Monday mid-day

After a day marked by remarkable calm and strength, and an evening marked by a couple of bursts of quite understandable jitters, and thanks to the miracle of modern pharmaceuticals, everyone in apartment 10C managed to sleep last night. We were at Beth Israel Admitting (which is also the Surgical Waiting room--more about that in a later post, from home rather than a creepy 14th Street internet cafe) at 5:45. Mickey filled out several hundred pages of forms and at 7:00, when he was tagged and gowned, I bade him farewell. At 11:45 the orthopedic surgeon, who is the team leader and a great guy, called me on my cell from the OR to say that phase one had gone very well, and that they were about to start on phase two, from the back.

I figure phase two will take just as long, so he won't be in recovery until the cocktail hour (at least that's how Mickey would parse the day.) His Mom's coming down this afternoon and I imagine if we're able to see him at all, it will be briefly, and in the evening.

More soon.