Best Anaesthetist Poems
I was Second Lieutenant of the Army Nurse Corps,
At Pearl Harbour when it was attacked and bombed;
I was in my room at the nurses’ quarters, a store,
Near Tripler Army Hospital, six miles from le monde.
At about 8:20am the on-call nurse called me,
Said Pearl Harbor was being attacked, grave concern,
She looked out and said something was strange, really,
“There is an awful smell…a lot of noise,” we did discern.
So I decided to walk to the hospital, ten minutes flat,
Bt as I stepped out the quarters, had an awful feeling,
No gardenias or hibiscus to sent my nose in a bat,
Just the odour of sulphur and burning oil, and buzzing.
Upon reaching the hospital, I saw twenty stretchers,
All with injured men, lined up, each with bloody wounds,
Some with an M on their foreheads for morphine, etchers:
I was an anaesthetist, and was commended at the sounds.
The chief of surgery turned to me and he did say,
“Madelyn, if we are hit, I want to say to you that,
It is a pleasure to have worked with you,” hey, hey,
“You are a good anaesthetist”, and I accepted that.
But I just replied, “I know God knows we did nothing,
To deserve this, I am putting my trust in him”;
And caring for the wounded took days, also the dying,
And our emergency rooms were schools and a kitchen.
We were very short of bandages, medicines for repair,
Totally unprepared for the hundreds of casualties,
But we did the best we could do with our work and fare,
And blood was donated day and night, no apologies.
OBE
I never really believed in the white light
At the end of a tunnel-try as I might
I was having a laugh with the anaesthetist
When the surgeon did ask him for a quick assist
“Why is she not asleep yet? I heard him ask
She is used to the pre-meds, don’t worry this is my task.
After many bouts of surgery over the years
I was hard to knock out but I still had my fears.
I loved the sleep anaesthetic does give
The dreams are so wonderful and so real and vivid.
This one was different I remember it well
I was sat very high up looking down I could tell
There was a lot of commotion below me that I could see
There were bells ringing and flashing lights and then I saw me
Wow this is weird how am I lying there but here I was looking around
I could not believe it a white light did surround
I was laughing and thinking this can’t be real
Nobody sees a white light never mind tries to feel
It surrounded me and I felt it, I now wasn’t to sure
I had never seen anything like it before
On top of the electric light that was below
I saw the dust sitting on it even with the bright glow
Then there was calm and things did quite down
There was a rushing in my ears but no other sound.
A voice came to me and said “Come on now wake up”
A tap on my cheek and I felt them pull the pipe up
I coughed and she smiled,” it’s all over now
We are glad to see you, you don’t know how.”
When I awoke they were standing round my bed
One nurse I knew said “We thought you were dead”
Charming said I, why what went wrong?
“Your heart did stop beating, but now it is strong.”
I wondered what had happened I was watching you all
No you cannot have been, don’t say that, that tale is to tall
I told them of the alarms the beeping and coloured lights
I was watching from above, seeing what I might
They smiled at me with an indulgent look
But I know what I saw so they can put that in their book.
In the Barley Tavern I do hear all sorts of stories,
based on many home conflicts, or musing on past glories,
but now and then a funny tale is uttered at the bar,
I’d never hear too often, and is a mite bizarre.
I’d heard that Dennis Flowers was in a situation,
where he was in a desperate need of an operation.
Of course he made it through, because he’s back here in the bar,
with beers lined up on the towel and showing us his scar.
For Dennis, this became, his fifteen minutes of pub fame
when spruiking his experience, of operational acclaim,
and once the crowd left and dispersed, Dennis whispered in me ear,
“Have you ever stood outside the pearly gates, trembling with fear?”
So all bravado Dennis spruiked was a nerve riddled front,
but he convinced his closest mates that a medal’s in the hunt.
I’m about to hear the sordid truth that Dennis tried to hide,
now that it’s only him and me, and the words he will confide.
“I was on the operating table; the anaesthetist beside me,
with Doctor Gordon smiling, and acting rather nervously.
I said “Doctor, it’s my first operation; look I’ve got the shakes.
He said ‘it’s mine too. Forgive me, if I make a few mistakes!”
Pristine walls surround me, as the beeping hurts my ears.
My vision blurs once more, and within moments I'm wheeled somewhere I can only describe as deafening.
A young girl around my age screams as her mother tries to soothe both the girl and herself - it all makes my head hurt.
"You will only feel a prick," the doctor smiles, but I don't believe him.
I can't believe him.
If he was being sincere, why would the girl scream? Why would her mother weep? Would mine do that too?
I struggle against my father's grasp, but he tries his best to keep me in place while my mother averts her gaze elsewhere.
I take a breath.
I feel a cold liquid course through my veins, trying to suppress my heart rate, but it hurts.
I choke on the medication, gasping for air,
but the more air I inhale, the more it hurts.
I pray to whoever cares to listen that this doesn't kill me, I pray that my newly found condition only hurts me and not those around me.
Years later, I can now say that they didn't listen to my pleas, and instead scoffed.
I now stare at the empty beds surrounding me, as the anaesthetist explains the process, but I don't listen.
How could I listen to her when I know the end is near? It could all be over in a few hours - it was just a matter of whether or not it would be a success.
Hours later I awake once more, meeting the recovery nurses gaze, as I ask the question that had been caught in my throat.
"Was it a success?"
She nods, and tears flood my vision as I picture the faces of my smiling family and friends.
How could years worth of struggle be fixed in a mere few hours? I will never know, but I am grateful that it has came to an end.
I felt as if a war I hadn't began had ended, alongside the torment it caused.