ŷ������

“Oh, look, the lights are so pretty,�� I said dreamily, having just noticed
them.
I smiled at the way the lights were dancing overhead, pink and yellow and
blue. I felt some pressure on my arm and thought, I should look over and see
what’s going on, but then the thought was gone, sliding away like Jell-O off a
hot car hood.
“F���Բ�?��
“Yeah. I’m here.��
I struggled to focus on him. “I’m so glad you’re here.��
“Yeah, I got that.��
“I don’t know what I’d do without you.�� I peered up at him, trying to see
past the too-bright lights.
“You’d be fine,�� he muttered.
“No,�� I said, suddenly struck by how unfine I would be. “I would be totally
unfine. Totally.�� It seemed very urgent that he understand this.
Again I felt some tugging on my arm, and I really wondered what that was
about. Was Ella’s mom going to start this procedure any time soon?
“It’s okay. Just relax.�� He sounded stiff and nervous. “Just...relax. Don’t
try to talk.��
“I don’t want my chip anymore,�� I explained groggily, then frowned.
“Actually, I never wanted that chip.��
“Okay,�� said Fang. “We’re taking it out.��
“I just want you to hold my hand.��
“I am holding your hand.��
“Oh. I knew that.�� I drifted off for a few minutes, barely aware of
anything, but feeling Fang’s hand still in mine.
“Do you have a La-Z-Boy somewhere?�� I roused myself to ask, every word an
effort.
“Um, no,�� said Ella’s voice, somewhere behind my head.
“I think I would like a La-Z-Boy,�� I mused, letting my eyes drift shut
again. “Fang, don’t go anywhere.��
“I won’t. I’m here.��
“Okay. I need you here. Don’t leave me.��
“I won’t.��
“Fang, Fang, Fang,�� I murmured, overwhelmed with emotion. “I love you. I
love you sooo much.�� I tried to hold out my arms to show how much, but I
couldn’t move them.
“Oh, jeez,�� Fang said, sounding strangled.”
― James Patterson, Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

“Religion is a non-alcoholic man's alcohol. Alcohol is a non-religious man's religion.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana, Divided & Conquered

“I asked her, dreamily, if we had met, and when she told me that we had not, I gave her a little finger wave, the type a leprechaun might offer a pixie who was floating by on a maple leaf. "Well, hi there," I whispered.”
― David Sedaris, Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls: Essays, Etc.

“It is as great a crime to leave a woman alone in her agony and deny her relief from her suffering as it is to insist upon dulling the consciousness of a natural mother who desires above all things to be aware of the final reward of her efforts, whose ambition is to be present, in full possession of her senses, when the infant she already adores greets her with its first loud cry and the soft touch of its restless body upon her limbs.”
― Grantly Dick-Read

“She came and took away all his miseries, his sorrows !!
Then SHe
went and left him restlessly numb. He was her
painkiller. SHe, his anesthetic.”
― Self

“Anesthesia was discovered. Do you know what it means to relieve man of his pain and suffering? Anesthesia is the most humane of all of man's accomplishments, and what a merciful accomplishment it was. For this great discovery we are indebted to Dr. W. T. G. Morton.

Do you know that the religionists opposed the use of anesthesia on the ground that God sent pain as a punishment for sin, and it was considered the greatest of sacrileges to use it—just think of it, a sin to relieve man of his misery! What a monstrous perversion! This one instance alone should convince you of the difference in believing in God or not.

No believer in God would have spent his energies to discover anesthesia. He would have been in mortal fear of the wrath of his God for interfering with his 'divine plan,' of making man suffer for having eaten of the fruit of the 'Tree of Knowledge.'

The very crux of the matter is in this one instance. Man seeks to relieve his fellow man from the suffering of disease and the pangs of mental agony. The believers in God are content that man's suffering is ordained, and therefore he accepts life and its trials and tribulations as a penance for living.

The fear of the wrath of God has been a stumbling block to progress.”
― Joseph Lewis, An Atheist Manifesto

“When Dr. James Young Simpson sought to apply anesthesia to a woman in childbirth, the clergymen of his day foamed at the mouth and spat upon him with vituperation and abuse, for attempting to violate God's direct command that 'in pain thou shalt bring forth children,' as based upon the idiotic text of the Bible. But Dr. Simpson persisted despite the ravings of the religious lunatics of his day.

The importance of Dr. Simpson's application of anesthesia to the relief of pain in childbirth, and his open defiance of the religionists, are beyond the measure of words to evaluate.”
― Joseph Lewis, An Atheist Manifesto

“We all find means of anesthesia.”
― Brunonia Barry, The Lace Reader

“Insult can be disguise as compliment if embellished with flowery appendages. There is always a way to deliver something abrasive with emotional anesthesia.”
― Vincent Okay Nwachukwu, Weighty 'n' Worthy African Proverbs - Volume 1

“Pain is a Medical Orphan. Perhaps because it has traditionally been considered the consequence of disease or injury, not an illness in itself, and not specific to a body organ or site, no single specialty has accepted, as a pressing goal or major responsibility, a commitment to the elimination of pain. Perhaps there’s a little too much “man up�� sentiment out there, embracing the words of Nietzsche: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”
― Henry Jay Przybylo, Counting Backwards: A Doctor's Notes on Anesthesia

“Doing your taxes with a brain injury is like having a tooth extracted without anesthetic.”
― Steven Magee