On 10/01/2017 05:32 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
This is common practice for good reason. Have you no friends? Pay a
teenager to go with you? One time I had my grandson go with me. The
other time my wife drove around the corner and I drove home from there.
In my case, they would call your ride when you were ready. Next week
I'll take my wife for a colonoscopy and I'll hang out and read a book.
She did the same for me but I drove home. Five hours is a long time to
wait for a routine procedure. Even when my wife had major surgery they
did not say I had to wait, though I did. She was not going home though.


Toward the end of his life George McGovern spent his summers down the
Bitterroot where he had a small bookstore. When I went in for an
operation that required someone to drive me home I took a cab. The
driver was familiar with the hospital gambit and remarked that his most
unnerving experience was picking up McGovern at the hospital. Not only
did McGovern bitch about the stupidity of the hospital regulations
through the entire trip but the driver could see the headlines if he got
into a fender bender with McGovern aboard.

I wasn't sure about the after effects of the anesthetic so I played
along. I did have to play twenty questions about who was going to stay
with me after the operation. I lied.

In another case a friend from work sprung me after an eye operation,
drove me back to my car and I took it from there. That was more awkward
since I was supposed to maintain a face down posture for three days.

I did the colonoscopy bit without the joy juice. I rather enjoyed the
video tour of my guts. The doctor was ex-military so while the request
to forgo anesthesia was unusual he was agreeable.