Morphing

It's a good thing morphine is a prescription drug, because morphine became my friend when I was in the hospital.

A lot of people I know seem to have problems with morphine, or at least say that morphine doesn't do anything for them, and I think that's a pity because I personally found morphine to be a tremendous boon. I wasn't sure what it would feel like, never having had it before, but what it did for me was make me feel warm, safe, happy and sleepy.

During my night in telemetry, the nurse came in to see if I needed pain medication. I hurt, so I said sure, hit me with some Percocet. When he brought me the pills, he said I could have morphine if I wanted it; it wasn't any particular sweat on his brow. So I said sure, hit me with the narcotics.

Soon I was sitting up in my chair, warm and peaceful, leaning slightly to the right and drooling, and it was groovy to be sitting up, leaning slightly to the right, and drooling. Oh yes.

There are really two things I miss about the hospital. The first is the way that being in the ICU places you firmly in the center of the universe. It's a comfort to know that all those people - doctors, surgeons, nurses, therapists, visitors - are there to make sure that nothing bad happens to you. Mind you, it's not comfortable being in the hospital and I never developed much gusto for urinating into plastic jugs, among other things, but as long as you're in the hospital, it's nice to know the whole organization is determined to make you healthy. The other thing I miss about the hospital is sitting up in my chair, leaning slightly to the right, and drooling, man. Oh yes.