Still Smiling

Well. Here he is today; a day after surgery;  laughing , smiling, joking and walking around with his drip. Our friend, Mark took us to the hospital on Wednesday. We had to be there at 7.30am. I set my alarm for 5am but inevitably woke at 3.20am having had a panic nightmare about sleeping through the alarm. I laid awake until almost 5am, switched off the alarm and woke John. It felt so strange, getting up early, putting bags in the boot, driving up the M25 and then not turning off for Gatwick.
On arrival at the hospital John was admitted to the pre-op ward and Mark and I waited in the waiting area. John  re-emerged to say goodbye clad in a dashing new black and white striped dressing gown. He looked like a giant humbug on a pair of hairy legs. We laughed and said goodbye. There was really no point in hanging around and I was home by 9am.
I knew he was third (and last) on the theatre list and that it would probably be 11am before he'd begin the operation so I decided to do what girls do in times of crisis and drove to Sevenoaks for a little retail therapy and a badly needed haircut. I'm very pleased with my new shoes!......and the bob.
The hours passed, no news, the phone rang and rang and still no news....just well-wishers. By 5pm I was beginning to feel just a little anxious and decided to ring the hospital. I was told that John was in the recovery room but he wasn't. In fact he was still in surgery until 6.30pm and the surgeon phoned me at 6.45 to tell me that the operation had gone well, as expected.
John remained in the recovery room for a long while, only going up to the ward at midnight. In the early hours he gave them all a scare with an alarming rise in his heart rate but the staff there soon got it under control. I'm bloomin' glad they never rang to tell me!!
John's dad took me to see him today. Considering what his body went through in the last 24 hours he looked remarkable. He was in good spirits and we laughed and joked quite a bit. His hands were a little swollen, his shoulders ached, he has an oxygen tube into his nose, his body hair's been shaved like he's featured in a Tom and Jerry cartoon and by the looks of it they super-glued his eyes together incase he woke up under the anaesthetic.
I love him.
Stella.
And finally via text message from John just now, a message for the blog"Feeling bruised and tired but relieved and looking forward to recovery."