Gary is a spectacular nurse. His jocular, slap-the-back manner is comforting for patients who have a lot of things to worry about.
“My memory isn’t as good as it should be, Mr. Hasan,” Gary said as he was getting the room prepared, “but as I recall, you did well.”
He put a clean scope on the tray, and he mixed the mixture that they would spray down my nostrils to deaden my nerves and open things up to make is easier to push the scope up my nose and down my throat.
“In fact, you did really well,” he said, “although… you know, you didn’t look that tough…”
“…Sorry Mr. Hasan, I didn’t mean to insult your manhood.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “I’ve had testicular cancer twice. There’s not that much manhood left to insult.”
Gary stood speechless.
There was another nurse in the room. She had been typing at the computer with her back to us. And in that momentary silence, a huge smile came to her face.