The Princess and the Jock Ch 2
By Anistasia Allread

“Do you have any questions?” he asked.

“Its kind of stupid.”

“I’m sure it isn’t.” he assured absent mindedly.

“Can going under anesthesia cause long term memory loss?” She asked hesitantly.

The surgeon stopped writing in the chart and looked at Erika. “Do you think you have memory loss?”

Erika heard the sound of a magazine page turning next to her. She peeked through heavy eyelids to try and see in the bright room. Her nose was sore and it felt like it had been stuffed with ten rolls of toilet paper.

The person looking through the magazine stopped and put it aside. “Sweetie?” her mother’s voice greeted.

Erika could hear the sound of some one easing out of the chair beside her.

“Mom?” Erika questioned.

“Good morning. You decided to join us, huh?” her familiar voice greeted. “Are you thirsty?”

Erika nodded and took great relief in the feel of her long curly hair tickling her cheeks. Her mouth was dry, so dry. Dust bunnies could be hiding beneath her teeth. Erika took the straw between her lips and filled her mouth with cool, metallic tasting water.

“Thank god you’re here.” She managed to say.

“Are you all right?” her mother looked considered.

“Daddy’s here too?” Erika asked.

“He and Tricia are down getting lunch.”

Erika relaxed.

“What’s wrong?” her mother asked.

“Just a horrible dream. I dreamed that I woke up five years from now and you and Daddy were dead.”

“It was just a dream, honey. Just a dream.”

Erika shuddered. “Did they get the whole tumor?” She asked.

“The surgeon said that he was very confidant.” She nodded. “You just need to rest. Are you hungry?”

“A little.”

“I’ll go ask the nurse if she can get you something to eat.” Her mother gave her hand a squeeze and exited the room.

Erika touched her face, it was smooth, lacking the stubble of her dream. Her fingers then touched her long hair and felt comforted by the curls. She lowered her hands and unsnapped the hospital gown. She took a deep breath and opened it looking down she found the hairless chest. No muscle bound, hard pecks nor growing breasts.

Sighing, she re buttoned her gown and lay back.

“Well look who decided to join the living.” Her father greeted from the door. “how are you feeling?”

“Like my nose was hit with a sledge hammer.” Erika’s voice sounded funny from the gauze packed in her nostrils.

“I just passed you’re mother. She’s going to get you something to eat.”

Erika nodded. “Daddy?” She asked.

“Yes.”

“Do you have any business contacts in Phoenix?”

“You just wake up from having your brain operated on and you want to know if I have business in Phoenix? That is an odd question.”

“Do you?”

“I have contacts all over the nation, including Phoenix. Why?”

“I just had the worse dream. You flew to Phoenix and had a heart attack.” She explained. “It was horrible.”

“Dreams while under anesthetic can be quite vivid.”

“This one was hi-def and three D.”

“I’m sorry, honey.” Her father tried to comfort her.

“Where are Aunt Carrie and Tricia?”

“They had to use the powder room before coming in to see you. It must be a girl thing.”

Erika smiled. Laughing hurt too much. “Daddy, do you have some gum or breath mint? My breath must be horrible.”

“It is, and I do.” He wrinkled his nose as he handed her a piece of gum.

“Good morning, Princess.” Aunt Carrie greeted from the door. She held a vase of flowers in one hand and a stuffed animal holding balloons in the other. “I couldn’t decide so I got them both.” She bubbled. “You went through a lot, just to get a nose job.” She smiled.

“Ha ha.”

“It is kind of funny, if you think about it.” Tricia entered the room behind Aunt Carrie. “They did fix your nose.”

Erika looked from her girlfriend to her father who smiled and nodded. “You had a deviated septum from your bike accident.” He explained. “After they finished up the brain surgery, the plastic surgeon repaired your nose as he closed up.”

Erika glared at Tricia. “Don’t let that get out at school, I can only imagine the rumors that would start.”

While Aunt Carrie made a place for flowers on the window sill, and placed the stuffed bunny and balloons next to the bed, Tricia skipped up to the side of the bed and planted a kiss on Erika’s forehead. “Don’t worry, I got you something too.” Tricia pulled a hand from behind her back to reveal what looked to be a whole stack of magazines.

Tricia fingered through them, showing them to Erika. “Two gossip magazines, Two fashion magazines, and three catalogs.” She explained. “Winter ball is in about four weeks, we need to figure out what we are going to wear.”

Erika rolled her eyes, but smiled.

“Good news.” Erika’s mother announced entering the room. “Your food has been ordered. The doctor is on his way in to see you and as soon as he is finished, you can eat.”

The Doctor could be heard conferring with the nurses out side the door. Tricia stacked the magazines next to Erika’s bed and joined Aunt Carrie in her retreat.

“We’ll be back in a few, we’re going to check out that cute Doctor at the nurses station.” Aunt Carrie winked.

The surgeon stepped in and greeted Erika. “You have a bit more color than the last time I saw you.”

Erika smiled.

The surgeon asked her parents to give them some privacy then sat next to the bed, her chart in one hand, a pen in the other. “How are you feeling?”

“Okay.”

“Are you hungry?”

“Yes.”

The doctor smiled as he scribbled in the chart. “how is your pain?”

“I feel like someone took a baseball bat to my nose.” Erika answered honestly.

The doctor smiled. “I’ll bet you do.” He lightly touched her nose, causing her to flinch a little bit. “Pretty tender.” It was a statement. “You will most likely get some bruising around the eyes as you swell in the next day or so. But the swelling will go down soon enough. Have you been instructed on how to use your pain button?”

“No.” Erika answered.

The surgeon quickly showed her how to push the button so that a small dose of pain meds could be administered through her I.V.

