Are We Having Fun Yet?

I wonder what kind of hospital celebrities check into when they're suffering from exhaustion. Surely none I've ever been to. Between the pain from surgery, drug side effects, too-thin mattress, beeping machines (my roommate was wired to all sorts of noisy gizmos), healthcare personnel squelching in and out at all hours, announcements on the P.A. system, roommate's laborious and noisy passages to the john, and her #@%! cellphone with the top-volume "Hallelujah Chorus" ring tone, I hardly got any sleep for two nights. (I was originally slated for just one night--"drive-by surgery," a friend calls it).

Other than that, the hospital stay was fine. The surgery went well, though I ended up needing a 6-inch, rather than 4-inch, plate screwed to my humerus. The incision goes from near the shoulder almost to the elbow on the inside of my arm. I'll have to show the scar when I go through airport metal detectors, as it's easy to fake a doctor's note. ("Wear short sleeves," advised the orthopod.) My arm hurts like bloody hell, but I already can bend my thumb and forefinger more; the hospital staff were kind and helpful; and most amazingly, the salmon I ordered for dinner last night was moist and tender--not the crusty brick I'd feared.

Boy Wonder had to read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time over the summer (i.e., just before school begins next week). He loved it, so I brought it with me and read it cover to cover yesterday. I loved it too.

Best of all were the buoyant send-off and return greetings I got from the astonishing number of entries (84!!!) to Miss Snark's Bella Stander Humerus Poetry Contest (posted 15-17 Aug). Here's proof positive that the blogosphere is a community--and a generous, supportive one at that. Thanks again to one and all, especially to those who defended my and Miss Snark's honor against the Nitwit of the Day. I had no idea what an e-ruckus would be stirred up!