"Let me show you where you will stay!" Dr. Robertson said cheerfully. Her heels made a clacking sound on the linoleum as she walked in front of him. He noticed her slim figure under her immaculate white coat. When the doctor opened the door to lead him into the room, his first reflex was to run away.
Steve didn't know what he had expected. The clinic had looked like a luxury hotel from the outside. He had imagined a tastefully decorated room with dark wooden furniture, a comfy bed with many throw pillows and a big flat-screen TV. The room he was entering now was not a luxury suite, but a fully equipped intensive care unit! He could see a hospital bed in the middle of the room. Next to it was what looked like a ventilator. Long corrugated hoses were attached to the machine; they were hanging neatly on a stand, ready to be picked up by the nurse. To the left were several machines with screens and a stand with syringe pumps. "These rooms were only added last year to keep up with the growing demand for this type of treatment," the doctor said proudly. "We have only the latest equipment. During your stay you will be constantly monitored and we will continously adjust your medication. That way we'll ensure that your treatment is successful!" He noticed that the window went out to the beautiful park of the clinic but something told him he wouldn't be able to enjoy that view tomorrow....
On the way back to the doctor's office they passed other treatment rooms. As one door opened and a nurse stepped out, he caught a glimpse of the patient in the room. The patient was lying on the bed, his head streched back on a pillow. There were tubes coming out of his mouth and he had been hooked up to the ventilator. Intravenous lines lead from the syringe pumps to the patient's arms. A nurse was busy injecting a fluid from a big syringe. The doctor caught his look. "This patient has almost finished his treatment," she said. "He will spend the night here and should be able to be transferred to the ward tomorrow!" Steve swallowed hard. Tomorrow it would be his turn...
After strict instructions not to smoke or eat anything, Steve had been lead to the room where he was to spend the night before the treatment. It was not a luxury suite either, but comfortable enough. He checked his phone. Sabrina had sent a message. "Love you, darling. Be brave. Will come and see you tomorrow!" Steve looked at the message. He was so lucky to have found this woman. He and Sabrina wanted to marry and have kids. Steve he wanted to be a good husband and father. But as drug addict... - no, from tomorrow on he would be a recovered drug addict, he told himself. "Ultra-rapid detox under anaesthesia" Dr. Robertson had called it. Steve did not want to be put under but he told himself that he would conquer his fear and go through this treatment so that Sabrina could be proud of him. He knew that it would not be easy, despite the positive results that Dr. Roberts had promised - he'd read all possible complications mentioned in the small print on the consent from. But Sabrina had been so supportive all the time that he could not step back now. "You can do this!" she'd told him when she'd dropped him off at the clinic. Steve thought of the patient in the room, hooked up to the ventilator. He did not sleep well that night...
"Today is the start of a new life for you," Dr. Roberts said as she put the intravenous line into his arm. Steve watched as the nurses hooked him up to the monitors. "Yes, I - I think so," he said. He knew that the doctor wanted to make friendly conversation to ease his fear, but the desperate wish run away and cancel the treatment was becoming bigger with each minute that he spent in this room. He tried to catch a view of the park with its green lawns outside to distract himself but was quickly drawn back by the doctor who was busy preparing the anaesthesia machine. Steve saw her connect an anaesthetic mask to the long corrugated hoses. "Well, Steve, it's time" she said. "I told you already that once you're asleep we will put you on the ventilator. We will also insert a gastric tube through we will give you the medication that will be the key to your new life. The whole procedure should take about six hours, depending on how you respond to the treatment. Now lie back comfortably!" It took Steve all his willpower not to turn his head away from the mask that he now saw in the doctor's hands. "Lydia will now inject the anaesthetic," the doctor told him," ... and I will help you to breathe!" Dr. Roberts gently put the the mask onto his face. Now everything went too fast - Steve noticed a light burning sensation as the medication entered his vein, then he was quickly drawn under by a powerful force. He soon could not keep his eyes open any longer. "Shh, my dear," he heard Dr. Robert's voice. "Everything's fine! Now take a deep breath from the mask for me!" She tightly sealed it onto his face and then started to ventilate him with the breathing bag....
Of what happened next Steve would later only remember isolated sounds and sensations like parts of a big jigsaw puzzle. No matter how long he searched, he would only get together some bits and pieces, the rest was forever lost - washed away by the anaesthetic that had been injected into his bloodstream.
He remembered briefly waking up after the breathing tube had been put in. He had coughed and gagged but he had been held down by the nurses while the doctor had fixed the tube with tape. The nurses had also kept him down while Dr. Roberts had inserted a second, thinner tube into his mouth and pushed it down his throat. He had gagged and struggled - but in vain! "Shhh, Steve'", he'd heard the doctor's voice. "Don't fight it! The tubes will have to stay in! We want you to get better, so we'll have to start the treatment now! While the nurse had ventilated him with the bag, the doctor had picked up a big syringe, connected it to the gastric tube and injected the first dose of medication. Then she had connected his breathing tube to the ventilator. He'd felt his chest rise with the first artificial breath. In... out.... in... out ... - the machine breathed for him. He was drawn under into an endless cycle of injections and artificial ventilation - his new life was about to start..
"Hello, my dear. I'm here! I'm so proud of you that you did it!" Sabrina's voice speaking to him - another memory that the anaesthetic injections had not been able to wipe out. "Do you think he can hear me," she'd asked. "We cannot be sure - we're giving him quite a high dose", Dr. Roberts had answered, "but it might be that he can still hear you!" "When can you let him he wake up?" he'd heard Sabrina say. "That depends on how well he responds to the medication. He showed quite a strong reaction after we let him first wake up - unfortunately that made re-intubation necessary. He'll stay here for at least another day, maybe longer. Don't worry! You can't do anything for him now. We'll call you when he'll be ready to leave." Then there had been steps and the click of the door being shut - Sabrina had left. Next he'd felt the doctor's gloved hand on his head. "No, Steve, we won't let you go very soon! Those tubes will stay in for a little longer. And why should we take them out? This is your new life! You're going to stay with us! Here you won't have to worry about anything, my dear - not even about your breathing!" Then she had picked up the breathing bag and had started to ventilate him again. A slight pain had told him that more anaesthetic was being injected into his IV. He felt it travel up his arm. It got hold of him, carried him away, took him to a wide path in the park between the green lawns. He followed the path that lead him into his new life...