Need help interpreting a proofreading symbol

D'Art, I checked a variety of sources--old and new. Nothing. Sorry. I'm restraining myself from speculating, as you requested.

Thanks for trying, Roberta. I also tried everything I could, including extensive Googling, to no avail. Makes me wonder why anyone would use such an obscure symbol. My guess is that it stands for either before (pre) or after (post).

But those are just guesses!

D'art - just asked my daughter, who is a translator, and, as such, deals with medical, chemical - all kinds of stuff in proofreading marks. She doesn't know this one, but suggests it could be a variation of the paragraph mark (I know that's got the wavy line). She also says that they use a delete and close-up mark that is a small p with a line both over and under it, and sometimes one or the other lines is left out. (Not by US, of course, we do good editing.)

I got the answer, finally, from an RN friend. It means "after". Not sure why the surgeon didn't know...

D'Art, Thanks for letting us know. I've worked for a pharmaceutical company and never saw this symbol. But if I see it now, I'll know what it means.