After Surgery in Germany, I Wanted Vicodin, Not Herbal Tea
- 6 years ago
After Surgery in Germany, I Wanted Vicodin, Not Herbal Tea
Let me remind you that I am getting an entire organ removed.”
The anesthesiologist explained that during surgery and recovery I would be given strong painkillers,
but once I got home the pain would not require narcotics.
The German doctors were telling me that being uncomfortable is O. K.
My first night home after surgery, I didn’t sleep well because of the pain from the carbon dioxide pumped into my body for the laparoscopy.
The removal of an organ certainly deserves more.”
“That’s all you will need,” she said, with the body confidence that comes from a lifetime of skiing in crisp, Alpine air.
It’s like an ambiguous place that can be reached only by walking into a magic closet
and emerging on the other side to find a dense forest and a talking lion, a lion who can guide me toward the owl who supplies the forest with pain pills.
I didn’t want him to think I was a drug addict, but I wanted a prescription for something
that would knock me out for the first few nights, and maybe half the day.
You must sit in one place and enjoy this cup, slowly.”
His gentle suggestion to trust my body almost brought me to tears.
If I give you Vicodin, you will no longer feel the pain, yes, but you will no longer know what your body is telling you.
Let me remind you that I am getting an entire organ removed.”
The anesthesiologist explained that during surgery and recovery I would be given strong painkillers,
but once I got home the pain would not require narcotics.
The German doctors were telling me that being uncomfortable is O. K.
My first night home after surgery, I didn’t sleep well because of the pain from the carbon dioxide pumped into my body for the laparoscopy.
The removal of an organ certainly deserves more.”
“That’s all you will need,” she said, with the body confidence that comes from a lifetime of skiing in crisp, Alpine air.
It’s like an ambiguous place that can be reached only by walking into a magic closet
and emerging on the other side to find a dense forest and a talking lion, a lion who can guide me toward the owl who supplies the forest with pain pills.
I didn’t want him to think I was a drug addict, but I wanted a prescription for something
that would knock me out for the first few nights, and maybe half the day.
You must sit in one place and enjoy this cup, slowly.”
His gentle suggestion to trust my body almost brought me to tears.
If I give you Vicodin, you will no longer feel the pain, yes, but you will no longer know what your body is telling you.