[Robert Urbanek]

I had outpatient surgery on October 30. A post-procedure complication prompted me to increase my home care arrangement from 24 hours to three and a half days. The caregivers were prompt and reliable and their company helped raise my spirits.

Upon her arrival, one of them, a beautiful young woman from an Islamic country, sought my comments on her issues with her boyfriend. I agreed with her sister than she should dump him.

Another caregiver, with 30 years’ experience, became addicted to the TV show I was watching, Sanctuary, and asked her husband to find that show on their streaming service. I discovered we both liked the same Slavic-style potato pancakes, and I shared my mother’s recipe with her.

Another caregiver was a bearded man in his mid-20s who arrived in a white pickup truck. I asked him what kind of music he liked, expecting an interest in country western music. He said his favorite singer was Frank Sinatra and he especially liked the song “My Way.”

To my surprise, two of the caregivers were familiar with the Mandela Effect, in which people share “wrong memories” of different people, places and things — evidence, perhaps, of access to a parallel universe or an alternative timeline.

I seem to have full recovered from the surgery and the scar is quickly fading.