"Just because the best tailoring you've ever seen is above your f***king appendix doesn't mean anything!"

So I made it to the hospital in time for my 6:15am check-in. By 8:30 I was ready and waiting to be wheeled back into the OR. 5 minutes later it was sleepy time and then 2 hours later I was awake. I got a $50 discount because when I told them I was a quilter they let me sew myself up, so I used a bit of free motion quilting and hopefully the stitches will hold ... ;)

Unlike the last surgery I had (on my left eye in Atlanta) where my blood pressure esclated into the 200s after the anaesthetic wore off and it took me maybe 5 hours to get through recovery... here I warned everybody who would listen that my BP might do that and so they were able to control it and I was out and home by 2pm! :)

Boy am I sore now! Well I'm not in any great pain, but the area of my stomach feels it whenever I inadvertently stretch it... my throat is sore from the breathing tube, and oddly my shoulder blades ache something chronic! I wish I'd booked tomorrow off work, but I thought this would be a bit quicker and easier procedure... and plus I really need to keep hold of my meager days off because I'm sure I'll have a need for them when I need training for dialysis and goodness knows whatever else!

... I might call in sick though tomorrow if I'm really sore in the morning. We shall see. I've had a handful of sick days in 10 years of working, so it's not something I like doing, but if I'm aching too much I will do!

In other news the loss adjuster adjusterised the Jeep... and despite my fears of what value the insurance company would use, they didn't use the low trade-in value, and they didn't use the middle value price a private seller would charge... they took the mid-point between the private seller and the dealer price, which is a huge relief! That means we've about $5000 to look for a replacement vehicle with, about the same value as what we paid for the Jeep. There seem to be a choice of the same model we had, a slightly smaller model, or possibly some some 2-wheel drive options... most are year 2000 with around 140,000 miles, about the same as the old Jeep... but there's a 2003 with slightly higher mileage, and similar permutation!

We have a week to find something and then the insurance company stop paying for the rental car. If we can find something local our nice mechanic will give it a quick inspection gratis if we can stop by on a test drive... very kind indeed (though I'm sure a vehicle of that age and miles will be headed to him for attention at some points of its time with us haha!)


BTW, the quote is from the film "Withnail & I".

Righty ho, that's it. Thank you all for your kind wishes for the surgery.Send me some ache-relieving vibes if you get a moment :)