Michael's big day (Reprise)

I have great news: Michael's surgery went very well! He was in and out pretty quickly, with no complications.

I stayed with him until about nine o'clock this morning, when they finally wheeled him off to the OR. The nurses gave him something they called "smile in a vial" at about 8:30 - and oh boy, that was smiles for me as well! Michael said some pretty goofy things while he was on that stuff. For example, when the surgeon's assistant asked him which side his herniated disc was affecting, he said - sounding completely surprised - "My left, but I never thought of that before!" As if he would have been there if he hadn't thought of it! After the SA left, I teased him about his funny comment, and he proceded to give a detailed explanation of why his comment was legitimate. :o)

When they finally took him to surgery, I went into the waiting room, where I had my breakfast and took a nap. The doctor came and woke me up around 10:35 or 10:40 to tell me the surgery had gone smoothly. Although the disc fragment came out easily, he joked that he thought he'd given birth to a baby - the fragment was huge, about the size of a large marble, judging by the size he showed me with his fingers. He said that the nerve looked very irritated, so he'd given Michael a shot of steriods to reduce the inflammation.

About an hour later, the receptionist in the waiting room notified me that they'd taken Michael from recovery to a private room. I went up to see him at about noon, and stayed there with him until 6:30, when I left to get food and feed the pets at home. When I first got in there with him, he was pretty groggy, but he gradually became more alert throughout the day. When I get back we're going to try to watch a movie on my computer, and hopefully they won't really make me leave when visiting hours officially end.

Speaking of which, I'd better head out...