Papagallo

While I was still getting some morphine,but was back in my room on the ward, they removed my catheter. I really was pretty happy about that, but there were enough tubes bringing things in and taking things out of my body, and I was still woozy enough from the morphine, that I knew there was no chance I would make it to the bathroom. I asked the nurse what I should do about this, and he told me to pee in the papagallo.

Now, for you Spanish and Italian students, you know that a papagallo is just their word for a parrot. I thought I had heard wrong. I could not imagine peeing into a parrot. I mean, look at the beak on the one above. Would you pee on him, leaving yourself exposed, so to speak. But maybe it was just the morphine talking.

I asked again what I should do if I needed to pee. Again, with a little annoyance, the nurse told me to pee in the papagallo. Okay, time to play along. I looked all over the room, but nary a bird did I see, certainly not a parrot who might be willing to let me pee in him. I told the nurse that I did not see any parrots, indeed, I did not see any birds. He pointed to the floor next to my bed and said: 'Right there'.

I looked. There was nothing there. My next bed over room mate started to chuckle. I told the nurse I saw nothing, and he looked, and ran out of the room, coming back carrying one of those little plastic devices that men can pee in when they are in bed. So I learned a new, apparently unofficial Italian word. I was relieved that I did not have to worry about any large, sharp beaked, angry wet birds soming after me.

But I need to tell you, I still have images of such birds in my mind, and I think I will forever think of the parrot as the mascot of Ospediale Il V Cervello.