Going Under

   So I had my wisdom tooth extracted Tuesday? They put me under first, intravenously (I think that was the second time for me to have ever been put under, the first when I had appendicitis.) I realized I wouldn't be able to remember falling asleep, but I didn't realize how unable I'd be to remember much else surrounding it. Now that I remember the i.v. I can remember how cold the sleepy juice was coming in. I remember looking as the doctor needled the needle. They allow that. You can look, but if you're squeamish... They had explained things to me, in that doctory bedside manner way, simple words, even if the patient knows all the terms. The risk of death is very slight, but they still make you sign the papers just in case, and combined with the bedside manner it's enough to make you paranoid that something will go wrong. Even an embolism or something, even with the tubes so narrow. So, initial these rows, sign here. Oxygen tubes up my nostrils for me to breathe. Didn't feel like anything other than plain old air, though. Cuff, sterilize the area. Puncture the skin, remove the trocar from the cannula, put the tube into the catheter, inject the anesthesia into the tube, please no embolism, please no embolism. I tilted my head back, intending to make it easy, but maybe it was too easy.

   I knew I wouldn't be able to remember going under, but I had intended to see how much I could remember. Maybe I went on a looped-up rant or something. I don't know. I should have recorded it or something. and it is a blur, but the next time I have to have that happen to me I have a strategy to figure out the last thing that I remember. Try this. I had come up with this method a few years ago as a preventative against amnesia in the event of getting knocked unconscious, but I'm not sure if it works, so I think I should have tried it this time so I don't have to wait until my next opportunity. The method is this: if you need to hold onto a memory or thought, tie it somehow with the film "Ghost Rider." Why? Because you'll always remember Ghost Rider! You will always remember Ghost Rider. Make of that what you will.

   I can't even remember waking up. I remember being covered in a blanket there, the doctors handing it to me, and I remember sleeping a lot on the way home. I mean, I don't remember sleeping a lot on the ride home; I can't even remember the ride home, so I figure it must have been more sleep. A few days have passed, and I no longer have as many suspicions that I actually died while under, as I am awake more often now. Creepy, still. Lots of drowsiness. I'm sure it was a good thing that they put me under for it. But we like our reality to be continuous. Any gap in the record is a sign of something nefarious. I should have recorded it or something. Recuperating from that, why I'm still laid up, why I've been given enough time to listen to an obscene amount of fancasts. Take amoxicillin every eight hours, swallow the capsule with water. Eat only soft foods. Rinse your mouth with saltwater. The dull throbbing pain means you're healing... I think. Et cetera, et cetera.

   Well, I'm off to go give birth to an eight-legged spider horse. Because I'm Loki, and that's what Loki do.