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My Gen X Playlist: I Wanna Be Sedated – The Ramones

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Daily writing prompt
Have you ever had surgery? What for?
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There is something amazing about anesthesia. First of all, you won’t get past seven on the count down from ten. As I counted down, I remember very little after I started. It’s not like you drift off, because you don’t. You are abruptly out like a light.

Secondly, you wake up and it feels as if a chunk of time was lost or never existed. It’s different from sleep. With sleep, you’ll wake up occasionally in the middle of the night, or at least stir a little bit before falling back asleep. When they put you out for a surgery, you are out. One moment you are at mid-count, the next moment you’ve time traveled only to wake up recovering in your hospital room. It really is a weird phenomenon.

I was talking to a friend who described his cataract surgery (yes, we are old when health is common topic of conversation). He mentioned he wasn’t entirely out when they went poking and prodding around his eyeball. What the hell? It turns out, you’re under a mild sedation instead of being out with anesthesia. That sounds a bit scary and strange. I’m not sure how I’d react watching a sharp object slowly approaching my eyeball. Give me the full dose of that juice and knock me the hell out. I beg you.

In 1978, the Ramones released I Wanna Be Sedated. It made me think. What’s the difference between sedation and anesthesia?

The difference between sedation and general anesthesia is degrees of consciousness. 

Sedation is a sleep-like state where patients are generally unaware of surroundings but may still respond to external stimuli. General anesthesia is a form of a temporary medically induced state of unconsciousness in which pain control and amnesia are induced, and patient’s airways may be taken over and monitored by a doctor, rather than patients breathing on their own.

– emedicinehealth

I say anytime I’m under the knife, give me the full dose of anesthesia. Don’t hold back. Where do I sign? Yeah, I can be a little bit chicken when it comes to this. I’m not afraid to admit it.

Back to the song. There are a number of groups that covered this one. I listened to Green Day’s and the Offspring’s versions. I thought for sure one of these bands would have a better rendition than the original. Nope. The winner goes to the Ramones. Nice job OG.

Oh, and to answer the prompt – yes, I’ve had surgery. Just a little voluntary brain surgery, that’s all. So far so good (knock on wood). If you’re curious, I wrote about it here – Thank U – Alanis Morrisette

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For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go
I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do and nowhere to go
I wanna be sedated
Just get me to the airport
Put me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can't control my fingers
I can't control my brain
Oh no no no no no

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go
I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do and nowhere to go
I wanna be sedated
Just put me in a wheelchair
Get me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can't control my fingers
I can't control my brain
Oh no no no no no

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go
I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do and nowhere to go
I wanna be sedated
Just put me in a wheelchair
Get me to the show
Hurry hurry hurry before I go loco
I can't control my fingers
I can't control my toes
Oh no no no no no

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go
I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do, nowhere to go
I wanna be sedated
Just put me in a wheelchair
Get me to the show
Hurry hurry hurry before I go loco
I can't control my fingers
I can't control my toes
Oh no no no no no

I wanna be sedated
I wanna be sedated
I wanna be sedated
I wanna be sedated

27 thoughts on “My Gen X Playlist: I Wanna Be Sedated – The Ramones”

  1. If you are prone to panic attacks/high anxiety you can be fully knocked out for cataract surgery, they just prop your eyelids open…which to me is even scarier being unconcious with your eyes open

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  2. Wow that song is annoying! I think when you are sedated all your filters and editors go to sleep and the real you comes out – in my case I giggle, make jokes and – get this – sing! Hoo-boy have the people attending me got their laughs – sometimes I remember what I have done and sometimes I don’t but it’s always the same – laughs and singing…

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    1. Hey, man. If you are going to have a reaction to anesthesia, that’s a good one to have. Well, assuming you are able to sing in tune…. Wait, scratch that… singing out of tune is a way better reaction!

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      1. No, that’s my reaction sedation, with anesthesia when I come out of it I am usually hungry…and I couldn’t carry a tune if I had a herd of elephants to help…doesn’t stop me of course…

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  3. I remember when I got my wisdom teeth pulled, I may have made it as far as seven on the countdown. And then I never saying to the oral surgeon “I think I’m gonna sleep for a while now”. And I don’t remember anything after that!

    As far as the cataract surgery is concerned, that is absolutely true. We had to watch a video of a cataract operation when I was in a high school biology class. I think I’d rather go blind.

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  5. Wow! Scary stuff, the brain surgery….I can’t imagine. I bet you don’t take any little thing for granted anymore. Even though it was benign, still scary stuff 😬

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  6. granted, my eye surgery was LASIK not cataract surgery, but i have no memory at all of anything coming toward my eye. no sensation of discomfort. i think i was awake. my husband was watching the surgery on a big screen and he thought it was cool to watch.

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  7. You described anesthesia extremely accurately. I had my appendix out when I was 13 and I remember waking up immediately after they put the mask on me, and it didn’t even register that the surgery had happened. Really crazy. Similarly, I had three wisdom teeth out about a year and a half ago and in a blink I went from going under to being helped into the car.

    I wasn’t that anxious about either of my operations cause they were both pretty low-risk. I imagine brain surgery must have been a pretty scary ordeal.

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  8. i have no recollection of what transpired after they had me count down, i think i made it to 8 and it was lights out. there are different levels of anesthesia (local, general, regional) and sedation (minimal, moderate, deep, and general). i’m with you, knock me out!

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  9. Anesthesia is completely fascinating, but I’m still thankful not to have been under too many times.

    “So far so good” is a great place to be!

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  10. Brain surgery? Yikes! I’ll have to read your post about that. I love this song. I had a tonsillectomy at age 9. It was a horrible experience – really scary. No one explained anthing, and it was painful afterwards. I have wanted to be sedated many times this past week, lol.

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  11. I’m with you on the full knock-out. Mind you, when just sedated for a couple of procedures over the years, I have no recollection of them though I was supposedly awake. (I hope I didn’t embarrass myself!)

    Great song!

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