When you go to the doctor seeking help, you are at the mercy of the medical professionals sworn to protect you. We trust them with, quite literally, our lives. If the only cure to what ails you is surgery, your doctor is expected to guide you through a painless, effective surgery that does more good than harm. When under general anesthesia, we are at our most vulnerable - unable to move or react in any way. How does anesthesia interact with our brain chemistry to get us in such a state? What happens if it doesn't work? What did they do before the invention of anesthesia?

This week, we talk about a brief history of anesthesia, novelist Frances Burney who survived unspeakable surgical horror in 1810, how anesthesia effects the brain, and Donna Penner, who survived unspeakable surgical horror in 2008, and we finish this week with a short scary story about a snake man.

Email us your scary story at [email protected], or DM us on instagram! Don't forget to drink water!

Sources for this week:

Olde Tyme Mastectomy

A short history of anaesthesia: from unspeakable agony to unlocking consciousness

Decoding the Void