That Time I Tripped Out on Ketamine

If you’ve been to this space before, you know that I’m a pedestrian versus truck (Ford F-150) accident survivor, it’s in my profile too. In late 2023 to early 2024, for 83 days I was moved between different hospitals and facilities including a trip out of a hospital when they needed my bed.

I was sent to what can less than charitably be called an “unskilled nursing facility”

In November of 2023, I was sent to what can less than charitably be called an “unskilled nursing facility,” though under California law they are suppose to be a skilled nursing facility, known as a “Sniff” for the acronym SNF by industry insiders (I learned so much during my 83 days, most of them immobile, including industry acronyms and hospital emergency codes).

During the procedure they determined that they had not given me enough of the drip in my IV because I was screaming out in pain. I didn’t remember this, which was a blessing. I had a very different feeling when I came out of the sedation: complete euphoria. I felt like I was floating on air, on a cushion of clouds. No pain, no discomfort at all. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so good or happier than I did at that moment. I’ve been watching the new Vince Gilligan show PLUR1BUS on AppleTV, and if you familiar, I suspect how I felt is how the hive mind felt after the joining. I was also hallucinating.

I was tripping hard, I made the following declaration, “Vanessa! I enjoy Luc Besson movies!”

Mercy Hospital the oldest hospital in San Diego was a Catholic Hospital that merged with Scripps Health in 1995. Scripps Mercy Hospital in a small way maintained its Catholic identity, there are small crucifixes in every room and in each ER bay. In my euphoric state of mind I was enjoying that the crucifix in my bay had morphed into five and they were dancing around the bay. Vanessa, the ER Nurse who I had taken a liking to came in to check on me. I was tripping hard, I made the following declaration, “Vanessa! I enjoy Luc Besson movies!” I was way too high to gauge her reaction, but an eye-roll would have been appropriate. I did, however, hear the answer. “That’s okay Johnny, you relax.” And relax, I did, it was the best relaxation ever. I was enjoying the minutes of euphoria immensely until it finally wore off. It was then that I decided that, in the future, I should try to stay away from ketamine at all costs.

Matthew Perry died of “the acute affects of ketamine.”

On October 28, 2023, the day after I was hit by the truck, Matthew Perry died of “the acute effects of ketamine.” Perry was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy. Ketamine infusion therapy is used to treat depression with micro-doses of ketamine. Matthew Perry was struggling with drug abuse and depression, apparently liked the way he felt on ketamine, and was willing to pay thousands of dollars for more of the drug. He was supplied by a doctor who had a profit motive to provide him more than a micro-dose. Having experienced a ketamine high, I know why Mathew Perry sought out more than a micro-dose: it would be hard to settle on a micro-dose. Instead, I’ll stay “high on life,” having been given the chance to keep living back in 2023, by continuing to write, telling people my story, and writing my own stories, and scripts.

Originally published at https://johnnypappas.substack.com.