Hip to Be Humorous: How laughing got me through surgery and why it is what you need today, too.

Ever find yourself trapped in a moment of stress so big it feels unmovable? What if the key to breaking free was something simple that you already have? Discover how laughing transformed a pre-surgery panic into a lesson in resilience.

This past Tuesday, I swapped out my worn-out hip for a new one. Prior to that day, I had lived my life a surgical virgin. Tonsils, appendix, gallbladder, even my wisdom teeth—all of them—have been with me since birth. That set of facts, along with my life-long familiarity with anxiety, would have made any bookie place a bet on a fair amount of pre-op panic for me. But that’s not what came to pass. Instead, here’s what happened. Laughter! Gut splitting, knee-slapping, tears-in-my-ears…laughter! The story is a little more nuanced, but not much. Give a listen.

Thanks to a televised talk I gave just before the procedure, my mind was occupied. I didn’t think to think about my surgery until the day I walked into the hospital. My first surge of anxious energy began with “The Tenth Station: Tom is Stripped of His Clothing.” Once ensconced in my air-conditioned robe, the anxiety-producing medical stuff started. Ports were opened in my veins. Pepperoni-sized pasties were taped on my chest, belly, and head. My nether’s were shaved, then Sharpie-d by a surgeon. He disconcertingly asked, “Is one leg longer than the other?” My internal answer, “Shouldn’t you have been asking that…oh I don’t know…maybe…THREE MONTHS AGO?!” My totally un-assertive, bewildered out loud answer? “No one’s ever brought that up before…”  

Then came the curtained-off waiting time before the anesthesia team showed up to begin my surgery. That’s when the little anxious movies started: the long needle that would pierce my spine, the scalpel that would soon rend my thigh, the whir of the bone saw, and maybe its smell. The soundtrack to those little movies? Jaws (Spielberg, 1975). The inner feeling? Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960): cold, breath-taking, knife-like chest jabs, one layered on top of another.

Fortunately, Lisa was allowed to join me in the waiting place. Maybe sensing my growing angst, she flashed a conspiratorial smile, “What can we do to make them think we’re having some fun in here?” The words were barely out of her mouth when a fully formed plan hatched. “I’ll count down from three. Then, we’ll both laugh as loud and hard as we can.” “Ready, three…two…one….” As agreed, we both erupted. What came next, surprised the both of us.  

Have you ever been with an extremely dignified adult who would never even think to laugh at a fart joke, only to find herself laughing at a fart joke (picture Queen Elizabeth in her hay day)? As that dawning awareness grows in her—that she’s actually laughing at a fart joke—she starts laughing harder! Laughter begets new waves of laughter as others join in. Efforts at stopping the laughter lead to more laughter. That’s exactly what happened to Lisa and me. The rocket fuel of my anxiety was suddenly channeled into uncontrollable hee-haw’s! Bye and bye, several medical personnel would poke their heads around the curtain with a When Harry Met Sally, “I’ll have what she’s having” look on their faces…which produced…more cascades of laughter! That prolonged laugh, complete with joy tears, wrung every last bit of pre-op anxiety out of me. I haven’t seen the bill yet, but I’m pretty sure Lisa and I will realize some significant cost-savings on the amount of anesthesia needed to relax me (Lookie there!  I think I just made a joke!).    

Laughter as Medicine

A brief review of the literature on the physiologic benefits of laughter lines up with the Lisa & Tom’s pre-surgery experience. From a physiological standpoint, belly laughter appears to mimic the sympathetic nervous system’s stress response, causing the heart rate to go up, along with oxygen intake levels. The difference between the stress response and laughter? Following a fit of laughter, cortisol levels immediately and significantly drop, leaving muscles relaxed, and harmful stores of stress depleted. In addition, laughter activates dopamine and beta-endorphin levels. As a consequence, studies have verified the common sense that a habit of laughter decreases depression and anxiety, and increases happiness in a solid and long-term way. 

Growing the Humor Habit

I’m just speculating here, but I wonder if a new resilience habit I developed about a year ago, is responsible for my spontaneous turn to laughter when I needed it most. For years, I used to listen to news and news-related programs as background to chores. In the last several years, news and news opinions have gotten too dark. Now I take my news like I take medicine: just enough to stay informed. Now I listen to positive comedy podcasts like Grandpa used to listen to baseball during his chores. I suspect that my reflex reaction to Lisa’s question about “giving them something to talk about” (i.e. laughter) came from my new habit.  

Over this last year, I’ve learned that not all comedy is created equal. Some comedians build their comedy by tearing others down. I’ve learned that such humor depletes my psyche and soul. Positive comedians refuse to do that. I’ve found that I know that I’m listening to positive comedy when it leaves me feeling refreshed and energized. I’ve also found that not all positive comedy is clean, and not all clean comedy is positive.    

The Sweet Discipline of Humor

In my spiritual tradition, the sands in the Lenten hourglass will soon be running out. Regardless of your religious affiliations, as Lent turns to Easter, and springtime gives way to summer, what could you do to make more space for laughter in your life?  

Dialogue: Use these to dialogue with those in your life or share with Dr. Tom and the Sunday Morning Cafe community in the comments below.

• When was the last time you had a belly laugh? Tell that story to somebody, or step back into that scene with your senses to re-experience the body feel of it, even if just a little. See if you can squeeze one more laugh out of that experience.

• Laughter came in handy last Tuesday morning before my surgery. When has humor come in handy for you? If you can find a venue to share stories on this topic, it may open you to further experiences of this kind of thing.

• Who in your life makes you laugh? Could you be getting together with them more frequently? Do they have a characteristic way of tickling your funny bone?

• My brother, Bob, always knew how to arouse forbidden laughter in very serious places, like dicey family gatherings, and church. Do you have a story of laughing in a place where you weren’t supposed to?