Ensure you have somebody to take you home. Anesthesia and pain medication make it unsafe for you to get home on your own.
The Serbian brothers at Luka’s place offer me mushrooms. Invite me to watch them fuck the groupie pressed between them. I giggle when Luka says his friends are rock stars back home. Their music shears the membrane in my ears into a blade. We watch their threesome in Luka’s bedroom, in his apartment above 7-Eleven.
Understand precisely what procedure is planned, along with the risks and benefits.
Luka never has to wear a condom. Never gotten a girl pregnant. He’s ten years older and wiser. There’s a silver place in my belly where Luka empties his humours.
Let your health care team know what medications you’re taking. Some painkillers can cause bleeding after the procedure.
Weeks later, the silver place glows. A soft pulsation. A blood egg.
Ensure your doctor and the hospital know your advance care plan. If you don’t have one, you may want to prepare one. It lets others know your health care wishes. It’s advisable to have before any type of surgery or procedure.
Luka does not want to be forced to tell my parents but is going to call them right away if I don’t hurry up and get it over with.
Lisa Alletson grew up in South Africa and England, and now lives in Canada. Her recent work is published or forthcoming in Crab Creek Review, New Ohio Review, Typehouse Literary Magazine, Moist Poetry Journal, among others. You can find her on Twitter @LotusTongue.