Did Michael Jackson crave anesthesia?

"Walking on Air" by Jamieasur

This story--including news and commentary--was among the ingredients in one of my Stew of News, but I decided that given the interest in the subject matter, it should be a meal on its own.

News of Michael Jackson's interest in a drug used to anesthetize patients during surgery to help him sleep surfaced yesterday when a nurse who allegedly knew him and had treated his kids said he said he needed the drug to sleep.

Here are the details along with additional comments.

Michael Jackson suffered from severe bouts of insomnia and pleaded for a powerful sedative despite knowing its harmful effects, a nutritionist who worked with the singer told CNN Tuesday.

Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse who first met Michael Jackson in January to treat his children for a common cold, said she rejected his requests for Diprivan, which is administered intravenously as an anesthetic during surgeries.

"I told him this medication is not safe," Lee said. "He said, 'I just want to get some sleep. You don't understand. I just want to be able to be knocked out and go to sleep.' "

"I told him...'if you take this you might not wake up'," she added.

UPDATE: On Friday, one day after I posted this story, it was reported that Los Angeles police did find Diprivan in Michael Jackson's house.

This drug reportedly is an and out of the body in a flash, so some are concerned it might not show up in the toxicology tests. However, if Michael had been using it frequently, wouldn't a hair analysis--provided he had at least a strand still attached, somewhere--show traces of it?

An initial dose of Diprivan, or the generic Propofol, puts a person to sleep. An overdose can lead to cardiac arrest.

Lee is licensed as a registered nurse in California. According to her website, she is a proponent of alternative medicine that uses a holistic approach.

She said that four days before Jackson's death, she received a call from a Jackson staff member who said the singer felt that one side of his body was cold; the other hot.

"I could hear Mr. Jackson saying in the background, 'Please have her come see me now. Can she come now?' "

Lee, who was in Florida at the time, said she told Jackson's staffers to take him to a hospital.

"I was really afraid because of the symptoms they were telling me," she said. "It could have meant something going on in the nervous system or something cardiovascular."

Lee could not say why Jackson would call on her, when the last time she saw him was three months ago.

"I asked him, 'What doctor gave you this drug?' " she said, when the singer initially brought up the medicine. "He told me, 'Oh it was a long time ago.' "

Did chasing bliss lead to a new face?

I can't count the times I've wished I could be put to sleep with an anesthetic drug for an hour or two every once in a while just to "reset."

To be totally unconscious and unaware of my existence, experiencing absolutely nothing during that time...to rest from oneself and one's environment and circumstances, to cease being for a while--wouldn't that be heaven?

I think the hours following a relatively minor surgery for which one is put under general anesthesia can be among the best in life...unless one is really messed up. The remnants of drugs used to induce that blissful medically induced coma, which are still circulating in the body right after the procedure, can make those some of the most relaxing hours--ever. And that can be priceless for those who find it hard to relax.

Now, don't go getting all excited and bothered. I'm not suggesting we switch our nature sounds and meditation music DCs, massages and breathing exercises for anesthesia. I'm just daydreaming here for a moment--okay?

I've only experienced this type of bliss a couple of times in my life following outpatient surgery, but I distinctively remember feeling like I was floating by without a care in the world while everything and everyone around me moved a bit too fast. Nothing could bother me. Nothing. And that, my friends, is a powerful sensation that one can't get enough of yet must learn to live without.

Maybe that's why Michael had multiple facial plastic surgeries. Maybe it was not all about looks. Maybe that was secondary. Maybe after the first surgery, he got to know what it's like to float gleefully and unaffected by a frantic world. Maybe, just maybe, that's what kept him going back for more.

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Some recently posted MJ stories:
Michael Jackson dies after cardiac arrest, posted June 25
Stars will shine in wake of Michael Jackson's death, posted June 26
Michael Jackson -- What the doctor ordered? posted June 27