# Would you get the surgery? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 24, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037 "2017-07-24T15:56:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/41 "2017-07-25T02:59:32Z")
Fuck no. A 50% chance that I lose my family and my family loses me? That I don’t get to see my daughters grow up? That they have to spend most of their life without a father? Hell no. I can live without legs. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/42 "2017-07-25T03:10:19Z")
I use my legs an awful lot, and they’re the part of me that’s closest to being fit and strong. But that said, the only way this surgery makes sense, from an expected-value standpoint, is if I value my legs more than the rest of me combined. Which, to me, sounds like an absurd notion. > [@](#): > > Quoth **DrCube** : > > Another point in the “pro” column, that I don’t think was mentioned yet, is the opportunity to further the progress of medicine and potentially help thousands who come after you. No matter the outcome, that has to be a comforting thought. And I did consider this point, and for a lot of hypothetical experimental treatments, that’d actually be my _first_ reason for saying yes, ahead even of the possible benefits to me personally. But as described, this surgery shouldn’t even be past the animal trials yet. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/43 "2017-07-25T03:47:03Z")
Yes. Tell me I have a 90% chance of cashing in and I’m still saying yes. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/44 "2017-07-25T04:09:11Z")
I don’t have **Ambi** ’s disabilities, but I have my own. He’s right. It’s amazing what you adjust to. I’ve got too much to live for to sign up for that kind of risk. There’s a lot more to life than legs (per this hypothetical). ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/45 "2017-07-25T04:12:42Z")
Does my dick still work? Cause if it doesn’t I’ll roll the dice. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/46 "2017-07-25T04:17:43Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Would it change things for those of you who wouldn’t get the surgery if it was more than just the inability to walk? Frankly, I thought of the sex (or inability to have it as a male) and the issues with incontinence and associated issues. I had a paraplegic friend and he had these issues after a really bad ski accident, and, frankly, I think he would have jumped at the chance of surgery with a 50/50 chance of either cure or death…especially since he ended up taking his own life after only about 5 years after the accident. ☹ I lived 30 years with a man with spinal damage, which affected his ability to walk (he could, but not well), created incontinence issues, experienced pressure ulcers, and other complications… but after the age of 20 he refused further surgery. Even while dying of cancer he’d still ask his doctor every couple days if there was something that would let him live longer. It’s clearly an area where different people have different viewpoints, but after dealing with at least some of the related issues every day for three decades I’ve come around to the notion that much of this can be accommodated, coped with, and worked around. I would not want to be incontinent, but I could learn to live with it. I would not want paraplegia and a wheelchair, but I could learn to live with them. Things would have to be really, really effed up for me to prefer death over life. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/47 "2017-07-25T05:14:32Z")
I have young children and the risks are too high. I’m sure that they were prefer a father in a wheelchair to a gravestone. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/48 "2017-07-25T06:07:29Z")
Not a chance in hell. I’d do it if I had locked-in syndrome, though that has the problem of me expressing the wish. If I can only blink and move my eyeball, I’d at least consider it, but lean towards no. Paraplegia? I barely use my legs as it is. If the odds of dying were even 5%, I doubt I’d go for it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/49 "2017-07-25T06:52:41Z")
Para, not tetra? I’d be able to do most of the stuff I do anyway, so count me out. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/50 "2017-07-25T13:23:28Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Oh, no I took no offense or anything. I don’t consider it to have been an insensitive comment, you were just telling the truth, as you see it now. I am just saying, from experience, that it’s an entirely different scenario when it’s your **life** at stake. We have a drive to stay alive and this drive is incredibly difficult to diffuse. You take your life and that’s it. Just nothing. No pain or heartache from living with the injury, sure, but no happiness, love or beauty either. I wouldn’t take my life. But I wouldn’t mind the chance to die peacefully since I don’t think this is it. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/51 "2017-07-25T16:08:59Z")
It would depend on whether I was incontinent or not. I think I could deal with being wheel-chair bound if I could still live independently. If I need someone to wipe my ass, I’ll take my chances with death. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/52 "2017-07-25T16:55:21Z")
Yes. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2017, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/53 "2017-07-25T23:52:33Z")
I think my answer would be no. It seems to me that I could have a rather full life while being a paraplegic. ---
**Author:** ![feppytweed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/feppytweed/32/4280_2.png) [@feppytweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/feppytweed)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/54 "2017-07-26T00:24:11Z")
Definitely. My stepdad was in a wheelchair (and eventually bedridden). Either option in your scenario is preferable to that. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/55 "2017-07-26T01:42:55Z")
I’ll do the surgery. To me, all surgery is 50/50. I’ll either wake up or I won’t. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/56 "2017-07-26T05:56:03Z")
No way. > [@elfkin477](#): > > No, I wouldn’t. I think I could adapt in time, just as several people I’ve known have. If I were instead to go totally blind, **however, I _would_ opt for a cure with even odds of killing me because I don’t think I could adapt to that in a meaningful enough way**. Invisibilia (NPR show/podcast) did a _fantastic_ episode that explores this exact premise, called “How to Become Batman”. > **[How To Become Batman](https://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/378577902/how-to-become-batman)** > > Alix and Lulu examine the surprising effect our expectations can have on the people around us. Plus, the story of a blind man who says expectations have helped him see. Yes, see. It actually relates to the overall thread quite strongly. The theme is about how people’s expectations (of others, of themselves) honestly impacts the outcome, including blindness. It’s seriously one of the most interesting things I’ve ever listened to and really made me think. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/57 "2017-07-26T05:57:03Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > It would depend on whether I was incontinent or not. I think I could deal with being wheel-chair bound if I could still live independently. If I need someone to wipe my ass, I’ll take my chances with death. Being incontinent and needing someone to wipe your ass are two different things. My mother suffers from incontinence and wipes her own ass just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/58 "2017-07-26T21:42:49Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > I’ll do the surgery. To me, all surgery is 50/50. I’ll either wake up or I won’t. You’re leaving out the worst option, ‘‘waking up on the operating table, totally paralyzed but able to feel every incision.’’ Which happens to people way more often than you’d like to know. I hate surgery. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037/59 "2017-07-26T22:31:13Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > You’re leaving out the worst option, ‘‘waking up on the operating table, totally paralyzed but able to feel every incision.’’ Which happens to people way more often than you’d like to know. > > I hate surgery. My father had his cataracts done and the first one went fine. On the second one, the guy giving the sedation missed his vein and it filled his hand, so he was awake for the whole thing. I kind of blame him because he realized there was something wrong but he is too passive to say something and disrupt things! I was there but I didn’t see what was going on or I would have said something. I’m glad it was the second eye and he could be done and not have to take his chances with the next one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-get-the-surgery/792037.md?page=2)