Trafika Europe 6 - Arabesque

ablation

chapter iv - The Operation

I slept really well the day before the operation. A nurse came to shave my pubis and the surrounding area. I told her: “I could have done that.” She responded: “That’s ok. I’m used to it.” I became hairless. I put on compression socks to prevent thrombosis. Professor J.F. came to see me that evening. He was reassuring, told me a joke, and wished me a good night. I can’t remember if I prayed. I thought of my kids and I wasn’t worried. I had written to my oldest son and sent my will to my lawyer, Lambert. He has my total confidence. Despite my calm, it wasn’t a normal night. I had the impression that everything had resigned in me. I delivered myself to

science and my body knew it. They came to get me early in the morning. I was naked in a blue hospital gown with a hygiene cap on my head. I looked at the sky which was white. I thought of the people who were enjoying their first days of vacation. I remembered that this year, I was supposed to go to an island called Maurice. I knew this place very well. I told myself that I would go there for my recovery, maybe accompanied by a friend. In the operationwing, people are active. I think I hear someone say: “It’s a friend of the boss.” The anesthesiologist’s hands work around my face; then nothing more. An absence. A digression. A blank spot in my life. Slightly dead, like

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