What a difference a day makes

Well, okay, it's been two days since I posted. I would have posted yesterday, but there was nothing new to show you, only news. I'll save that for the moment.

I finished John's socks yesterday. Once I reached the toes on both socks, I continued with great trepidation, eyes constantly on the ever-shrinking ball of yarn. The first one finished was the sock with the majority of yarn. I had enough. I breathed a sigh of relief. Then, I picked up the second sock, the one with the tiny ball of yarn attached and jumped right in. Surprisingly, I managed to make it to about 8 rows shy of finishing the toe. There was, thankfully, enough left from the other sock to finish both.

For your viewing pleasure (do I hear ooooohs and ahhhhhhs?)... it's a pair of socks.

It's a very basic pair of socks. Details? Here we go... The yarn is Trekking XXL, colour #155, done on 2.5 mm double-pointed needles, 72 stitches, one inch of 1x1 rib and the remainder worked in 3x1 ribbing. John likes the way the 3x1 ribbing hugs his feet.

And speaking of John, ready for the continuing (hopefully, soon to be ending) saga?

After Friday's post, there was a message on the phone from his doctor's office (they called while I was on the phone with John, apparently) letting us know they had an appointment made for us, so I called back for the details. He was to go to Kamloops on Monday morning; there was a distinct possibility the surgery to repair the second tear would be done on Tuesday and the surgeon would want to see him again first thing Wednesday morning. That meant we'd have to stay in Kamloops for two nights. Notice that all of that is in the past tense?

About an hour after all the calls back and forth to different doctor's offices, I got a call from the doctor in Kamloops. The doctor, not one of his staff. He said he had an opening that afternoon (Friday), if we could get to Kamloops ASAP, or by 3:30 p.m. John was at work, where his doctor informed me he should definitely NOT be. I managed to reach him through his boss's cell number; she was just getting ready to leave the premises, so the timing couldn't have been more perfect. While I was waiting for John to get home, I was packing what we'd need for a possible overnight stay, seeing as we didn't really know how all of this would pan out.

We got there by 3:30 p.m. They were waiting for us and couldn't get John prepped fast enough. He was filling out paperwork while the nurses were giving him eye drops and trying to get him ready. By 7:00 p.m., we were in our hotel room, surgery completed.

What did they do? Well, it's called a vitrectomy; they removed some of the bloody vitreous fluid from his eye and replaced it with a gas bubble. The gas bubble is supposed to help push and hold the retina in place while it heals. At least, that's how I understand it. And, in order to facilitate this process, John has to lie on his left side, with his head in a certain position, for 18 hours per day for 7 days. Yes, you read that right. And no work for at least 2 weeks. It's going to be a long week.

Remember in my last post I wrote that I was thankful this was all being looked after so quickly? Well, it's been a whirlwind, to say the least. Now, the healing begins. My only hope is that the healing process goes as quickly and as smoothly as all of this has been so far and that John has the patience to let his body heal. To all of you who have sent your best wishes, thoughts and prayers our way, thank you. You have no idea how much it has meant to both of us. You're the best!