__

There was nothing to say after my dad's surgery. None of us knew how to talk about it. Through the recovery process, the Ionescu-Shiley valve, for all its cow-ness, became a bit of funny folklore in my family. I began trying to write about that particular object (a fascinating one to me) and was totally overwhelmed by all of the medical terms I'd need to communicate. Thus, the word bank was born as a joke. And the science test answer key after that until it all became a way to illustrate the disturbing embodiment of practical knowledge when it's divested from its textbook meaning and forced into a place of emotional significance.