The Ibuprofen they gave me for the pain is hardly controlling the throbbing in my knee. I thought they would have given me something stronger, like Percocet or Morphine, but maybe they thought it best not to get me hooked on Opioids. Well, as long as I don’t move much it’s manageable. It’s incredible how purple and large it’s gotten. If it keeps going like this it may end up like an eggplant. They took an x-ray of it, so the doctor should be coming back soon.

  After my levels were back to normal they were able to do a CT scan. They said my seizure lasted over five minutes, which is pretty serious. One of the nurses jokingly asked if I was an organ donor, or at least I hope it was a joke. I heard they sell organs in some Asian countries. I told her no, just in case.

  I was dazed for about an hour but was able to fall asleep for a little bit, I wasn’t able to get back into that dream world though. At least if I did, I don’t remember it. Such an odd feeling. I’ve had vivid dreams before, dreams that draw me in and make me not want to leave. Dreams that leave me with a euphoric feeling.

  Usually, those are dreams where I’m surrounded by beauties and I’m some type of hero or king. Sometimes I’m a billionaire on a yacht surrounded by beauties. I guess the common theme is being surrounded by beauties. But I’ve never had a dream where I felt heat or pain.

  “Alright Mr. Foster, we have your results.”

  Sadly Dr. Joyce left and now I have Dr. Bakshi. Not that I’m upset, maybe a little disappointed though as Dr. Joyce was pretty easy on the eyes. But I have to say, he has Bollywood good looks and a very impressive mustache. He would probably do well in those mustache competitions.

  I bet he was an action star, and just one day decided to become a doctor. Or maybe a soap opera actor. I’d expect nothing less from L.A. Is it wrong that I stereotyped him as having a thick accent though? I should probably stop making assumptions about everyone.

  “First your knee. It's dislocated as we had assumed. The good news is we do not believe it will require surgery, there are no signs of damage, but we will need to put it back in place. However, before that, we’ll need to aspirate the knee.”

  “Aspirate?”

  “There is a lot of fluid that has pooled around the joint cavity that we will need to remove. We’ll fit you for a brace and crutches here, but you’ll most likely need about 4-6 weeks of physical therapy. Unfortunately, we have a bigger concern, it is regarding your CT scan. We need to ask you a few questions.”

  My CT scan? Do I have a crack or a fracture or something? I haven’t seen or felt the bump they were talking about earlier.

  “We saw an abnormality in your left frontal lobe, do you know anything about this?”

  An abnormality? What the hell is an abnormality, why such a vague term?

  “No. What do you mean by abnormality? Do you think... do you think it's cancer or something? Is it something serious?”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “We’re not too sure as of right now so I don’t want to speculate. We’ll need to run some more tests. Do you currently see a neurologist?”

  “I do, but he’s in New York. I haven’t been in L.A. for too long and I haven’t had a chance to find a local doctor.”

  That’s a lie. I’ve been here for over a year but honestly, I hated going to my neurologist. He had great reviews, but all he ever did was write me prescriptions and ask if I’ve had any seizures in the last year while testing my reflexes. I felt like I just went in there to play “head and shoulders, knees and toes” with him or Simon Says. But as long as he wrote me scripts I didn’t care too much. He was still sending scripts to the pharmacy, and I was able to transfer them out here so it worked.

  But I don’t remember him saying anything about abnormalities. I haven’t had any tests for almost 10 years, could this be something that occurred during that time? Or was it something he never picked up on? I really should have looked for a different neurologist.

  “I’m going to refer you to a few, but tomorrow morning we’re going to have a neurologist on staff speak with you.”

  “You’re not releasing me tonight?”

  “We don’t recommend it. I would like for you to stay for at least 24 hours for observation. The neurologist will probably want to have an EEG and MRI performed. It would also be good if we can get any records from your doctor regarding your epilepsy.”

  “I don’t have epilepsy; it’s a seizure disorder.”

  “Yes, seizure disorder is a softer term for epilepsy. Regardless, it will still be good if we can have your records transferred over to the neurologist to review.”

  Seizure disorder and epilepsy mean the same thing? When did this happen? I’ve always thought they were two different things. Did the doctor assume I was sensitive and I wouldn’t be able to handle the news? Or is this guy wrong? He’s not a neurologist.

  “We’re going to move you into a room for the night as soon as one opens up. For now just rest here.”

  Always “rest here”, “just relax.” As if I need them to tell me that. I’m starting to think these people are part of some cult that focuses on healing yourself through rest and relaxation. I need to be careful and make sure I’m not dragged into something.

  But this really sucks. If they don’t release me, I’m probably going to miss work tomorrow. I can’t afford to miss work. I don’t have much sick leave, and to use vacation time you need to request the time off in advance. They can probably make an exception, but I don’t know if they will, and besides, I only have a few days of that as well.

  Wait, how am I going to work with a dislocated knee? There’s no way I can help customers on the floor if I need to use crutches. I can’t afford to lose this job. It’s the only thing I’ve been able to get while waiting for something better. And there's no way someone will hire me with a dislocated knee.

  I hope I can figure something out. Maybe I can make an arrangement with the manager. Work the register or greet people possibly. I’m not too sure how being injured and unable to work is handled. They’re a small place, so certain laws don’t apply to them. If it was on the job then there would be workers comp, but this was outside of work.

  Nothing seems to be working out the way I had hoped here. First, the job I came here for was forced to lay me off. And then it became almost impossible to find anything in my field. The problem is there are a limited number of jobs here but a large number of universities and students. Why hire someone like me who would demand a higher salary when you can pay some kid fresh out of college almost half the wage?

  To think, I left my secure job in New York because of the weather. I just wanted to live somewhere near palm trees and the ocean, how foolish was I? Sure, I had to deal with snow, but the benefits were good, I was vested in the retirement system, and I was long past the probationary period.

  I’m feeling tired again. And I’ve run into an issue, how am I supposed to go to the bathroom while being unable to walk and hooked up to all of this? I’m surprised they haven’t asked me yet. I hope they don’t plan to catheterize me.