I tried and tried and tried, but I could not sleep for the life of me.
I must’ve been tossing and turning for a while, but my eyelids would not grow heavy. At some point the blonde nurse came in and told me she was going to remove my nasogastric tube. I had hoped I’d be unconscious for this, and was brought little comfort when she told me it was only mildly uncomfortable.
She carried out the standard practice; putting on her gloves, placing a towel across my chest, and doing step by step what I was certain she was taught in her medical book. She was right—it was only mildly uncomfortable, but it was a sensation I hoped to the high heavens I would never experience again. It felt like a long worm being pulled from my stomach and out of my nose.
After she was finished disposing, washing an
