stitches removed from fingertips and faces often pass out…….. Ouch, I say, ouch. Right, Mike?
Various gruesome milestones to which to look forward, but fervently thankful for all the good fortune and good wishes thus far.
But why no novocaine?
I love that you thought of that. I’ve been thinking about it since yesterday. But he never offered. I think if I had asked……. But honor bound by age and gender to grit and bear, I didn’t. And running almost two hours late, with 15 minute onset for such potions, I can imagine he was reluctant. Kinda taps into Mike’s dentistry story — now I know what they mean by “nothing”…….
“And running almost two hours late, with 15 minute onset for such potions, I can imagine he was reluctant [to dispense novocaine].”
Methinks your doc just got back from seeing Master and Commander, where surgeon Maturin lops off arms and legs with no more than a dollop of rum for a painkiller. Then, after being injured himself in the next battle, he does some surgery on his own body–there being no one else surgically competent on board.
And you didn’t even get any rum!
Comment by rakkity — November 19, 2003 @ 9:59 am
No rum, but a shot of tequila and a slice of lime were waiting for me when I stumbled through the door upon arriving home (and yes, I used the injured hand thumb-hollow for the salt). I was in worse shape when I got home 45 minutes after the experience than I was during….
Comment by shakkity — November 19, 2003 @ 11:11 am
Does that mean you saw the movie? If so, how faithful is it to the book? And you, you O’Brian aficionado, what book do you supose they will use as a sequel?
Comment by wondering — November 19, 2003 @ 12:41 pm
The movie is extremely faithful to the books.
(Plural. Lots of stuff was taken freely from several different books.) The faithfulness was extreme to the point of jeapardizing the movie’s popularity! By that I mean that the accents and vocabulary were 1805-ish, the noise of the ship (flapping sails, rolling cannons, creaking masts, splashing water) in the background made voices a bit hard to understand. The seamen were mostly ugly and filthy. The food was disgusting. Only the officers and midshipmen were at all clean. The surgeon’s operating procedures were appalling–right out of the (what else) 18th century, and very unpleasant to watch.
But the photography, the acting, and the versimilitude to reality will make this a classic.
Patrick, Beth and I saw the movie together. Beth enjoyed it as much as P. and I, but found it a bit hard to understand. P. and I both thought it was easy to understand and that the movie was one of the best we’ve ever seen, and that it lived up to our expectations. (P. has read all 20 books 4 time each; I’ve read them 3 times each, so we know the O’Brian vocabulary, the characters, and the geography very well.) IMHO, Patrick O’Brian himself would have been very pleased by the movie.
As for the sequel? That depends on whether they get their $135M back. Great movies sometimes don’t make money. The sequel would again, no doubt, be taken from several books. Both P. and I are hoping it will mainly be from “Desolation Island”. The special effects would have to include 100-foot waves where the surgeon spots whales seen in near-vertical walls of water approaching and departing from the ship, Antarctic-like islands, skuas, penguins, incredible battles, etc., etc.
Comment by rakkity — November 19, 2003 @ 4:20 pm
High praise, rakkity – It makes me want to run out and see the movie. Also, interesting to see what a voracious reader that hasn’t fallen far from the tree, Patrick is.
I was trying to find an O’Brian web site when I stumbled on this review of the movie.
Comment by believer — November 19, 2003 @ 7:42 pm