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Brain Go BOOM!
Author/Survivor: John Cooper
Chapter 10: My African Princess
I
forget her name but I remember her smile. For one reason or another, there was a
complication with my central IV line and they had to remove it and insert a new one. After
several failed attempts by several nurses and doctors, I lay exhausted and pain ridden in the
hospital bed with four or five additional needle holes from the failed attempts. I was beat and
some of my veins had collapsed at that point. The staff was in and out, trying everything
possible to get a new line started—tourniquets, slapping my arms and even my legs and feet, all
in an attempt to find at least one good, viable vein.
You know that moment when you think you can’t take anymore? That was this moment.
Then, a familiar face with a great big smile walked into my room. She knew I was exhausted.
I’d seen this resident at least a dozen times and we talked frequently. She had told me her story
of moving from Africa in hopes of completing her lifelong dream of becoming a physician. She
carefully inspected all my veins and located a viable one on my left arm. After she injected
Lidocaine, a local anesthetic, around the site and inserted the new IV on the first shot, she put her
hand in mine and smiled. I said, “You are my African Princess.”
As she was leaving, she asked if she could get me anything. I said, “I could really go for
a root beer. I probably can’t have a real beer, right?” She shook her head no and I nodded off to
sleep. The next thing I heard was the gentle metal clang of a root beer can being placed on my
bedside table. She smiled and said, “I couldn’t find the Pennsylvania root beer that you wanted.
They only had A&W at the store.” I graciously smiled and said, “Thank you.”
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