Forty-five minutes. That’s how long it took before she woke up. It felt like it was longer, but she couldn’t remember a single thing. The last thing that went through her mind was sitting in a room channel surfing before stopping at a channel airing her favourite nature documentary to the doctor telling her to relax while lying on the operating table and that it will all be over soon. She wanted to respond but the anesthetic quickly knocked her out, making her surrender to the darkness.
When she opened her eyes, she found herself lying in a hospital bed with warm blankets covering her. A nurse stood beside the bed, checking her vitals and her chart. “Hey, welcome back,” the nurse said with a small smile. “The surgery was a success and now we just need to run a few more tests before we call someone to come take you home.” The young woman could do nothing but nod as the nurse proceeded to take her blood pressure and whatever else that she needed to get done.
Moments later, another nurse came by and told her that she could get up to go change. Groggily, she got up from the bed and made her way to the change room with the white plastic bag containing her clothes and belongings. She managed to change back into her own clothes without rupturing the place where she had the surgery. Still feeling dizzy and nauseous from the anesthesia, she came out of the dressing room and followed the nurse to a waiting area to allow the effects of the anesthetic to wear off.
“Would you like some juice and cookies while you wait?” The nurse asked, one hand holding out a small basket filled with various cookies and a juice box in her other hand. The young woman gratefully took the food items from the nurse and began to nibble away at the oatmeal raisin cookie and sipping at the apple juice. Her stomach had been growling all morning since she skipped breakfast thinking that it might affect the results of the operation. “Now just sit tight while we call your Mom to come and get you,” the nurse said as she walked away to make the phone call.
The young woman waited for another hour and a half before the nurse returned, telling her that her mother is here to take her home. Slowly standing, she followed the nurse out of the hospital and into the reception area where her mother and brother were waiting for her. As she sat in the front seat of her mother’s car, the latter asked her how the surgery went. “I don’t know,” she said. “I can’t remember anything.”
Tiffany’s Writing Desk 