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melonlollicholypop82 karma

My daughter was a math hater until we adopted a "why before how" approach. Why is the volume of a sphere represented by this formula? Who decided? What makes that TRUE? Once we learned that there were ways to derive these things and that they MEAN something beyond an arbitrary arrangement of symbols in a formula, she really became fascinated. She is now a jr in high school, finishing Calc BC, and interested in pursuing math and engineering degrees.

Our favorite eureka moment came from Welsh Labs' Imaginary Numbers are Real series. Can you recommend some other "behind the math" resources for math enthusiasts?

melonlollicholypop73 karma

Your question confused me at first because OP said that they inflated the stomach cavity full of co2, so it seemed like that would be where gas entered the closed system. After I thought about your question some more, I realized they wouldn't be pumping gas into the stomach, but into the abdominal cavity around the internal organs, so then I shared your question, and needed to satify my curiosity.

I think, after spending too long reading about this, that u/mrdannyocean/ is mistaken about the process. Here's what I found:

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed through your peritoneal layers naturally and then dissolved in your blood stream and eventually excreted via your lungs. Explanation from a surgeon

But then that left the question of the farting. So, I googled that and found that the reason health professionals are so consumed with when you fart post-surgery doesn't relate to the co2 being pumped into your body, but because it is in indicator of whether or not you are at risk of a common side-effect to anesthesia drugs. Farting indicates that you are not experiencing the side effect:

After surgery, or more specifically, after the medications that are given during surgery, it is possible that a complication called a postoperative ileus (POI) may develop. This is a delay in gastric motility—the medical way of saying the movements of your gut that move things from your stomach through the digestive tract. The severity can range from a barely noticeable slowing of how you process food to a serious complication that requires significant medical treatment.

A postoperative ileus means that it takes your intestines longer to wake up from anesthesia than the rest of you. The ability to pass gas is a clear sign that your gastrointestinal tract is waking up and that POI was never there or is improving.

This is why nurses and doctors care about whether or not you pass gas in the hours after surgery. It is a sign that your digestive organs are returning to their normal state. Explanation from a nurse

Hope this satisfies your curiosity. Thanks for the rabbit hole.

melonlollicholypop63 karma

Love the fun fact!

melonlollicholypop39 karma

Zimmer means room in German. This lives us to the name!

melonlollicholypop22 karma

That's what the free tickets are for - so you can come back and watch the movie without the interruption of the crying baby and missing part to go get management.