Up Front by Emma Hart

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Up Front: Smut-Clog Part 2: This Time It’s Surgical

124 Responses

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  • Judi Lapsley Miller,

    {{{{{{{{}}}}}}}}

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 106 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    My partner and I have been constantly reassuring each other that everything will be fine. I can’t help thinking that things would have been a lot finer if I hadn’t got a bloody brain tumour.

    I'll join you and you partner in the reassurance camp.Best of luck Emma. I am sure you will have lots of new material from your experience. If it's any consolation, my surgeon was very happy to have saved most of my hair and my scar partially exposed above the right ear is a talking point to say the least. It's a journey girl, if nothing else :) xxx

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    All the best for this, Emma. It's a hell of a journey to be taking.

    I hope you get to keep Adric in a specimen jar. On top of your mantelpiece. As a talking point.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    All the best Emma. We'll be thinking of you -- and hanging on that first post-surgical tweet ...

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Tessa Houghton,

    Best wishes, Emma. (Longtime lurker, first time commenter, today) I hope the surgery goes the best it can possibly go.
    You could get a tattoo under your hair! I have always wanted to do that, but have never had a shaved head to do so. I like the idea of having a secret tattoo. Could you possibly share the name of the tattoo parlour, as I am in Christchurch, but don't know where the good ones are, and have been considering getting one for a while?

    Wellington • Since Aug 2009 • 18 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    We'll be thinking of you -- and hanging on that first post-surgical tweet ...

    Pish! We want photos. All the very best, Emma.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    I hope the deAdricisation process goes as well as possible, and that the recovery is a swift, comfortable one.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Stowell,

    Best of luck. And courage. It's hard.
    And- having also spent a little time in Chch Public, for something relatively trivial: thanks, "socialised medicine" you were great. And gratitude due for informed consent, even when we might not want to know.

    Whakaraupo • Since Nov 2006 • 2120 posts Report Reply

  • Grace Dalley,

    making a six-inch incision from above my right ear upward to about the middle of my scalp, and then pulling my scalp down to expose the skull, so that no matter where they started sawing into the bone, the scar would still be above my hairline. (Squeamish readers should look away shortly before the start of this paragraph.) There will be drilling. There will be shrinking my brain. There will be chipping and sucking and at least six hours of surgery.

    Yikes!!! Can't they just use a sonic screwdriver?!

    Best of luck, Emma. We will all be thinking of you.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2008 • 138 posts Report Reply

  • Don Christie,

    Ah right. This is for real then. I sort of hoped maybe it was just an allegory for something.

    Best of.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    You know Emma, and I know, that you hate the gushy thing. But I'm going to, anyway. Darling, darling girl - all the bestest of the best for this chapter in the amazing adventure that is your life. It's a shit of a thing, an absolute, if I may be bold as to use the word in a context that may be inappropriate but for which I can find no other more gender friendly word, cunt of a thing. I hope Adric comes quietly, and realises that his host is not one to take too much shit. And be assured that there is much love for you, from quarters you may not have expected. Love, love, and more healing love to you, sweetheart.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    I was cowardly waiting for Jackie to post so I could write: "what she said". Will be hanging out for updates.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    With Jackie & Giovanni & every other wellwisher - kia te hauora mai-

    re tattoos: I secretly want one that can only be seen under certain lights
    (harvest moons, poroporotitiwai, glow-worms, candles - I've invented a race of people who specialise in these, but - somehow the tech hasnt quite caught up with the reality outside my head...)

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart,

    Thank you, everyone. Sofie, you've been an absolute inspiration - or something that doesn't sound so wet.

    Islander, 'they' have black light tattoos that only show under UV - handy for people who only want them to show when they're out clubbing. The ink is more reactive than normal tattoo ink though, seems to give more people more problems.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • JackElder,

    The best of luck for it. Remember, half the fun is being able to describe the procedure in exacting detail afterwards to get rid of annoying relatives at family gatherings.

    You could get a tattoo under your hair!

    This would be excellent. Take the chance to do this. And you know what you need to get?

    Get a treasure map tattooed on your scalp. Then let the hair grow back afterwards.

    You know you want to.

    (Hat tip: City of Lost Children)

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report Reply

  • Sue,

    wow it's like you are now your own sci fi film
    which is very very awesome

    and because you are a total hero you will not only come out of this with better sight than before, but hopefully while being operated on you will divine the recipe for the perfect never before consumed cocktail.

    but also best of luck and loads of good thoughts and get well fast wishes.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 527 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Emma - yep, know about UV tatts* - and their problems (which is why I started thinking about other kinds of light reactive inks - paticularly with a seapeople who know about cephalopods et al...

    *been around in Japan & very probably USA for at least2 decades-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Get a treasure map tattooed on your scalp. Then let the hair grow back afterwards.

    Well that sounds like a whole lot of fun, after getting her head split with skull full metal jacket to follow, not!.
    Emma may be the bravest person in Russell's lounge at te moment but this ain't a Sunday stroll, this is a "I hate Mondaze" situation. The best thing about this is it's doable and the surgeon has done it before. Tools and people handling the brain is big time. Rant over, as you were :)

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Emma, not wet. Just do it. See you on the flip side. :)

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    How strangely relevant - just last night I was sitting by the lake at lovely restaurant, it was a warm night and some time around 11 the conversation turned to point where people talked about their various brain surgeries, and various bizarre presurgery symptoms - I felt quite left out .....

    So good luck, collect some great war stories, and make sure you bring Adric home in a jar - I'm now reliably informed that you can't do that in the US any more just in case he and his ilk fall into the hands of evil malpractice lawyers

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Fucking Adric and his tendrils. What a douchebag. (I often express concern by impotently hurling abuse at inanimate objects.)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Tim Darlington,

    I hope they fix your brain.

    This informed consent stuff goes way too far, I reckon. They should just tell you what their intention is, give you the relative risks and consequences, and then if you'd really love to hear all about the butchery that's involved you could, you know, ask them to tell you. I recall that having a surgeon tell me in lurid detail just exactly how he was going to remove one of my testicles and have someone slice it into little pieces wasn't so much "informing my consent" as "psychological torture."

    Since Nov 2006 • 56 posts Report Reply

  • Lucy Stewart,

    I recall that having a surgeon tell me in lurid detail just exactly how he was going to remove one of my testicles and have someone slice it into little pieces wasn't so much "informing my consent" as "psychological torture."

    Apparently it's worse in the US because of the risk of being sued - you're told about absolutely everything that could possibly go wrong. Even if it makes you want to hide under the bed and never come out. I'm pretty sure our system avoids that, because my partner had an operation last month in which, let us say, neither of us really needed to know all the possible worst-case scenarios. Really.

    Best of luck, Emma, and may I second the remarks about Chch public - all my experiences of it have made me feel very warm and fuzzy about our healthcare system.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2105 posts Report Reply

  • Rob Hosking,

    Yep, what pretty much everyone said. Good luck.

    South Roseneath • Since Nov 2006 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Andrew Stevenson,

    Id.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 206 posts Report Reply

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