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Show Motherlunge a novel 141 21. Occam's Razor vs. the Sword of Damocles As part of your total colonoscopy experience, you are usually given a drug, midazolam, brand named Versed. The drug keeps you relaxed during the procedure. It also makes you forget nearly everything about the procedure afterwards. With Versed you likely won't remember having the doctor snake your bowels with a 36-inch scope. You won't remember the subtle tugging as your doctor snips off polyps the way a gardener deadheads dahlias. You may only faintly recall (as did my co-worker, Flint) cheerfully telling the story of a hoped-for trip to Glacier National Park, where mountain lions do indeed pose a threat to children and to women of smaller stature. After your colonoscopy with Versed, you feel tender toward yourself in a way that is pleasantly free of context. Today approximately five hundred thousand Americans claim that they have been abducted by space aliens once or repeatedly. A typical scenario includes a rural setting, a lonely road, the flash of light, the ascent to the hovering ship, and medical procedures often including anal probing (italics mine). You see where I'm going with this: the theory that many of these alien abductions are the by-products-the waste matter, if you will-of the use of midazolam. |