Something that has been on my mind:
I have had six surgeries now: Brain surgery in January 1991, heart/lung/chest surgery in August 2000, pelvis surgery in March 2009, first hand surgery in May 2015, second and third hand surgery in May and December 2017.
The first three were major surgeries that required several months to a year to be anywhere near recovered. These were also much riskier (although very necessary) surgeries. The scars from these surgeries (except the brain surgery) still hurt occasionally (generally a bit less over the years), but I don’t see them.
The scars from the hand surgeries are ones that not only hurt regularly, but I see and feel them all the time. So while these surgeries were minor and have had a shorter recovery time, they were effectively “major” surgeries–in a much more psychological way.
I am aware in a new and different way that I have had many surgeries and will only have more and more with longer and longer recovery times as the years go by.
Dr. Andrew Joseph Pegoda
Dr. Andrew Joseph Pegoda 