He woke with a jump. He was in a dark hospital room with a singular light on above him. He squinted to try to block out some of the light.
There wasn’t much else to see in the room. There was a clear IV bag about 5 feet away from the bed. It had a long, clear tube from the bottom of the bag to the IV in his wrist. The bag was empty so there was nothing flowing into him.
His eyes were teary from the bright lights. He tried to move to wipe his eyes, but quickly realized he couldn’t. There were restraints around both wrists and ankles, as well as a really wide one around his stomach. As he tried to move, the door opened with a jolt.
“Mike,” a nurse said, startled. “You’re not supposed to be awake yet.”
“Well, uh- I am,” he replied matter-of-factly. He got a good look at the nurse as she walked closer. She wore green scrubs, and a blue mask and hairnet matched beautifully with her blue eyes.
“Well, I’ll have to change that,” she said with crossed arms. “I’ll be right back.” She turned and left, and the door shut behind her with a click.
He didn’t understand why being awake was a problem. He also didn’t remember how he got here. And why was everything moved back from the bed? The questions were starting to pile up.
The door opened and she came back in carrying a tray with bottles of medicine, several needles, and a new, full IV bag. She placed it on the counter next to the door and grabbed two purple gloves from a box on the wall. She started to put the left one on with her back turned, and he decided to ask a question.
“Why is everything moved away from the bed?” he asked as the tight latex snapped onto her left wrist.
“You don’t remember?” she asked while turning to face him and taking a couple of steps closer. She started wiggling her right hand into the purple glove as she watched him intently.
“No,” he said while shaking his head. “Am I in trouble?”
“Not necessarily,” she said coyly as she snapped the right wrist of her glove and crossed her hands. “You’re here for some tests -
“What kind of tests?” he asked, slightly alarmed.
“Don’t worry about it,” she replied as she walked over to the IV bag. “The reason everything is moved away from the bed is because you fought us pretty hard on the first test. You hit nurse Becca with the IV pole. We felt it safest for us to restrain you and keep you sedated whenever possible.”
She removed the empty IV bag and walked over to the counter. She put the empty bag down, grabbed the new one, and walked back to the pole to hang it up.
“This is a lot to take in,” he said, clearly confused. “Why didn’t I want the test? Why did I hit a nurse? Is she okay?”
“Irrelevant,” she stated. “Well, yes, she is okay. We will help you get through these tests in a way that’s safe for everyone involved.”
“I don’t think I want this,” he said glumly.
“You don’t really have a choice, man,” she said nonchalantly. “Don’t think about it or worry too much, you’ll be back to sleep in a few minutes anyway.”
She walked back over to her tray and started filling needles from the bottles of medicine. First a medium-sized clear one. Then a medium white one. Then a very large white one. After each was done, she held it up to the light and flicked it, insuring a perfect dose.
She approached with the tray holding all of the full needles. It was intimidating up close, especially since he didn’t know what they were for. She placed it on a stool next to the IV bag.
“Okay, Mike,” she said while picking up the medium clear needle. “This is a little calming cocktail for you.” She slotted it into a port in the IV tubing and pushed it rather quickly.
“What’s your name?” he asked. She was startled by the question.
“Hannah,” she said as she took the now-empty needle out of the port and put it back on the tray. “Nurse Hannah, that is.”
“Nurse Hannah,” he said with emphasis on the nurse part. “If you’re going to put me to sleep, don’t you have to put an oxygen mask on my face? You’ll have to come closer to do that.”
“Yes I do,” she said. “And yes I will. I’ll just wait until the medicine kicks in. And speaking of medicine…” she turned and picked up the large white syringe. She inserted it into the IV bag and pushed the plunger, the thick white liquid mixing with the clear saline.
“What’s that?” he asked, intimidated by the size of the syringe and thickness of the liquid.
“Propofol,” she responded. “It’s the medicine that makes you sleepy.”
“Why not just put that in my IV?” he asked? “I’ve had three surgeries, that’s how they’ve always done it.”
“The goal is to keep you asleep for longer,” she explained. “Propofol wears off quickly. If I gave you all of that at once, you would wake up in 15 minutes. Since this IV bag will last hours, you’ll stay asleep for hours.”
“Oh,” he said. He briefly felt fear, but the calming cocktail was starting to kick in and pushed it away.
“Yeah, good question though,” she said while putting the empty big syringe back and picking up the medium white one. “But if it takes too long to kick in I’ll give you a full dose to start you off.”
“Fun,” he said with a smirk and a little giggle.
“You’re starting to feel good, aren’t you?” she observed. “The calming cocktail is working nicely, huh?”
“Yeah,” he said smirking again.
“Well good, that’s my cue to start the drip,” she said as she turned a knob on the pole. Immediately, the cloudy white liquid started dripping into a cup, gathering at the bottom, and gradually entering the IV tube. He felt coolness enter his IV.
It stung a little, but not as much as when he had surgeries and they gave him the full dose at once. He hoped she wouldn’t do that. He started to feel really giggly, but also tired as the anesthesia entered him.
“How we doin’, buddy,” she asked after a couple of minutes. She still kept her distance.
“Teehee, good,” he said laughing again.
“Nice and relaxed?” she followed up. No pain from the IV?
“Yes relaxed,” he said. “Little sting in IV.”
“That’s normal, nothing to worry about,” she said to him. She then looked over his head. “Becca you can come put the oxygen on him now.”
“Wha?” he said groggily as nurse Becca appeared over him.
“Hello Mike, remember me?” Becca asked theatrically.
“Well, maybe you’ll remember this,” she replied as she lowered the oxygen mask onto his face and clamped it on with both gloved hands grasping his chin and neck. He could hear the gas hissing as it traveled up the corrugated tubes.
“Breathe deeply,” she urged as Hannah walked up to the bed now, still holding the medium white syringe.
“Why do all of this?” he asked, heavily muffled by the mask.
“It’ll be over soon,” Hannah said as she patted him on the shoulder. She then screwed the syringe into the port in his hand. She looked at Becca and said, “Tell me when.”
“Just a minute,” Becca replied. Hannah held Mike’s hand as Becca added a little sevoflurane to his mask. “It’s going to smell a little sweet now, Mike.”
He noticed it immediately. He was starting to feel more tired, but wasn’t asleep yet.
“Let’s send him off to dreamland, Hannah,” Becca said. Hannah started pushing immediately.
“Ahhhh,” Mike whined as he felt the burn traveling up his arm. “Is it done?”
“Yes,” Hannah replied. “And so are you by the looks of it.”
“Haha yeah,” Becca agreed as his eyes rolled back and his jaw slacked. She tightened her grip as she tilted his head back.
“Goodnight, Mike,” Hannah said definitively as Mike drifted away.
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