The second part of this dream, which coincidentally came first, was admittedly even weirder than the pterodactyl pet thing.
I was in the hospital for some sort of surgery.
It was apparently a very lax hospital because I spent a lot of time wandering around and laying down on a hospital bed in the middle of a hallway. I guess they were very short-staffed and were borrowing people from other departments, but somehow nothing was very urgent because occasionally somebody would come by and glance down at my chart, then say, “Oh – Steve already looked at you…” and just walk away.
Eventually one doctor came by and said that I needed surgery, but that they couldn’t do it today so I’d need to come back tomorrow, as if just coming and going from a hospital at your leisure was the most natural thing in the world!
There was also some sort of weird bureaucracy going on because she noted that my nurse had wanted me to ask him for my pain medications instead of asking the doctor, which in reality sort of makes a bit of sense but during the dream it seemed kind of shady.
Anyways, I never did find out what the surgery was actually for. When I left the hospital, I went back home and did the pterodactyl thing for a while, then eventually told everyone I had to leave and went back to the hospital for my mystery surgery.
It wasn’t until I was walking through the doors that it clicked that I’d never actually had surgery before, and suddenly I felt very vulnerable and nervous and just wanted to tell my Mom and my wife that I loved them before they put me to sleep.