Water Gate 2013

Anyone that knows me knows my love for water. Glorious clear liquid that I carry with me at all times. Have a headache and need to take a tablet? No worries, I've got some water. An itch in your throat or choking on a pretzel? I have you covered. That's what made the water situation so much worse.
There were a couple of days I had a tube down my throat. It was terrible! It felt like, well, it felt like having a tube down your throat. I remember trying to pull it out. I was on so much morphine I don't think my hands got close to the tube. Heck, I don't think my hands got more than a few inches off the bed!
I had just had the tube removed from my throat and the burning pain was on par with my overwhelming thirst.
I asked the nurse for some water.
She returned with a sponge. A sponge. A tiny cube atop a small stick. "This is all I can give you," she said. What?! The miniscule droplets of water I had to suck out of the tiny sponge did nothing to put out the flames of pain or satiate the thirst I had. Instead of helping relieve the Sahara like dryness in my mouth all the droplets did was turn the inside of my mouth into a glue factory. The resulting stickiness was so unbearable I had to ask for another sponge of water to 'drink' immediately.
"I'm not sure if I can give you another one so soon," said the nurse without even cracking a smile, "Let me go check with the doctor."
While she was gone my sister and my cousin came in. "Give me your water" I said. They claimed they had no water. "I know you have some, just let me have a sip, please." I begged. I pleaded. Nothing. Water water water. My mouth and throat were so dry.
"Please give me some of your water. The doctor said it was ok. Don't ask the nurse though. She knows nothing." Still no water touched my dry cracked lips. Finally, the nurse came back with another sponge.
Ok, no big deal you may be thinking, but this didnt last for hours. It lasted DAYS. Maybe it was one day. I'm not sure. I'm not very good with time. Regardless, it felt like an eternity.
I probably asked for water a few hundred times. I'm sure the nurses were tired of my constant requests. I began to feel like these nurses were around to do nothing more than bring me glasses of water one teeny tiny sponge at a time.