My Head's On Fire???

I was watching TV the other day and saw what I assumed to be a trailer for some new horror movie.  The patient’s head burst into flames as the surgeons stood stunned.  After the initial shock the surgeons rapidly went about beating out the fire.  Upon closer inspection, I realized this was no trailer, this was a report of a true event.  At first I wondered at the eerie absence of screams until I realized that the poor patient couldn’t scream. They were trapped in the grip of paralyzing surgical anesthesia. The news report went on to talk about surgical fires in the operating room. What? If you’re like me, you’ve never heard of this phenomenon. I’ve gone through surgical procedures before which I thoroughly (or at least I thought I was being thorough) researched and weighed the attendant risks.  It’s not something any of my surgeons ever mentioned to me as being possible during our pre-surgical workups. But this story shocked me so much, that I wanted to be sure to spread awareness that this can happen.