A friend sent me this story in the NY Times, reporting what I’ve known for some time. First hand.
Back in college I was having surgery under local anesthesia. I kept jumping on the table until the anesthesiologist squirted a wider area around the knife.
Then, a few years ago I was being prepped for arthroscopy on my right shoulder. After a series of nurses came through asking me each time that it was the right shoulder they were supposed to be cutting into, the anesthesiologist came in. She asked the usual questions about things that might choke me while I was under. Then she—a redhead herself—said that since I was part of the league, she would make sure to supersize my dose of anesthesia.
At that time she told me that (as reported in the Times) it had long been known anecdotally amongst the gas-passers that redheads needed more anesthesia than the rest of the populace. But she said that studies were starting to emerge supporting this.
Then, a few months after that, I was being prepped for laparoscopic surgery. When my anesthesiologist—another redhead (someone should do a study about the incidence of redheads specializing in anesthesiology)—came in to ask about the stuff that could choke me while under, I pointed to my hair and said, “It’s red…”
He knew exactly what I meant and was already planning to up the juice. (He also kindly threw in a prophylactic to prevent post-surgery nausea, which for me is the worst part of the whole ordeal.)
So it’s good to know the word is getting out and that my fellow flame-hairs need no longer suffer.
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