That Long Dark Tunnel

North Miami Beach, Florida July 21,2000 Aaron H. Schectman

THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on issues, ideas and reflections on the times. Published now and
then. Opinions pro or con are welcome.
THAT LONG DARK TUNNEL
If you have had chloroform you must remember feeling yourself getting
smaller and smaller as you descended into what can only be called a long
dark tunnel. Coming out from that dark place was not a reverse procedure.
You woke up feeling unwell and woozy and, perhaps, nauseous.

My recent hospitalization with a kidney stone is not a case in point because
I had a spinal for the placement of a "stent" and a general for the
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy where the stone was blasted with sound
waves. Neither incorporated a tunnel experience. But, I was teary, feeling
sorry for myself when I began to chat with the charge nurse, Mary-Lou. I
mentioned my fear of coming back from wherever that tunnel took you.

Now, Mary-Lou is an extremely handsome woman who had twenty-five years
experience in the South Florida Kidney Stone Center. When asked about my
belief in the "world beyond" I suggested that I would like to be
reincarnated into a woman as beautiful as she. I sort of thought that would
be appreciated as a form of flattery. However, she took issue with
reincarnation and expressed a belief in good old-fashioned Biblical truth.
She claims to pray every day and expects to go to Heaven and believes there
is a Devil. She also believes in Sin and I had trouble associating her
statements with the ultra modern facility in which I was about to undergo
internal modifications by invisible beams of sound.

We got far away from the idea of a tunnel and I feared it less as I marveled
at her convictions. But, the thought of not waking up as in Death is not
far from me. My cardiologist, Doctor Wald, arranged for a bed for me after
he assessed my complexion which was pasty and felt my forehead. He also took
my blood pressure and blood for analysis - he is a scientist, an occupation
I respect. Back in his office after the procedures he shared with me that
Death had been as near as four or five hours away if he had not intervened.
Tunnels, Heaven and the Devil aside, I still fear not coming back.
Carol's Evaluation: 9.5 out of 10.