So here’s a story I never thought I’d type out.
A 98-year-old grandma in Shanghai, China, looked in the mirror, saw a horn growing from her forehead, and decided, nah, no doctors, scissors will fix it.
Yep, she literally gave herself DIY surgery at almost 100.
In Chinese folklore, these hornlike growths are seen as a symbol of long life. Sure enough, Granny Gu had been carrying hers for years. I mean, it grew to about finger length, but during a hospital stay for another issue, she got fed up. Instead of calling the nurse, she whipped out a pair of scissors and snipped.
Instant regret. She probably didn’t know what she was doing. Look at her, she’s so innocent.
Anyway, with a freaking hole on her head, her forehead swelled like a balloon, blood started pouring, and suddenly, this wasn’t folklore anymore.
This has now escalated into an ER case. Luckily, the doctors rushed her onto the critical list, but whatever karma she’s been farming all these years, a highly talented Dr. Nie Hongpeng was on duty.
With quick stitches and compression, they saved her. Grandma’s now stable, and her family is showering the medical team with thanks.
Woah. I get that old people want to fix things themselves instead of troubling others or asking money from their kids, but please don’t cut a freaking finger-sized horn.
So why did she do this?
I like to think it’s her innocence, but I don’t think this was just about Grandma being naive. She’s 98, which means she’s lived through wars, famines, and revolutions. You think scissors scare her?
No way.
It was impatience and independence.
See, old age does this thing where people feel they’ve earned the right to handle problems their way. Grandma Gu wasn’t some clueless child. She was annoyed.
That horn was bugging her for years, and in her mind, it was just dead skin sticking out. Grandma definitely might have talked about this with her family, and I guess they didn’t respond well, so now she doesn’t wanna talk with anyone there.
Why bother doctors when a pair of scissors is right there?
It’s decades of I’ll fix it myself mentality kicking in.
THE WHY: IMPATIENCE
Look, Grandma, you’ve lived for 98 years on this planet, try to do things that make you hit that 100 mark. I’ll rate his one 3 stars on our weird scale.
“Look, most of us want a normal life without any drama, but life in this world is always strange, and uncertain.
I don’t need your email. I don’t want to bug you with a billion notifications. All I ask is this, if you felt something here, if this made you think, laugh, or even shake your head in disbelief, turn on notifications or just bookmark ‘Averagebeing.com’ and come back tomorrow.
That’s it. No strings. Just you, me, and this stupid world.”
