Dr. Zepeda explained what he was going to do: “The blood supply to some of your small intestine has been choked off, and it’s dying,” he said. “I have to go in and resect the bad part and then sew the good parts back together.”

“Oh,” I said. “You’re going to do an end-to-end anastomosis.”

He was stunned. “Yes,” he said. “How did you know that?”

“I did many of them on M*A*S*H.”

from Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I’ve Learned