Hold On, I'll See You Again

The Beginning of the Journey

I returned home and immediately called my parents. They were in tears, obviously. They probably wouldn't have been sobbing as hard had I not said the doctor said it's most likely terminal. After about an hour of 'I love you' s and worst case scenarios, I took a shower, ate a late lunch, and drove back to the hospital. Traffic wasn't stalling me any time, sadly. I managed to make it there on time, park the car, and walk in with 10 minutes to spare. After what seemed like a million years of waiting anxiously, someone called my name and led me to an operation room. The doctor from earlier was there talking to the surgeons. "Ah. Phillip Lester. This here is Doctor Brown (Original- yea. I know.). He's going to be performing your surgery along with two other of his colleagues." A man no more than 40 stuck out his hand for me to shake. "Hi Doctor Brown. I'm Phil." "Pleasure to meet you. I know you know why your here, so I'll skip the 'this is why you're here' speech and get down to the technical stuff." I nodded meekly. "Now then. You'll be down for about 5-6 hours, so you'll need to use the restroom before this. No more eating or drinking before the operation since I'll need everything clear in case of an emergency." I gulped at what that meant. "Don't worry. It's what we tell all of our patients. We'll be removing the mass from your bronchial tubes, and also seeing if you'll need chemo to keep you running. Good?" I glanced at the doctor from earlier today. He smiled kindly at me. "Good." I then was given a hospital gown to change into, and some laxatives. About 15 minutes later, I was lying down on the operating table. "Ok Phil. This needle I'm going to stick into your arm will put you to sleep in about 10 seconds. We'll be giving you a dose of this every hour, even though you won't be able to tell. We'll keep you under for about 1 hour after operations so once you wake up, pain will be slightly reduced. Once you wake up, we'll give you a pain medication shot. You'll also be staying here overnight since everything's due to be finished at around midnight. Are you ready?" "Yes doctor." I felt a little prick on my arm. Feeling no side effects, I stared at the diagrams of the human body on the wall. Suddenly, the picture started warping like it was floating over waves of the ocean, and darkness hit me soon after...

I awoke to a dull pain in my chest. I blinked, but quickly shut my eyes at the bright light glaring down at me. I heard a distant voice. "Ah. Welcome back Phil! Ready for your pain killing shot?" I mumbled something incomprehensible, but felt yet another prick in my arm despite the fact my answer could've easily been a no. I reopened my eyes, and aimed my gaze at Doctor Brown. He looked tired. His two other companions were nowhere to be seen. Probably off to get some coffee or sleep. I was suddenly scooped into a wheelchair along with something else. It turned out to be a bag of fluid, attached to my arm, was hanging above me on a pole attached to the wheelchair. I was moved through several hallways, and into a reception-like area. I slowly glanced around, still out of it from the sleeping medication. Two more doors led to cheerfully lit hallways. Was I going there? All the while, Doctor Brown was talking to the woman at the desk. A few minutes later, Doctor Brown was saying goodby to me, and the lady at the front desk wheeled me into the mysterious hallways. "Welcome Phil to the housing wing of the hospital. This is the adults part of the wing, which is where you'll be staying. You'll get your own room, three meals a day, water, etc. There's a landline with the front desk's number on it. There also will be someone working at the front desk 24/7, so nothing to worry about. Any questions?" she asked as monotonously as a person could sound. Still a bit out of it, I shook my head. "Good. Here's your room. Room 216. Enjoy your time here." She wheeled me in, scooped me up, and placed me on the bed. She hung the IV bag by the bedside table. She immediately left, obviously not enjoying her job. I quickly fell back asleep again, this time without the assistance of medications.