Status

Today was certainly interesting. I had my surgery today, so the last food I ate was yesterday noon, last liquids at 10 pm last night.

Food: stopped at Fazoli's on the way home from surgery and got pasta alfredo with chicken and broccoli, added a handful of spinach sauted on bacon grease. Hmmm, good.
Liquids: very little, had a teapot of chamomile tea and a glass of red wine.
Exercise: 2 hour walk

Overall: the surgery went really well (I think). They sneaked up on me and I went under a general anesthesia before I knew it. No counting, nothing, all of a sudden I was in the recovery room and the clock on the wall said 2:30. Not too bad, I was under probably from about 12:30. The good thing is I feel very little pain, just a little bit discomfort. So, to celebrate my survival, we walked to CB & Potts on 120th Ave in a search for a cigar. Well, they don't sell them, but I found one at nearby liquor store. There you have it, I smoked one Romeo y Juillette and had a glass of Merlot (I did ask, it was OK to do so). The staff at Denver West Surgery Center was superb, made me feel really comfortable.
The scale at home claimed 195.2 before I left and I got on the scale at the center, 198.2. So our scale is about 3 pounds off, I was kind of expecting that. Not too bad, but yes, I was totally empty, but realistically, the 195 mark is not too far away. I have to take it a bit easy with my exercise now, but if I eat sensibly and at least walk, I should be OK.
I am filled with goodness, so far I only took 1 pain pill. If it goes like this, I hope not to have to take any more. That would be really cool.

Added on 6/12/05 - I forgot to mention the observable benefits of smoking a cigar on the evening of me doing so, so here it is. Background info first. They stuck an IV tube into me before the surgery, this is how they put you under. Well, my IV went into one of the vains on my right hand. Here comes the fun part after I smoked the cigar (it took me an hour). I noticed a large blue spot on my right hand, centered on the needle entry point and also, while I have a relatively light tan on my arms, my skin was freakishly white. The bruise was not there before and it was not there next day in the morning. Also, looking in the mirror next day in the morning, the skin color was back to normal light tan. There is only one explanation for the bruise on my hand and the whitish skin. The cigar just shut down my capillaries. Big time. My conclusion is that smoking while getting suntan on the beach is likely to dramatically increase your chances of severe sunburn (shut down capillaries, less blood, less nutrients and less UV filtering ability. Whod'da thunk it ...