Member-only story
Hospital Dreams About Absolut Vodka
From the Ads on the Hospital TV
I was in the middle of my two-month hospital stay recovering from my bone marrow transplant. I noticed on the hospital tv that. there were a lot of ads for Absolut vodka.
“Well,” I thought to myself, in a semi-drugged state from some pain or another, “that’s something I can enjoy when I get out of here.”
The only thing wrong with that plan was I had been sober for 33 years.
But logic flies out the window when you’re on painkillers, and I don’t regard painkillers as an affront to my sobriety. They were doctor-administered and part of my care.
My dreams were full of Absolute Vodka.
Absolut and a meal. Absolut and a cheese and summer sausage plate. Absolute straight FROM THE BOTTLE.
Here’s the thing — I never drank vodka when I was drinking. I drank everything else, never vodka.
Perhaps my addled mind thought that since it was on a hospital screen, that made it okay. But I doubt the hospital had any control over that. There were plenty of ads for Charlemagne the God, and I wasn’t obsessed with him.
When I got off the painkillers, my sober mind returned, and I realized my situation and accomplishment. 33…
