In Duste's words....

Surgery 3..the longest daze

A saga of drugs blood and pain. By Duste Eggers.

It’s all a blur looking back, and yet it all happened so fast.  We, me, my dad and talisa, rushed to Indianapolis at the butt crack of dawn; my sweet girl quiet and brave all the while  I drove. I’m confused about it really.?! I was with her as long as I could be, in a tiny room waiting, just me and her and a parade of doctors’, nurses and the rest of the monkey squad. I wanted to hold her and protect her but couldn’t.                      

The queen nurse, she was the boss monster of the nurse patrol, at the last minute made talisa remove her belly ring, and take down her hair. She wasn’t happy about it either. She lied about the OTHER piercing…. That was a mistake to haunt us, or ME later.  But she looked so pretty and all the nurses drooled over her wild Farrah  Fawcett  fro that exploded from her bun. (Hair bun not bottom)

 Before they drug her off to hell, Talisa kissed me in front of everybody.  It was great; her lips soft and warm. Then she walked away and I was alone, cold and empty. I found my emotional support (dad) snoring so loud everybody in the waiting room was giggling like a group of girls scouts  on mating day at the zoo. I made the gorilla carry talisa’s luggage. It looked like we were camping.

We had to walk 100 miles from one waiting room to the next. So we hitched a ride with a passing camel. When gorilla (dad), me and our safari outback gear got on the back of the golf cart the front two wheels lifted off the ground.  We set up basecamp in waiting room 1 and went for the worst food I’ve ever had in my life. It was like a bad prison movie. I had the gray goo and dad had the brown. We talked about bullshit and thought about Talisa.

                              Later:

Doctor Wurtz interrupted my reading and eating at basecamp while dad was making friends with the Latin Kings. I guess our basecamp was in their turf. Yes, I and the gorilla invaded their turf.  But in all honesty it had the most comfortable chairs. Wurtz said it was good news not much muscle loss but they had to put a drain in. I was relieved.  Ten minutes later a pony express rider came and whisked me away. I left dad with his new friends and was golf carted away at the speed of 3. 

  Talisa was in the same room I left her in... And so was Queen Nurse she was growling and slobbering over a ring... a piercing, talisa’s OTHER piercing. She smacked it in my hand like a hi-five and made a wise crack that permanently burned my face red.  Meanwhile… Talisa was a drug induced mess. She was whining and pawing at me and pulling me close. She made me hold her and put her hair up and scratch her and ask the staff a series of ridiculous questions. (Not in that order)

   Finally we got up to her room and the flock of vultures’ descended upon her like flies.  They made me leave; I came back in any way they screeched. “OUT” I ignored them and told talisa I was off to find dad.  Thank god for those golf cart drivers.  I got lost, but they drove me around till we found dad.

Back at the room I ordered her lunch and me and dad went to the cafeteria for more prison goo. It was a rainbow of ooze that could have been anything. Dad had the white and I had a salad.  A week later talisas food came, delivered by the scarecrow from wizard of oz.  Sorry your foods so late I was looking for my brain.

She ate like a farm hand. I was starved, she was starved I was so glad to see her smile.  She was still high as a kite but last time I saw her she was living on mars. She slept for a long time and the day crept by.  

The Gift shop was closed. The pizza shop was closed. The sandwich shop was closed and at 1pm the prison cafeteria food turned the living to the walking dead and zombies don’t cook.  I knew it was few days until talisas food arrived. (It has to travel all the way down the yellow brick road after all.)  Dad and I went scavenging for food. Thinking fast I jumped into an elevator with a woman with a pizza. She was dressed in red and black and had loud rap music filling the air around her like strong perfume.   I smiled and asked for her phone number.  She wasn’t a pizza delivery girl.  But she was quite flattered in her hard as gun steel gang banger chick kind of way. She gave me a number and I gave her an apologetic explanation.

  Dad meanwhile made friends with a kind old sage of a woman. Thanks to her we avoided the zombies by traveling by an underground tunnel from I.U med to Riley. Where we found a McDonalds! I was a hero bringing my baby a sweet tea, she was so happy. The tunnels beneath the hospitals are secret and not for anyone. Built to transport the dead they are almost 100 years old. It was a 30 minute walk both ways, I was gone over an hour. For my poor sweet baby the time passed in the blink of an eye.

 We snoozed off and on, All of us napping like lazy cats off and on in the evening hours. The new year was coming at midnight, nobody seemed to care. We watched twilight zone and talisas roommate left . I watched Talisa’s drain from time to time. A drinking straw sized tube connected to a accordion of blood. Like a red slushy the accordion never played never expanded.  I should have thought this odd….. big mistake.

  Night in the city: we looked for snow and just found smog. The dirty city never got dark and I never got comfortable sleeping in the chair. Dad had a convenient nightmare flash back. He was yelling like a madman in his sleep. I banished him to the waiting room, Where he was quite comfortable and happy.  I found him on a cushy sofa with pillows blankets his own t.v bathroom shower and Minnie kitchen. All this luxury in a waiting room all of his own.

I was glad for the morning glad to bring my battered and bruised baby home. She kindly offered to share her breakfast with me. I ordered it at 6: 18 it arrived at 8:30, cold and as late as it could possibly be and as small as you could imagine. She ate a mouse sized biscuit and I had a kids sized box of cereal. (Mmmm frosted flakes and chocolate soy milk. )

 By ten o’clock I was looking for snacks. Desperately sniffing like a scavenger on the Serengeti.  I was a hyena ,my only goal to find something good for my sweet starving princess.  Locked away in the tower room 6623 of pain drugs and soon blood. Soon as I left they assaulted her. I was angry; suddenly the muffins I found didn’t seem so important. The doctor was removing her drain so she could go home. I was happy…….

Then I saw the blood. Her face was twisted with shock and alarm. The doctor was near panic. Blood poured from her drain. Blood ran like a river, fast warm making her bed a murder scene. I was concerned the doctor was alarmed at least a big gulp worth of blood flooded out from her drain that wasn’t draining because it was kinked. It was one last test of pain before we escaped. My baby my baby, carved up like a side of beef.  Hell we escaped from Hell. It felt like a prison escape. Like I pulled her from death row a heartbeat before they pulled the switch.  My dad went to get the car and I stood in the middle of the road waiving my hat, he got lost. It was stupid and embarrassing. But at least it was over…. Or so I thought.

I HAD NEVER BEEN SO HAPPY TO GET HER HOME IN MY LIFE.