Evidently, this was jamais vu

[jesse_the_k]

Yesterday I accompanied MyGuy to his colonoscopy. We entered a small room with a surgical bed, vitals station, the now-ubiquitous bedside computer, and a parking space for me. After he donned the hospital gown, nursing staff connected him to the vitals station, and started a saline drip. They wheeled him off to the procedure while I waited in the cubicle. I distracted myself with some Sherlock fanfic.

Suddenly the door was opening. An unfamiliar nurse was wheeling a complete stranger backwards into the space—I asked should I remove my husband’s clothing if someone else was using the room. She said, “Of course not, he will be putting them back on in a few minutes.” Seeing my puzzled face, she said, “Don’t you recognize him?” I was still stunned—who were these people? She swung the bed around so I could see his eyes. The estranged swirl of jamais vu vanished, and I saw his lovely face, his smile enhanced by recent doses of fentanyl and midazolam.

All went well, and 45 minutes later we were in the taxi back home. I’d read of the vu triplets—presque, déjà, jamais—in Catch-22 when I was a teenager, but this was my first experience of jamais vu.

Very disconcerting—have you experienced this?

Comments

[otter]

I'm not sure if I've had that happen. But did have a disconcerting experience last week. I passed someone on my way in to the grocery store. They looked familiar but I couldn't figure out why. I wanted to call them by my neighbor's name, which I also couldn't remember, but to whom they bore some similarity. So I stared at them and fumbled with words along the lines of "I think I know you, but..." and they finished "the pharmacy" . They work in the store and were waiting for a ride home after shift.

Brains are interesting creatures.

[jesse_the_k]

Brains are fabulous when reliable, mystifying when un-

[otter]

And I just remembered that I missed the turn onto my own street when driving home last night because I was thinking about what it looked like and it was momentarily unfamiliar. Maybe it happens to me more often than I keep track of.

[ride_4ever]

Yes, sometimes I get flashes of this when walking or driving in a familiar neighborhood. It makes for a very strange moment.

[jesse_the_k]

Felt like I'd time traveled or some such.

[ride_4ever]

...although with time travel the place might still look somewhat familiar, just older or newer....

Fraser knows from delusions

[jesse_the_k]

...and experiences like these could definitely seed narratives of parallel universes and magic possession.

Re: Fraser knows from delusions

[ride_4ever]

Hmmm...the time travel element is making me think of that due South fic inspired by The Time Traveller's Wife where RayK is the time traveller....

Re: Fraser knows from delusions

[jesse_the_k]

Ooooo! Did a quick search on your journal and didn't find a link -- care to share?

Re: Fraser knows from delusions

[ride_4ever]

The Heart's Compass by zabira. (Note: it's locked for AO3 users -- you have to be logged in to AO3 to access it.)

Re: Fraser knows from delusions

[jesse_the_k]

Thanks so much!

(I remember zabira fondly--I may have read this when it was posted to an LJ comm. Due South was my first web fandom back in 2007. (My first online fandom was alt.tv.x-files.creative, where one had to hope the packet gods brought all the separate posts of a fic to one's own server.))

[sheafrotherdon]

A lesser form of this is, I think, when we see people out of context? My bestie was at my place of work the other day, and I saw her and knew she was familiar and yet couldn't place her because why would she be at my place of work? It took several beats before the confusion cleared and I realized who it was.

[jesse_the_k]

One wants to think our brains are capable and dextrous, and yet when the contexts slides just a little bit to the east, I'm all huh?

[sheafrotherdon]

Yes! It's so wild and disconcerting!

[seascribble]

I didn't know about that! That's quite alarming. I am glad it was quick?

[jesse_the_k]

Quick indeed--I was back in my head in less than 30 seconds.

Good news is it provided me with empathy for folks with dementia or Capgras delusion

[julian]

Yep. While driving, I sometimes space just a little, and then I have to re-remember where I am. It's *weird*.

[jesse_the_k]

The stuff of parallel universes!

[lunabee34]

Ooh interesting. I bet that was pretty disconcerting.

[jesse_the_k]

Oh my yes.

[j00j]

How unsettling! I've definitely had the failure to recognize people outside of context, especially given that I'm slightly face blind, but so far not people I know well.