It only took a few minutes but it seemed longer before the knock on the door. As predicted, Angie entered, carrying a small tray, setting it down on the small table next to the exam table. Angie looked at me and said, “I see your anxiety level is pretty high, I am going to give you some medication to help you relax for the procedure. Please roll over on your belly for me”. I responded while Angie soaked the cotton ball with alcohol. The smell of the alcohol became stronger as she motioned toward me. She opened the back of my gown and touched my left buttock and said, “It looks like the shot for your fever gave you a pretty big welt, I will give you this one in the other side”. She leaned into me to reach my right buttock as I felt her soft, warm bosom brush my left side. Even though it felt delightful, I tried to keep my composure as I didn’t want to embarrass either one of us. I felt the coolness of the alcohol as she rubbed it on my rear end followed by the stick of the needle. “This one shouldn’t be as bad” stated Angie as she injected me with the medication. She withdrew the needle more quickly this time, rubbed the site with the cotton ball one more time and closed my gown. She instructed me to stay in position as the medication took effect and advised me that she will be back with Dr. Kaplan to begin the procedure. She excused herself and exited the room.

Within a minute, I could feel the effects of the medication. Sounds started to have an echo to them, followed by tunnel vision. Angie knocked on the door, and she wheeled in a cart with green fields on them. She instructed me to turn on my left side. I got in position as he began to cover me. There was another knock on the door and Dr. Kaplan entered. “Are we ready to go?” she asked and Angie said,’ We should be. Richard, are you feeling woozy yet?” I acknowledged I was. Dr. Kaplan shifted the cart into my field of vision, exposing two scopes, one long and one short. She could see the look on my face and she stated she preferred use a proctoscope to see the sigmoid colon and rectum and not to be alarmed. She followed with, “Nurse Ramirez, Please start the anesthesia now”.

Angie turned the machine on and while it was getting ready, she picked up the black rubber mask and placed it over my nose and mouth. She could see the fright on my face and covered my eyes with a green cloth. “Take nice deep breaths for me Richard”, as the musty odor of the mask began to register in my mind. I took a few deep breaths and the oxygen felt good as it entered my lungs. As I lay there and after a few breaths of oxygen, I felt Angie brush me again with her voluptuous body and flipped another switch. Within a few seconds, I could smell the nitrous oxide, and began to feel lightheaded and dizzy. I could also feel Dr. Kaplan apply lubricant to my rectum. The effects of the anesthesia made her handling of the medical instruments seem distant and distorted.

I felt something cold and heavy pressed against my rear end as Dr. Kaplan began to apply pressure to the proctoscope as she inserted it in me. I was not fully titrated and the insertion of the scope caused me to yell out in pain, “Angie it hurts!”. I felt the scope pull away followed buy a few sharp slaps on my rear end followed by Dr. Kaplan‘s loud voice, “You will refer to Nurse Ramirez by her proper name!!” Angie said a half tearful sorry to both of us and Dr. Kaplan said, “I apologize for my outburst as well. Nurse Ramirez, you are my finest nurse and I value your dedicated service to me. I fully understand your act of empathy toward Richard however we must remain professional at all times. Now please start the sevoflurane so Richard can be comfortable”

I could hear Angie flip another switch and began to notice the sweet chemical smell of the sevoflurane. Within a few breaths, I could feel my consciousness fall off in waves followed by a feeling of crashing through the table.