A Face ....

.... even a "cat person" can love:

This is Sarge.
He's my brother's dog and he is THE coolest dog ever.

He and my brother love each other ..... a lot.

Sarge always seems to understand everything my brother says to him.  Seriously.
He understands and follows directions better than most children!  I think they need to Google "cloning a cool dog" and see how they accomplish that (since they don't have the option of using him to make puppies anymore).

Anyway .... things are going pretty well up here in the "higher 1".  I'm guessing that's how everyone here describes Alaska (even though I've never heard anyone say it .... and I think I just made it up), because they always say "the lower 48" for anywhere else.
Get it?  Higher 1?
Alright, so that was pathetic.
Whatever.

The surgery went well yesterday, according to the dr.  We got to the hospital at 7:30.  They called him (and me) back around 8:00 to start getting him prepped.  The surgery was scheduled to begin at 9:30, but they didn't take him back until 10:00.
Once they had possession of him I went to the cafeteria to get something to eat and then settled in with lots of wholesome reading material (this week's People magazine .... which surprised me with a small piece on Matt's book in the "books" section!!) for what I was told would be an hour long, to an hour and a half, surgery.
Noon came .... and went.
Two o'clock came .... and went.
And then I couldn't read.
I couldn't concentrate.
And, however hard I tried .... I couldn't stop my mind from .... "going there".
I wondered what the hell was going on back there, what might have "gone wrong" ..... and what would I do if something had.
I knew that nothing had "gone wrong".
But then, I knew that 3 1/2 years ago, too ..... while waiting for another surgery to end ..... hours after it was supposed to.
And ..... I was wrong then.

Three o'clock came .... and went.
And then finally .... at 3:15 or so,  someone came out and called my name .... kind of.  I was never so happy to have my name mispronounced!
I followed the person through a maze of hallways (knowing for certain that, left on my own, I'd never find my way out of that hospital!).
He pointed to a curtained bay and I went in and found my brother sleeping peacefully.  His nurse came in and said hi and told me that he was doing well.
He heard us talking and opened his eyes and said hi .... and seemed very, very alert for someone who had just come out of surgery.
Interestingly enough ..... he had NOT just come out.  He had been out of surgery for over 3 hours.
Yes.  Three.  Tres.  Trois.  Tre.  Drei.  Tribus (yes, that's Latin).
Use whatever language you'd like .... it's still THREE stinkin' hours that I sat in the waiting room, not knowing the surgery was over.  One FULL hour of trying not to imagine the horribleness of "what if".

His nurse was horrified that no one had updated me.  At all.
She had called the desk and told them when he came out of surgery.
But I guess they didn't think it was necessary to pass that info on.
Yes, she was horrified.
My brother .... was horrified x 100.
Or maybe even x 1 million.
Because he knew.
Instantly.
He knew that I would have "gone there" .... without me having to say a word.

Oh well.
Crap happens.
But I was so relieved that he was alive and healthy and had a good-sized incision in his back that I just let it go.  After being a wee bit angry for a few minutes.  :)

After another two hours or so we were cut free from the hospital and came home.
He's doing remarkably well .... as long as we keep him on top of the pain meds.  Which is sometimes easier said than done.

And in spite of the surgery, the pain and the second hand smoke .... we're having a great time.
It's been wonderful to just sit (he's living every man's dream .... the doctor said he had to spend most of his awake time in a recliner for the next two weeks.  Now, if only he could drink alcohol we'd have a cooler next to the recliner!) and talk.
And laugh.
We do a lot of laughing.  We always have (well .... as adults anyway).  When he, my sister and I are together ..... someone always comes close to wetting their pants from laughing.  I won't say who ..... but I am the oldest.  If my mom is with us .... it's totally her.  :)

So we're talking, and laughing.
And remembering, and laughing.
And comparing, and laughing.
And dreaming .... and laughing.
I think that all of this laughter is a little hard on his back, but I don't think he minds too much.  And he can't say he didn't know it would happen.

As for my care-taking .... it hasn't been too bad.
He tried to tell me .... right away .... that this is how he would let me know he needed something:

Yeah .... that didn't go over.
At all.

I did manage to feed the dog.  Don't roll your eyes .... he's huge and the dish is very heavy!
We had take out Chinese for dinner last night .... I took it out of the sacks and put it all on the table.
Oh .... and I drove to get it!

Tonight I made dinner .... I re-heated the left over Chinese.
Don't judge me.

I did offer to do laundry, but he said he had none.
I've offered a couple of other things, but he always says no.
Last night, when I started cleaning up the Chinese and putting things away he said, "I feel bad that you're doing that."
I turned and looked at him like he had three heads.
What?  Why??
He said he just did.
I reminded him that I was here to help him out.  But I guess he doesn't really want help.  He just wants to laugh.
I can do that.

Oh .... he did tell me that if I really wanted to help I could go wash his car.
Yeah.
Ummmmm ..... I'll get right on it.

Right after I make some homemade bread, sheer the sheep, spin some wool into thread ..... and go work in the garden.
Right.
On.
It.

I may have to go buy some Depends.

Happy Thursday/Friday, Peeps.
:)