Surgery will be either next Wednesday or Friday and then I will stay in the hospital that night. I won't know for sure which day until Monday. Scheduling would probably be better for Friday, but I seem to be healing quite quickly so it is probably better to do it Wednesday if possible.

Still no pain. Soreness, for sure and probably more than I realize but I've just kinda gotten used to it.

And no, even with the screws they will put in place -- I will _not_ set off metal detectors. The screws are titanium which goes through undetected and also will not mess up CAT scans. Yeah for modern medicine!

Saw George Clinton and P-Funk last night! What a party! A local band, the Howling Diablos opened for them and they were what I expected. Local rock band trying to look/feel like a national/international rock band. But they were fun!

I'd link to the website for George Clinton but it annoys me so much that I can't do that in good conscience. It's badly-designed, hasn't been updated since at least November and kinda slow... (yes, I'm a website snob) I'd also link to the website for the Howling Diablos but it's pretty outdated, with lots of broken links and images too. I just sent an email, offering to help out and improve the site.

Clinton and P-Funk sure know how to put on a show and now we all know why the tickets were $30+ -- they had over 20 people on stage at various times! Vocalists, back-up singers, guitarists, horn players, and George up there bellowing and conducting the whole thing. Leading the group but also taking the crowd anywhere he wanted.

20 years since Clinton started up his journey on the Mothership, right here in Detroit...

Unfortunately they didn't go on until almost 10:30 and by about 12:30 everyone I was with was exhausted (myself included). I'm sure that the show went on for at least another hour and finished up around 2am.

Fortunately, I was able to sleep in a bit before coming into the office.

Back in the office.

Trying for 1/2 day today, 1/2 day on Thursday and probably most of the day on Friday.

Surgery is next week, either Wednesday or Friday but probably Friday. That's when my facial surgeon, Dr. Fishman, has reserved time in the ER each week. They'll knock me out (gas, not a blow to the head) and I'll be on a breathing machine of some sort for a couple of hours while they operate. Total of 3 incisions made and a bunch of screws added to hold things together.

The surgeon let me ask lots of questions on Tuesday and explained things really well, but I forgot to ask one important question:

Will the screws set off the metal detectors at airports and elsewhere?

*laugh*

Seems like they would. I guess I'll have to carry a doctor's explanation or something.

Oh well, I'll see the facial surgeon again on Thursday afternoon and I can ask him then.

My boss just stoped by as I was writing this to chat. He (like many others) was surprised to see me. This is a pretty serious injury so I've been surprised that I am currently in no pain even without any medication right now! Initially I was taking lots of Advil but the facial surgeon asked me to stop taking that, in preparation for the surgery. We thought I might need to hit the vicodin but there has been no need yet.

I will be out of commission for about 2 weeks following the surgery so I'm trying to get things accomplished before the surgery.

On Tuesday, an opthalmologist confirmed that there is _no damage_ to my eye. *smile* That was great news! I thought it was fine and the ER staff thought it was fine, but it was good to have a thorough exam to confirm that. Even though it's undamaged, there was some trauma so it is sensitive. I think the drugs were taking the edge off that, so last night and this morning it bothered me a bit.

Irritated from the smoke at the restaurant, probably. Stephanie was in town on Tuesday for her birthday an to cart me around to my appointments. We baked banana bread and, watched the Wallace and Gromit movie "A Grand Day Out". I think she enjoyed it, but I forgot how much better both "The Wrong Trousers" and "A Close Shave" are. Stephanie asked about the tapes sitting on my movie rack and it was easier to show one than to explain...

We also watched "Law and Order", which I have gotten a bit hooked on over the past month.

For dinner, Stephanie wanted barbecue, so we went to Memphis Smoke in Royal Oak and stuck around for some music.

The Tuesday night entertainment is called "The Pazman Super Sessions" and essentially it's a big jam session of people from local bands who don't have gigs on Tuesday night. There were 2 guys from Mudpuppy, 2 of the Brothers Groove performing last night.

This morning I rested and watched "The Fast and the Furious". Decent flick. Good for a solid wake-up at 10 in the morning.

If you're still reading this and thinking that I'm really pushing it being so active, you're right. I know I'm going to be feeling cruddy for awhile after the surgery so right now while I feel ok I am trying to enjoy myself and run errands that need to be accomplished. I _still_ need to do my taxes and hopefully I can get that taken care of this evening.

Long entry, stopping now...

Thanks to everyone for their prayers, comments, phone calls, and emails.

Appointment with specialist = delayed
I called in the afternoon and they said that if I'm doing fine (which I am) and if I wanted to go to the office that is only 1 mile away instead of 20 (which I do), that was fine.

So, the appointment is at 11:30 Tuesday morning. Stephanie is going to be here for the day (Happy Birthday to her!) and that will be one of our errands for the day...

For tonight, Rob and Beth invited me over to their house and I accepted. Beth works just a couple of miles west of me and will pick me up on her way home from work. Relaxation time with friends plus being able to pet their beautiful Collie, Chase will be nice.

Looks like my mom is going to come up later in the week but I'll wait to cofirm that until after my appointment tomorrow.

Before I left the ER on Sunday, they gave me my X-rays to take to the facial surgeon. Today, I opened them up, took a look and snapped a few digital photos of them. *grin* My new roommate (among others) will laugh about that one! He'll laugh mostly b/c one of the first things I had him do after I got home on Sun. night and explained the situation was to ask him to take a couple of digital pics of me.

I have to wait before posting them b/c right now I'm on Bart's (roommate) computer. Mine isn't hooked up to the internet yet.

In other news, I got a parking ticket last night. I was parked in front of our house and apparently you cannot do that between 2-6am. *sigh* So, Tuesday I'll pay a personal visit to the city offices, show my face, explain and hope that they wave it. Sure $10 isn't bad and under ordinary circumstance I would pay it, but... Talk about hitting a guy while he's down!

Made some butterscotch pudding and it's cooling in the fridge. I was going to do some green beans with mushroom soup but will wait for that. Decided this will be a good time to start using my Cuisinart/juicer. My buddy John likes doing carrot juice, but I'm not so sure about that one! I can eat and had leftover spaghetti for dinner but soft things are good too! Crackers with jam and a banana was breakfast.

After that exciting discussion of food, I should stop. It seems like I'm at least a little bit loopy from the meds. No need for the vicodin yet. Trying not to resort to that.

Major event of the weekend:

Sunday afternoon, during our first softball practice of the year, I "took one for the team". One (a ball) in the eye, that is.

After many hours at the Beaumont Hospital ER in Royal Oak, they determined that the orbital around the eye
(the bony part) that protects your eye was fractured. The x-rays showed 2 fractures, but then the CAT scan
gave more detail and showed that there are actually 6 fractures.

Today, I am taking meds, resting, and getting ready for an appointment with a specialist today at 2:45. Most likely, my recovery is going to include reconstructive surgery of some sort.

Stephanie will probably be here for the day on Tuesday and my mom said she would drive out later in the week if I want her to.

That's all for now. This is just something that happened, so I'm dealing with it. Fine to talk about and all that.

The softball team was with a group from church, so the guys have been very supportive. My friend John is the captain and he stayed with me almost the entire time I was in the ER. Bill was the guy who hit the ball and he felt terrible about what happened. I tried to explain that it's just an accident and that I wasn't mad at him (which I'm not) -- he was with us at the hospital the last couple of hours and then helped get my car back to my new place.

Fortunately, everything is moved into my new place and pretty well situated. Still a few boxes around but not bad.