Preparing for surgery became routine. There was always some amount of fear involved, but more often than not, I chose excitement. Getting wheeled into the operating room, especially for my neobladder surgery, was clearly a big deal. It felt kind of special. I was the center of attention. My colon cancer surgery was laparoscopic, and there were only three people in the room. For the neobladder surgery, there were maybe a dozen people. I am unsure of the accuracy of the following statement, but I heard that neobladder surgery had a high mortality rate. One nurse told me it was close to 10 percent. I was relatively young and in decent physical shape, so I thought my odds were much better than that.

Once I was transferred to the operating room surgical bed, I was strapped in. From previous surgeries, I had learned that surgeons often contort your body into various positions to optimize their access during the procedure, and the straps keep you from falling off the table. Then came the fun part: the anesthesiologist entered the room. I learned to make friends with the anesthesiologists. I asked her to put me under as slowly as possible. I watched the milky white Propofol canister roll close to me on a surgical table. Propofol excites me for sure.

“Is anyone here into EDM music?” I asked. One nurse replied that she was. I then asked if she could play music. She said yes. “Alright then, can you play me HADES by HI-LO?” I asked. The EDM nurse, amazingly, knew that relatively obscure track. Meanwhile, the surgical train was clearly leaving the station. The anesthesiologist gave me what seemed like a pre-sedative, probably something they use to calm patients who are freaking out. I was feeling a mix of nervousness and excitement. Sensing that I might fade to black at any moment, I became more nervous that I would not get to hear the HADES track before the lights went out. “Can you play the music?” I nervously asked. “Yes, it’s coming up in a moment,” she said. Just then, the bass hit. It was not the most amazing sound system, but it was loud—louder than I expected for an operating room.

I saw the anesthesiologist preparing the injection and then felt pure euphoria hit me.

Like many patients before me, I tried my best to fight the anesthesia. My fist was pumping in the air. “We’re going to drop this bass. We’re going to drop this bass. Straight from hell.”

Somehow this surgical moment was absolutely perfect! ❤️💉🧪🌀💊