Microstory Monday

The Family Business
"It smells like poo, papa," the boy says, examining the slick rope of intestine wrapped around his hands.
Standing up from his work, the man looks back. "That's why we're takin' 'em out," He says. "All that nasty rolled up inside a man's gut? It ain't natural."
"Oh," the boy says, watching a bit of something drip off his father's gloved hands.
Bending back to the body on the table, the man holds his hand out. "Now hand me them scissors," He says. "This purple bit is stuck fierce to somethin'. Gonna have to cut it."

Comments

[the wife]

That is just so gross. That's all I have to say.

[anonymous]

I agree. Gross. And so I am not allowed to comment on it. But your previous two blogs were nice. Very nice.

[Shawn]

This makes me ill. ILL. And you had been doing so well...

[shawn's friend...]

Wow. That was absolutely sickening!

[sam mcc]

so, in nursing school i was observing an abdominal surgery that sounds similar to this. the MD was pulling out lengths of bowel, running it between his fingers looking for any holes/kinks/etc. there was also a med student "assisting." she was standing in front of me next to the OR table. her and the MD were talking back and forth about the procedure, about the bowel and possible causes for the patient's problem (not to be disclosed here). the med student got quiet, turned around and looked at me. she was WHITE. a second later she passed out, luckily there were a few of us that could catch her. we took her out of the OR, put her on a bed, and she came to. she just looked up at us, and said, "well, i guess i'm not supposed to be a surgeon." i, on the other hand, was happy. now i had an unobstructed view of the surgery. the patients bowels were all piled up laying next to her on a sterile table, she was cut open from "stem to stern," and i thought it was amazing. later the surgeon simply poked her bowel back into her belly. i asked if it had to be in any order or pattern, and he said it will straighten out on it's own. now, there were no purple parts that were stuck somethin' fierce. but it was fun to watch, and this microstory made me think of it. thanks for taking me back....