The Morning After

(not the morning after THAT)

Photo by Anna Tsareva on Unsplash

I had a medical procedure yesterday, and I thought maybe while I was at it, I’d have some fun. So when a receptionist asked me who was going to be giving me a ride home, I answered by saying, “The man of my dreams.” She smiled, and she had a beautiful, radiant smile. And so I was glad I had said it. (It happened to be true, by the way.)

I also had fun looking at the fingernails of the woman who checked me in. They were done in that new pointy style that makes me think that women are now aspiring to look as much like cats as possible. But I have to say they were very interesting fingernails, and I could’ve stared at them longer than I did.

When it came time to talk to the anesthesiologist, I told him I was highly sensitive to medication, and he should be careful not to give me too much. Okey-doke, he said, more or less. When it was time to talk to the doctor who was going to do the procedure, I asked him if he had had his Wheaties that morning. He said he didn’t eat breakfast, but that he had had a lot of coffee. Uh-oh, I said, are your hands shaking?

When the nurse who was going to be in attendance introduced herself to me, I looked into her eyes, and saw nothing but kindness. And I remembered how much I really, really like nurses. But that was the last I saw of her, because after they gave me the anesthesia, I was out immediately, and in fact, they had a great deal of trouble waking me up. But everything was done. Everything was fine and the only after-effects were that I was kind of sleepy for the rest of the day, and occasionally a wee bit confused. For example, the word “father” came up in something I was watching on television, and I thought, I’ve got to call my dad, it’s been a long time. He died in 2012. Isn’t it funny, what thoughts can cross your mind when you’re not quite there?