Word: anesthesia
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...dulls the brain's memory of what has happened but does nothing to stop the spinal nerves from reacting. In the early 1990s, Basbaum's team showed that the spinal cord triggers a cascade of chemical and electrical signals during an operation. Once the brain comes out of its anesthesia-induced fog, it translates all this electrochemical activity into sheer agony...
Basbaum's work proved that morphine not only relieves pain but prevents it from occurring in the first place. Building on his insights, other researchers determined that morphine and pre-emptive anesthesia given to patients undergoing abdominal surgery reduced their pain so effectively that they left the hospital, on average, more than a day ahead of schedule...
Then there's what I call the macho-existential line, enunciated at the end of Legends of the Fall, when a grizzly gets the Brad Pitt character: "It was a good death," the voice-over intones piously. Well, maybe it would be if bears came equipped with anesthesia. But they don't even offer you a blindfold before they start chowing down on the soft parts--generally hips and tummy first, leaving you a few minutes to realize that there are indeed creatures capable of appreciating cellulite...
Because the fetus appeared to be in a buttocks-first, or breech position, Patty was scheduled for a Caesarean section. She was woozy with anesthesia, and Mike was not in the room, when doctors attempted the delivery. They pulled out the buttocks, then the legs and finally, to their astonishment, two heads. "We all stood in silence for about 30 seconds," recalls Dr. Joy Westerdahl, the family's physician, who assisted at the birth. "It was extremely silent...
According to Planned Parenthood, women generally prefer the abortion pill to surgery because it allows for greater privacy, does not require anesthesia, and can be used in the earliest weeks following fertilization...