Experience

I must have slept for two or three hours.

But in the HCU after the surgery,
I spent far more time looking at the clock.

Pressing the button would deliver fentanyl for the pain.

By morning,
I was told I would be moved to a regular room.

A young nurse wiped my body.

There was a sense of embarrassment,
but the discomfort of being unable to move was stronger.

——

After that,
everything began to shift quickly.

The bed was raised.
I was brought into a sitting position.

A faint sense of dizziness.

From the pain,
I pressed the fentanyl button.

A slight nausea.

The catheter was removed.

A sensation I had never experienced before.
My body could not keep up with it.

I was moved into a wheelchair.

The heart monitor was reattached,
and I was given the call button.

Then I was left alone in the room.

——

Something came over me,
all at once.

I coughed.

The vibration struck the wound in my abdomen.

And then—

It might have been a hallucination.

A long tone from the monitor.

The number “0”.

——

When I came to,
there were several nurses in front of me.

They were striking my body,
calling my name over and over.

It seems I had lost consciousness.

——

I was moved not to a regular room,
but to a private one.