WE’RE BACK. IT’S DONE.

SUNDAY (+ 2 days) – First of all, I’m sorry I haven’t added to the blog for a critical few days but it’s been a little strange. Allow me to explain.

Friday was paced on hospital time. Marcia got me there promptly at 6 am and even though the same clerks were on duty and greeted me “Not you again!” we still had to fill out the same paperwork we filled out 24 hours earlier. It was 6:45 before the anesthesiologist showed, looked at our tests results and said we could be operated on. Dr. F, the surgeon, rolled in around 7:15, He had on a freshly pressed gray suit and a pink dress shirt unbuttoned to the waist and at the cuffs, He asked about the anesthesiologist and then said “Cool.”

I walked unassisted into OR #3 at exactly 7:45. It was unusually cold but they quickly put a warm blanket over me. A quick prick on the top of my left hand and the next thing I know I was in a nice warm, bigger room and Nurse Nancy was talking to me.

“Is it over?”

“It’s over,” she said. “It went very smoothly.”

“What time is it?”

“9:30.”

“Can I see my wife?”

Seconds later, there was Marcia. I can’t remember seeing anyone so beautiful. I tried to give her a huge smile. She was with Joan. They were both kicked out of the recovery room too few minutes later. I wasn’t transferred to a recovery unit on the 13th floor until about 1 pm. The nurses there were all professional but they all warned I would be released the following morning.

From the beginning the pain was tolerable. In the beginning, whatever they gave me when I complained, more than did the trick. So far, it’s gotten better every day. Dr. F finished a long day of surgery and showed up in the ward at 7 pm. Wearing exactly the same outfit (yeah, right down to the unbuttoned shirt cuffs) he took one look at me and said: “Marc, you look cool. Go home. Get out of here.”

I was gone before they had a chance to give me all the necessary prescriptions.

Back home, Marcia has been a Saint e. There’s no way I would have survived without her support.

I slept until 4 pm Saturday. I slept until 2 pm today. I expect to go to work tomorrow. (It depends when I can wake up and get dressed.)

I feel better every day. And, oh yeah, I weighed in at 263.4 lbs, today.

Tomorrow, I think I’ll have the nerve to give up a complete accounting.