A touchable cloud
In this dream I was at the resort on daydream island - I can picture it so well, with the faint disinfectant smell in the corridors, the slightly dark corners, the mild tang of mustiness in our room. Sim and I had attended the bedside critical care conference here last year, and everything was just as I remembered it.
I was walking along the corridor in a hurry, and the place was deserted. I knew I had to get back to my room because I had to get changed to go on a trip to a beach somewhere.
As I walked, I realised I had no idea which room I was in, so I started looking around for something to prompt me. I walked past the stairwell where you can see the pool just next to the building, but strangely there was no-one in the pool. The sun shone brightly and the surface of the water glimmered.
I paused there for a second. The sky suddenly darkened and I looked up to see the rapid approach of a large rain cloud. It was thick, dense and grey, signifying the imminent onset of rain.
I thought for a moment that maybe our beach trip was going to be ruined. Then I realised the cloud was coming down towards the earth like it was going to smother the whole resort. It was moving sideways as well as downwards and as it got closer, I could feel a whoosh of cold air brush my face.
I reached out and touched the cloud as it moved past me. I could feel it just in my fingertips, a roughness that resembled unprocessed wool. Then I felt an edge and realised that I was holding the edge of the cloud in my hand.
Then I woke up.
Anaesthesia for prisoners
In this dream I'm moderately old, maybe around 50.
I receive an email from someone, which says that the newly elected government has deemed that prisoners have no human rights and thus will no longer receive free healthcare under this government. I feel suitably enraged.
The next scene, I am inside an operating theatre and I intuitively know that I'm inside a jail. Everything is absolutely ancient - the ventilator is operated with rusted levers and a bellows that sticks to the sides of the canister, there's halothane in the vaporiser, everything looks non-disposable.. It's a scene from the developing world of yesteryear.
I realise that I am working with a volunteer surgeon as a volunteer anaesthetist, and we are operating on a man's lung cancer. The surgeon tells me with great regret that the cancer is too far advanced and that he wouldn't be able to cure the man, but if he had been there just months before he may well have been able to complete the operation.
We exchange angry words about the government, and finish the case. We walk outside and join some other volunteer surgeons and anaesthetists, and discuss our next mission. As we leave the jail, it is quite dark outside. We go in separate cars to the next jail, and it starts raining along the way. I'm in the car with a handful of other doctors, but I seem to be only interested in looking out the window.
When we get to the other jail, it is on a hilltop surrounded by huge fences. I wonder if it's a super maximum security jail, then we pull up into an empty carpark. We look around for the entrance but don't seem to see any. The rain is quite heavy and we are all getting soaked.
Finally a guard points us around the corner, and when we get to the entrance it's actually a large noisy bar full of tourists. The entrance to the jail is through a bar? I think in the dream, but we need to be sober to keep operating.
Then I wake up.
In this dream I was at the resort on daydream island - I can picture it so well, with the faint disinfectant smell in the corridors, the slightly dark corners, the mild tang of mustiness in our room. Sim and I had attended the bedside critical care conference here last year, and everything was just as I remembered it.
I was walking along the corridor in a hurry, and the place was deserted. I knew I had to get back to my room because I had to get changed to go on a trip to a beach somewhere.
As I walked, I realised I had no idea which room I was in, so I started looking around for something to prompt me. I walked past the stairwell where you can see the pool just next to the building, but strangely there was no-one in the pool. The sun shone brightly and the surface of the water glimmered.
I paused there for a second. The sky suddenly darkened and I looked up to see the rapid approach of a large rain cloud. It was thick, dense and grey, signifying the imminent onset of rain.
I thought for a moment that maybe our beach trip was going to be ruined. Then I realised the cloud was coming down towards the earth like it was going to smother the whole resort. It was moving sideways as well as downwards and as it got closer, I could feel a whoosh of cold air brush my face.
I reached out and touched the cloud as it moved past me. I could feel it just in my fingertips, a roughness that resembled unprocessed wool. Then I felt an edge and realised that I was holding the edge of the cloud in my hand.
Then I woke up.
Anaesthesia for prisoners
In this dream I'm moderately old, maybe around 50.
I receive an email from someone, which says that the newly elected government has deemed that prisoners have no human rights and thus will no longer receive free healthcare under this government. I feel suitably enraged.
The next scene, I am inside an operating theatre and I intuitively know that I'm inside a jail. Everything is absolutely ancient - the ventilator is operated with rusted levers and a bellows that sticks to the sides of the canister, there's halothane in the vaporiser, everything looks non-disposable.. It's a scene from the developing world of yesteryear.
I realise that I am working with a volunteer surgeon as a volunteer anaesthetist, and we are operating on a man's lung cancer. The surgeon tells me with great regret that the cancer is too far advanced and that he wouldn't be able to cure the man, but if he had been there just months before he may well have been able to complete the operation.
We exchange angry words about the government, and finish the case. We walk outside and join some other volunteer surgeons and anaesthetists, and discuss our next mission. As we leave the jail, it is quite dark outside. We go in separate cars to the next jail, and it starts raining along the way. I'm in the car with a handful of other doctors, but I seem to be only interested in looking out the window.
When we get to the other jail, it is on a hilltop surrounded by huge fences. I wonder if it's a super maximum security jail, then we pull up into an empty carpark. We look around for the entrance but don't seem to see any. The rain is quite heavy and we are all getting soaked.
Finally a guard points us around the corner, and when we get to the entrance it's actually a large noisy bar full of tourists. The entrance to the jail is through a bar? I think in the dream, but we need to be sober to keep operating.
Then I wake up.
