Summary

In “Sleep No More,” Gabbert describes her experience contracting HPV in her twenties. Because her “case was stubbornly persistent,” her doctor recommended “a loop electrosurgical excision procedure” (163). The LEEP was meant “to remove all the abnormal,” potentially precancerous cells from her cervix (163). Because she was only given local anesthesia, the procedure was painful and uncomfortable. Worse still, Gabbert’s doctors informed her that the LEEP had not removed all of the abnormal cells. She had to have a “follow-up appointment,” during which she would be consciously sedated (165). During conscious sedation, the patient is given drugs that have “an effect like laughing gas” (165). This form of sedation also impacts the individual’s memory of it. The procedure went well for Gabbert.

This experience inspired Gabbert’s curiosity in other forms of anesthesia, including “twilight sleep,” induced during childbirth “by a...