The Other Side of Mayo

I will probably not make this a long post as I am forced to use our laptop instead of the pc. Not being a touch typer it just seems tougher on this thing, although I can sit in the recliner while I am pecking away at the keys and backspace buttons. Jan- The Saint- and I got home from Rochester yesterday around 5pm after a mostly unexciting trip, I have got to get her to drive more in traffic. She did drive back and forth from Gen and Steve's a few times, all it takes is experience. It seems kind of redundant to recap the festivities as there seems to be information out on the net, but here goes. We walked into Methodist early last Friday like a lamb to slaughter. I think that I knew I was in for it when they rolled me into the operating room there were at least 8 to 10 people waiting for me. The next thing that I knew I was in recovery 10 hours later. I gotta tell you readers out there, the next 24 hours were the worst time I have ever spent in my life, although I have told you what a charmed life I have gotten by with so far. Saturday I thought I could easily die here in this bed. When I was still alive and kicking Sunday morning I finally realized how tough it is going to be when I really do step off this moving sidewalk of life. With a 7 day stay in the hospital that wasn't even ICU gave me a new appreciation of what some other acquaintances have gone through. Like my daughter Rachel's brother in law who was severely injured in the same accident that she broke her arm, and the GIs that we in the PGR have welcomed home from the sand box and Afghanistan with incapacitating lifelong injuries. These young people have a long row to hoe at least I am 64 and retired with a fantastic family for support. I have been able to write this note while putting lunch in my tummy, because I am taking everything in through a tube up the nose and into the stomach. I did finally get some mouthwash last night and it the first thing I have been able to taste in a week. The bone to repair the jaw was-harvested-from the small bone in the lowere lag along with associated tissue veins and arteries, this necessitated a skin graft from the thigh on the other leg. The whole shooting match was then used to patch out what jaw bone had been removed. The artery and the veins were patched in on either side of the neck, which means I will have a scar from ear to ear. To allow me to breathe a tracheotomy was done. Right now I am waiting this to heal up. The old body is starting to look more or less normal except for a lot of swelling around my neck, although Jan says "you should have seen yourself after surgery". Oh, ya, I also have not shaved yet so I getting a little bristly. I think that it is time for my nap and Jan needs to get a few things uptown. I would have to say that I am proof positive of the power of prayer. Thanks to everyone that prayed for me in locations all over the world, believe me I, or we could feel it!!