The doc agreed

We have pattern seeking brains.  Even to the extent of finding patterns which aren't real.  

For the past couple of days I have had a rheumatoid arthritis flareup which happens with some frequency.  When it happens, I can usually tell at the beginning whether it is going to be severe or just very painful.  This one started very painful but evolved over two days into severely painful causing me to switch pain relief from Vicodin to the stronger Percocet.  I usually don't switch mid-flare up and was being very careful about the transition.  You should not use the two medicines together and should ensure a certain number of hours between the two when moving from one to the other.  

In addition, you have to be careful regarding mixing with any alcohol as well as any other pain relievers such as aspirin or Tylenol.

I finally got to sleep at 12:30 am but then woke at 1:30 am with no prospect of further sleep.

Time to read.  Anything to distract one's mind from the pain.

My current mystery is Deep Freeze by John Sandford.  When I had put it down, Cain, a well-intended but spirited thug, had just been in a bar fight.  When I pick it up to read in the middle of the night, owing to immense pain and careful management of pain medication and alcohol; 

Virgil waited until Cain's arm was x-rayed and the duty doctor confirmed that it was broken. "Simple fracture, not terrible.  We'll put a cast on it.  Probably be on for three or four months, depending on the how fast you heal."

Cain, who was rapidly sobering up, said, "I got to quit this shit." 

The doc agreed and asked, "Aren't you the guy who got beat up by Ryan Harney's wife?" 

"Yeah, I guess. Been a bad week," Cain said. 

The doc said that because Cain had been drinking, and because he was going to need some painkillers, he wanted to keep him overnight until the alcohol had worn off. "I'm going to supervise the analgesics myself. I don't want you overdosing and dying, which would get me sued."

"That's nice, worried about getting sued while I'm dying," Cain said. 

The doc said, "People die all the time. I can live with that. It's the lawsuits that are a pain in the ass."

Woof.  That's regrettably on the nose.  The pattern is that the storyline in the book is following my current condition where I am being especially careful about mixing different analgesics with one another and with alcohol.

Of course, there is no pattern, mere coincidence.  But our brain wants there to be a pattern and is inclined to see significance when there is none.