Endoscopic Knot Pushing: New Application

We use a knot pusher for tightening extracorporeal knots during laparoscopic surgery. It is cute little instrument with a bifid tip for pushing the knot around the structure to be tied. I had a pleasant experience of using the technique for other than endoscopy. I was taking a brisk walk in the terrace as a part of my daily exercise routine, when along came our neighbours. They wanted to move a TV cable away from the existing location and fix it in a new location away from their balcony, so that rats would not climb into their balcony along the cable. After moving it, they wanted it fixed to a drainage pipe well below the terrace, so that it would remain there. It would be dangerous going to the pipe, because one could fall down five storeys to one's death. It was then that I had a bright idea. I offered to place the knots. They were too happy to let me do it. I threw turns of their plastic rope around the pipe and the cable and tied a knot. Then I used a piece of bamboo lying around there to slide the knot up to the pipe and tighten it. I threw four more knots, partly because I knew surgically that knot quality of plastic would be poor, and partly because I enjoyed the process of pushing the knots with that bamboo. The neighbours knew of my position at the hospital, but had not experienced my surgical prowess so far. They were truly impressed. I think I did better than Richard Gordon who wrote the Doctor series. In his novels he used to repair holes in his socks with purse-string sutures when he was in training as a doctor.