“Come back here a little bit. Feel good? OK, go.”
A few minutes later, Williams has taken over the stitching but
keeps teaching. “Without this mesh, the recurrence rate for hernias
is 20 percent,” he says. “With it, it’s 1 to 2 percent.”
What kind of thread do you use? I ask. To which the nurse standing next to me advises, “Say suture, not thread. You’ll sound more
like a doctor.”
“Cat gut,” answers Williams. A few seconds later, he adds: “Tell
them to put the next patient to sleep.”
11:51 a.m.
I’ve written “linguine hernia” in my rushed notes. Later, Williams
sets me straight. It’s an inguinal hernia, aka a hernia in the groin.
Poor guy on the table. He’s in his 50s and otherwise in fine