i can remember a stretcher being rolled out of the back of an ambulance ; i can remember its sides being folded up , and how the overhead fluorescents put cold highlights on its chrome ; i can remember someone saying , 'cut it , you have to cut it off so we can at least look at it ' ; i can remember someone else - leigh , i think - saying 'do n't hurt him , please , do n't hurt him if you can help it ' ; i can remember the roof of an ambulance ... it had to be an ambulance because at the periphery of my vision were two suspended iv bottles ; i can remember a cool swab of antiseptic and then the sting of a needle .