Stay awake?? . . . why?

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I've been mulling over a question ever since seeing "All in the Family" back in February--seems like a long time ago now! I didn't understand the medical reason that Dr. Benton, Deb, and Lydia all kept urging Carter to stay awake before his surgery. If he would be need to be "asleep" in a matter of minutes anyway, why was it so important for him to remain awake before the surgery?? I'd appreciate if someone could clue me in on this question . . . I hope it's not something too blatantly obvious for the rest of the viewing audience!!

-- Mary Guimond (Lovelife.truth@iVillage.com), April 10, 2000

Answers

I am no doctor, but my best guess is that it has something to do with his level of conscieness and the Glasgow Coma Scale. Well, actually, what I mean is that if he goes to "sleep", he could be slipping into a coma or something like that, which is slightly different from anasthesia they use in surgery

-- cat (jcartersgirl@yahoo.com), April 10, 2000.

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