In the PACU following my tethered cord release surgery, I woke up and was very loopy. I am also autistic and like to ask a lot of questions. Christina answers all my questions, no matter how many times I accidentally repeat them. I love cats, and she talked to me about her cats. I also noticed some pictures of dogs hanging up in the hallway, so she opened my curtain further so I could get a better look.

I needed a fidget, but I didn't have one, so she blew up a glove for me to play with. I bit my tongue and lip at some point, and she fed me ice chips. We also kept finding spots of dried blood with no wound, and she cleaned me up very gently and tried to identify the cause, which we could not, and found it very amusing. When she called the unit I was going to be admitted to, she described me as a nonbinary 24-year-old, which I super appreciated. Most medical professionals will describe me as female. I also wanted to feel my incision on my back, so she put a glove on my hand for me so I could feel what had been done.