Monday, January 28, 2008

A Few Steps up from Nurse Ratched

I have always been what my mom calls a "third shift baby." During the majority of my life, my mom has worked as a third shift nurse at the local medical center. Ironically, the fact that she slept during the day, resulted in me having strange sleeping patterns. My insomnia aside, her work also helped me to sculpt my idea of a dream job.
My mother would constantly bring home random little hospital trinkets to appease my need to play doctor. However, I was anything but a normal doctor. As a 6 year old child, I felt that it was my duty to save lives, one tragic emergency room patient after another. I can remember making CAT scans with Microsoft Paint, and drawing up MRI brain scans with my crayons. My mom would be working in our garage as I would create a appalling story of how her darling infant little girl tumbled down two flights of stairs and received massive brain damage. As the child's doctor and neurosurgeon, I would report to the mother every few minutes. Due to my early pessimism, things would take a turn for the worse fairly quickly. The unsuspecting infant doll would enter my E.R in fairly stable condition. I would then quickly assess the situation as critical, screaming commands as I ran around my house. After I obtained the results of the x-rays and scans, I would diagram parts of the brain and then debrief the grief stricken mother in my garage. Her child, as always, would probably not make it. Meanwhile, I had the wretched doll strapped down to my kitchen table. She had I.V's coming out of every vein and orifice and at least two casts on somewhere on her decrepit body. I would give the "child" shots of "morphine" which was slightly reminiscent of salt water, as I checked the data from her chart.
With my imaginary doctorate from John Hopkins University, the kid never had a chance. I would have to tell the mother that her child had entered a comatose state that she would probably never come out of. I had to pronounce the child, brain dead. It was one of the hardest moments of my imaginary career. Although it was hard, I got some kind of sick sense of pleasure that I had the child's imaginary life in my hands. With one piece of fictional scientific data, I could bring a smile or a tear. I was God, or so I thought and I was sure that I was destined to be on an episode of Trauma: Life in The E.R.
It turned out that John Hopkins University was a bit harder to get into than I anticipated and I hated math. I soon realized that I would have to settle for portraying a doctor as an actor. Indeed, this was what I was actually good at. I am a pretender.

5 comments:

The Invisible Observer said...

Wow! That was quite an imagination that you had. It is amazing that you can remember pretending to be a doctor at six years old in such detail. I love the fact that you made CAT scans with Microsoft Paint and drew brain scans with crayons. I kind of feel sorry the dolls that had to keep dying. I bet Johns Hopkins University would be hard to get into. At least you still have the memories of that imaginary degree. I wonder if I will see you on Grey’s Anatomy or ER one day!

Sky totha L izz AR said...

Les,
Wow I loved your blog. You used such descriptive words I felt like I was reading a published work. I would have loved to have seen your mom’s reaction as her child was pronounced brain dead. I love the ending as well. I am a big fan of that show (Pretender). So where do you propose to go to college? And I’m assuming to be an actor? You should seriously think about writing with that kind of work—I’m not even kidding. Do you still have abnormal sleeping habits? This blog is quite fascinating.

always standing small said...

I am also quite amazed with your vivid imagination. I wonder if your mother was shocked by the traumatic lifestyle of your dolls or the tragic results of your numerous scans. I bet she even went to work the next night imagining your dolls as her patients. Did your dark, interesting imagination ever stop her from bringing home the hospital trinkets? I wonder if the abuse of your dolls might have directed her toy selection for your sister. If you pursue a career in the field of medicine or if you become an actor, you will need to be able to think on your feet. Your childhood ambitions certainly prove your ability to do so.

Unknown said...

Kristi: I had a very twisted imagination as a child. I can remember watching the news and seeing a few stories about infants tumbling down stairs and it was like, bingo! That's what happened to my "patient". I don't have a huge interest in screen acting but I am up for whatever fate may bring.

Skylar: Thank you. I am one of those weird people that loves words. Yes, I do want to one day become an actor. I just auditioned for the North Carolina School of the Arts and am also looking at Catawba College. On average, I sleep 3-4 hours a night.

Cindy: My mother was very patient with me. Every time I told her that one of her "children" had kicked the bucket again, she always reacted accordingly. She did eventually cut back on the trinkets and consequently my little sister does not have the pleasure of playing with them. Ironically, she wants to be a vet. (God save the cat)

Jordan said...

Oh man I loved this. It's so cool to see how your talents have been consistent your whole life...you loved to act then and you love to act now. You're going to be amazing wherever you end up, I'm pretty sure. It's funny that while you thought you were practicing for your future profession in the medical field, you were actually practicing for your profession as a actress. That's pretty cool. I loved how you wrote that too; it was so descriptive. and really really funny.