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Surgical Lights? A
Writer's Awakening
by Joanne D. Kiggins
It took a handwritten prescription from a surgeon and a sedative before surgery
to remind me to let my mind open and my writing flow.
The anesthesiologist squirted a sedative into the IV tube and told me it would
help me relax. As I lay taking in my surroundings, a pair of latex-covered hands
slid a white hair cover over the operating room light just feet above my body.
I thought I would have been better off not having the sedative because when my
mind relaxes it tends to delve into many weird and wonderful places. Great for
plotting stories, but the operating room was no place for that. The cardiac
surgeon, with scalpel in hand, announced he was ready to begin the heart
catheterization and more than a dozen eyes stared seriously at me.
I glanced again at the surgical light covered with the same type hair covering
the surgical team wore and I began to chuckle.
"Hey, Doc," I said as I watched two TV monitors come to light. "May I ask a
question?"
He lowered his eyes to meet mine. I sensed that all those in attendance were
accustomed to patients asking questions about the operation and they stood
waiting patiently to hear which of the questions I might ask. "Am I going to
feel anything?" "Can you tell me what's happening as you work?" I'm sure there
were many more questions they had been asked, but I would have bet none of them had expected mine.
"Sure, Joanne. Ask anything you'd like. There is no stupid question when it
comes to surgery." His voice was low and sounded as soft and sincere as his
eyes looked between a white hair cover and a surgical mask.
Again I glanced up at the surgical light and all eyes moved in the same
direction.
Everything looked blurry and fuzzy.
"What's with the hair net? Is that light going to magically grow hair that may
shed?" I was going to say that the light may have even more hair than the
balding surgeon, but I decided that might not be taken well by a man holding a
scalpel.
I couldn't see the mouths beneath the masks but the tiny wrinkles beside all those
eyes told me they were accompanied by smiles. Laughs bounced off the operating
room walls. Even the surgeon laughed.
"May I ask your profession?" he asked.
"I'm a writer," I said without hesitating.
"That explains it."
I smiled and said, "Just in case I drift off, would someone please remind me of
this conversation when I wake up?"
I did drift in and out of awareness. A warm toasty feeling filled my chest when
a dye was released into my arteries. A few tugging sensations brought me
back to consciousness when the surgeon stitched the wound closed, but I drifted
off again when he announced he was finished.
About thirty minutes later I was awoken by a soft, sincere voice. "Everything
went well, Joanne. You'll do fine." The wrinkles beside the surgeon's eyes
were more visible now and a mask did not cover the smile I'd imagined. He
slipped a piece of paper into my hand and sauntered off to the next patient.
I opened the folded note and smiled.
“Remember the hairy light” was scribbled on a prescription
slip with the surgeon's name and information.
I'm thankful that my old ticker is fine. I'm also thankful that the surgeon's
prescription not only reminded me of the silly question I asked in the operating
room, but also reminded me of something more important. I learned that I have
done my best writing when I allow my mind to relax and take me on a trip without
me trying to edit or change its course in the process. Now, I write the story
first
and edit later.
Oh yes, I received the answer to the “hairy light” question when I visited the
surgeon for a follow up exam. It wasn't a light at all, it was the actual x-ray
tube used for the surgery and the hair net was to keep it as sterile as
everything else in the operating room. And one more thing-- the doc wasn't
balding either, to my surprise. Strange how an imagination can wander when
allowed to relax, isn't it?
Joanne Kiggins has published more than 2,500 articles. She was award
recipient of the 1990 Woman of the Year for Beaver County, Pennsylvania, for
her accomplishments in her community and excellence in journalism.
She was on the staff of Slippery Rock University teaching her copyrighted
writing course "Sell What You Write" and Creative and Freelance writing.
She has appeared on television and radio, hosted several writers' conferences,
and spoken to many conferences and writers' organizations. Her
most recent articles were published in ByLine Magazine,
Absolute Write,
and
Moondance.org. Her column, "From Beginning To End: Getting
Started"
appears monthly in the freelance section of
Absolute Write.
E-mail Joanne at
joannedkiggins@comcast.net.
Visit her site at http://home.comcast.net/~joannedkiggins.
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