Fifth position

I read a number of surgery day stories on the forum before I realized I have no surgery day story of my own. I don't recall checking into the hospital. I don't recall the surgical prepping process. I don't recall waking up. I don't recall going home. I don't recall how I felt in the hospital or when I got home, though I have a half empty bottle of liquid painkiller to indicate it must've hurt enough at some point to take the medicine.

All I recall is looking at a tray of hospital food at some point, none of which looked remotely edible: clear soup made with beef bouillon, orange jello, some kind of awful protein drink. Might've known my single memory would be of food!

My husband says the anesthesia is probably accountable for the memory lapse which was so thorough that I didn't even realize I had a memory lapse. I had to ask him if I actually had the procedure done in the hospital as opposed to the surgical center and whether I stayed on the surgical floor overnight. I don't recall if I came home and went to bed or if I stayed downstairs on the couch or if I took off to the mall to go shopping.

It is extraordinarily disconcerting to have such a sgnificant event totally erased from my memory. I thought talking with my husband would trigger some kind of "oh, yeah" reaction, but it didn't. Huh. The mind is an interesting thing. Makes me wonder what else I have forgotten so thoroughly that it might as well have never happened.