Click, click, click went the machine. Twice a second. It was a click like the sound of a jumping spark born of Van der Graaf generator. It was a click like the sound of clackers just as they are being wound up for a full wrist wrecking session.
It was a new experience for me. I was lying face down on a hospital bed trying not to think about the large machine pressed against my lower back. I closed my eyes and counted one and two and three. The clicking came from a Lithotripsy machine that was focussed on my left kidney to blast away a stone that had been with me for many years.
It was an odd sensation like someone kneeling on your back while flicking your insides with their forefinger. It was like a water torture. I wouldn’t say it was painful but it certainly had the capacity to be uncomfortable and as the operator turned up the energy I started to squirm. I’m sure he turned it up to eleven.
At first I tried to be cool. I put on my glasses and picked up a book but within a few minutes I was kidding myself. The words were a blur, they danced in front of my eyes and so I gave up. I had ten minutes to go and so I closed my eyes and started to count. Click, click, click went the machine. One and two and three. Twice a second. By the time I get to 600 it will all be done.
And then it was. I sat up and pulled myself together. I turned to the operator and asked ‘Do you hear that click in your sleep? He laughed ‘All the bloody time’.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 