Getting ready to veg . . . .

Today is my last whole day at home before the surgery. I am leaving tomorrow for 10 days for the shore and then come home on Wednesday night and go to surgery Thursday morning. Then I probably won't be home for another 14-19 days, depending on rehab. This is both scary and sad. I am so sad about missing my poor Queenie. I know what you're thinking---what about the husband? Well, I will get to see him but I doubt there is visiting hours for the dog (although I am definitely going to check with Bryn Mawr Rahab). I mean ---- what is more therapeutic than a dog's touch or a kiss from the pooch? Anyway, that is one of the things I will miss the most about being away. Gabe tells me that dogs have no memories of being away from you. Somehow I don't find that reassuring.

Of course I will miss my family but I will try to Facetime, Skype and talk on the phone but not until after the morphone. Come to think of it, it might be a pretty great entry if I write a post while on the morphine! You get very good drugs when you have a knee replacement.

I will miss my great big screen TV and how Gabe watches The O'Reilly Factor each night while I read and try not to listen. Needless to say, our political views are starkly different. But I will still miss hearing him yell at the TV, flip the channels on the remote, settling somewhere between the WWII on the history channel and the tattoo guys on Discovery. I can only hope my roommate has the same remote flipping tendencies.

I will miss my soft bed and my room air conditioner that makes it feel like the morgue. Menopause has nothing on me when I got to bed at night. I have discovered the way to get rid of hot flashes is to keep the room at 37 degrees and to hell with pajamas. I hope my roommate likes the room cold!

I will miss good food and those midnight raids to the fridge for cold spaghetti and Doritos. My only hope is that the food is so bad I loose weight and come out looking like a fashion model. Somehow I don't think that will happen in 19 days but I might loose a few pounds and every pound helps.

Most of all I WON'T miss the pain. There will be a long period where things will look worse than when I started but eventually there is light at the end of the tunnel. I have been in such pain for over a year now that I am ready to surrender. Whatever it takes. Lay it on me baby!

So, for the next 10 days I will be dreaming at the shore of pain free days and nights--just sitting on the porch feeling a nice sea breeze, reading a trashy novel and dreaming. Sounds worth it!