“Do you have any questions?” he asked.

“Its kind of stupid.”

“I’m sure it isn’t.” he assured absent mindedly.

“Can going under anesthesia cause long term memory loss?” She asked hesitantly.

The surgeon stopped writing in the chart and looked at Erika. “Do you think you have memory loss?”

“No. But I dreamed that I woke up from surgery, but it was five years later.”

“One of the drugs used in anesthesia works on your short term memory. It is one of the reasons why you don’t remember what happens while being operated on. We only used that kind of anesthesia after your brain surgery; when we closed up. Do you remember being awake for part of the surgery?”

Erika paused for a moment.

“We asked you a lot of questions and had you look at flash cards?”

Some of that was now starting to return to her. She nodded, “A little bit, I do.”

“Good.” He scratched something in the chart. “Sometimes memory loss can happen from anesthesia. Rarely anything over a day or two.”

Erika sighed, it must have been a dream. She relaxed back into her pillow.

“I know you have family and friends who are all excited to visit with you, but you need to rest.” The Doctor made his way to the door.

Erika nodded.

The surgeon turned before exiting, “And leave the packing in your nose alone. I’ll take it out in a day or two.”

Erika dropped her hand from her nose to her bedside. It hurt and felt as if they had used Tricia’s entire wardrobe as packing.

“So, how are you really doing?” Tricia approached the bed, a concerned look on her face.

“My nose hurts and I may get black eyes.” Erika complained.

“So what do you remember about the surgery?” Tricia asked with a little too much enthusiasm.

“I had the strangest dream.” Erika told her.

“I’m sure you did, but I want to hear about while you were sitting there with long tools stuck into your brain, while you were awake.”

“I wasn’t exactly awake.” Erika stated.

“Sure you were. They had to make sure they weren’t zapping good brain tissue.” Tricia explained. “I saw this one show on T.V. where they had the patient’s skull while they stuck these wires into his brain. If they were in the wrong part, he lost his vision or his ability to speak. He was awake during the whole time they were zapping his brain. Then they put him to sleep to close him up. Don’t you remember anything?”

Erika began to wonder about the sanity of her girlfriend. She thought hard about what she remembered before the strange dream. She remembered that the front of her face felt very uncomfortable and the loud noise of some kind of MRI or Cat scan machine. Doctors or nurses kept asking her questions; Silly questions like what color was on the card in front of her and what was written on other cards. She remembered bright lights and strange plastic wrapped equipment.

“How did it feel with them sticking things up your nose?”

“I really don’t remember much other than it was uncomfortable.” Erika spoke honestly. “Tricia, I really need to tell you about this dream.”

Tricia sighed. She sat back to a more comfortable position resigned to hear about Erika’s dream.

By the time Erika was finished describing her dream, Tricia was sitting forward again, her eyes wide and full of questions.

“Wow, you a football player.”

“I know, right?” Erika agreed. “Only it didn’t feel like a dream. It felt as real as this does.”

Tricia’s eyes got bigger. “Do you think it could have been one of those forewarning things?” She asked. “You know the kind of warnings like psychics have?”

“I don’t know?” Erika clipped the end off short as her mother and father entered the room followed by Aunt Carrie.

“Food is on the way.” Her mother smiled. “You aren’t getting her worked up now are you?” her mother questioned Tricia.

“No mom, she’s fine.” Erika stated.

“The doctor said you need your rest.” Her mother went on.

“They’re fine dear,” Aunt Carrie tried to emit calm. “Why don’t we clear some of this stuff off of the table so that the patient can have a place to eat her meal from.” She handed Erika’s mother a stack of cards and the magazines. She winked at Erika when her mother couldn’t see.

Erika mouthed a ‘thank you’.

“Tricia, dear, why don’t you sit on the bed next to Erika and I’ll take a picture.” Aunt Carrie suggested digging into her over sized purse for a camera.

“A picture? Now?” Erika questioned.

“Of course” Aunt Carrie stated firmly. “We need to document that you survived brain surgery don’t we?” She snapped a few pictures of the two girls. “Ok, mom and dad, your turn.”

Erika’s mother reluctantly posed with her and her father for a couple of clicks before her father took the camera from Aunt Carrie and made his Aunt pose with Erika.

“But if I break the camera, I’ll lose all of the pictures I just took.” Aunt Carrie protested.

“You’ll need documentation that you were here when Erika survived her brain surgery.” Erika’s father teased.

Aunt Carrie rolled her eyes.

“That’s enough.” A nurse came in with a tray of food. “You all need to let the poor girl eat something and get some sleep.” She placed the covered tray on the eating table and swung it over the bed so that Erika didn’t have to get up. “Go on, scoot.” The nurse prompted.

“Get some sleep, dear, we’ll go find some wheel chairs to race down the halls.” Aunt Carrie patted Erika’s leg before leaving.

“Eat.” Erika’s mother stated. “Then get some sleep. I’ll come check on you in a bit.”

“I’ll come see you after I beat the old bat in the wheel chair race.” Her father’s smile got even bigger with the sharp look from the nurse.

Tricia kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll sneak back in a few moments.” She whispered before leaving.

Erika waited until everyone had left before uncovering her meal. Turkey sandwich, chicken and rice soup apple juice and vanilla pudding. She was a bit disappointed in the lack of taste everything had. She didn’t know if it was because it was the dreaded hospital food or if it was because her nose was useless for anything but as a flesh pocket for a ton of cotton.

She looked to the door expecting Tricia to admit herself at any moment, but began to feel drowsy. Erika pushed her pain button and lay back in her pillow allowing her heavy eye lids to fall shut.

Please, no more dreams. . .

To be continued. . .