December 14th, 2004
The Day in Pictures
This is Michel sitting in the kitchen waiting for it to be time to head off to the hospital. Surprisingly, Michel was not the least bit nervous. She was just anxious to have the surgery so the pain that she has had since her fall back in July would go away.
Here is Michel waiting at the hospital for the surgery. She is listening to London Calling by The Clash. The surgery was scheduled for 3:30 but they wanted us there at 1:30. The problem with showing up on time is that you have to wait.
The surgery was over in almost exactly three hours which is what the doctor told us it would take. It went perfectly and I got to see Michel in recovery about an hour after the surgery was over. Michel’s first words when I saw her in recovery were, “I love my shunt.” (This is a reference to the Julia Sweeney movie, God Said, “Ha!”) The pain between her shoulders was gone for the first time since July. Amazing!
Michel was brought up to the room fairly quickly. She is sore but in good spirits. And she is bald. Completely bald. Totally bald. But she is still beautiful. The next surgery is scheduled for 7:30 AM on Thursday.
Anonymous wrote,
Damn good news Tom. Your wife is freaking awesome!! I am so glad everything went so well.
Gregg Bolinger
Link | December 14th, 2004 at 11:58 pm
Map wrote,
Maaaaaaaaan… This bald woman looks sexy!
Link | December 15th, 2004 at 12:16 am
Helen wrote,
Great news, Thomas. She looks awesome even after major surgery. A real little soldier.
Link | December 15th, 2004 at 1:10 am
Helen wrote,
In the last two photos Michel looks like a happy Buddhist monk or abbess. It’s the red dot between her eyebrows. The effect of calipers? Anyway she looks like she is doing great. I normally don’t like looking at surgical photos or even hospital dramas.
Link | December 15th, 2004 at 1:52 am
Anonymous wrote,
Unbelieveable — what a great attitude. I’m so happy this went well.
–EFH
Link | December 15th, 2004 at 8:00 am
Anonymous wrote,
Just like Michel to take this in stride. Annmarie
Link | December 15th, 2004 at 9:00 pm
Tom P. wrote,
About the “red dot”… it was actually a black dot. Apparently the surgeons use a marker to track where they are going to make the incisions and the black dot was probably from the marker.
Link | December 20th, 2004 at 10:16 pm