Happy again - well, mostly

Hi ho everybody,
Well, I'm sitting here blogging and playing chess while fam watches final of HomeMade, the latest reality show which the other 75% of my family seem to love but I fear I don't. Oh yes, and I also have a big bandage wrapped around my knee to remind me of the day's events.
Woke up 5.30 (actually Verity achieved that yet again at 4.30 but that's another rant), quick shower (trying not to drink too much water) and off to hospital at Everton Pk. Hospital under renovation but easy to get in, get registered, say goodbye to fam etc. Sent off to next waiting room where each person went off for another quick chat then returned to go into the very public bathroom right there in the waiting room, and got changed into our paper undies, gown, dressing gown, etc. A nice young nurse then came in to shave my knee area all around which I don't think has ever been done before, but no dramas.
Then off to a bed for a little more waiting then basically straight to the theatre door. Met more staff including very nice anaesthetist Martina who made life pretty easy and did a good job with the needle into my arm, a) giving me a magazine to read beforehand which I could then use to shield my eyes as I winced and b) getting me to cough as it went in, which I turned into more of a laugh, a technique I often use at the chiropractor when he is really crunching me hard. Admittedly, part of that chiropractic laugh on my part is always laughter that I'm paying someone lots of money to basically hurt me, and maybe that was also the case today. I think she took a couple of goes to find the vein, but hey, it was still a lot better than I expected. I saw Dr Tuff (my godfather) for about, oh, 30 seconds before he got down to business, but that's fine. I'll go see him for a follow-up in a week or two, and I won't be too worried about it.
Still no pain and it's been probably 9 hrs or so since op. They say they use Marcain, a long-lasting local anaesthetic and by golly, it must be pretty good stuff. I also took panadol and ibuprofen as directed, and will give myself a another dose tonight to see what happens. It certainly seems good to have done this on holidays to prevent more walking around and other hassles. We'll see how I feel on Monday when school resumes though. Was pleased with number of people who responded to my Facebook mention of my op - not that I was going out of my way to get some sympathy, but it's nice anyway.
Other matters: still trying to jazz up these RAVE programs - must do whatever I can not to make them boring and enthuse staff and students - I really feel some weight of responsibility in that regard.
Formally mentioned this blog on the Facebook group for Anglican bloggers so in case anyone reading those posts ever feels called to check out each one, I guess I may actually get a visitor sooner or later. On other Anglican matters, I'm very disappointed with the English bishop who has apparently decided to do some more gay bashing, or 'calling upon them to repent' which is the Anglican equivalent... the younger generation simply cannot fathom this kind of approach, and there is no surer way of dispatching our Church to the historical scrapheap... Anglicanism is about intellectual honesty - why is it not possible there is a genetic component to homosexuality? Even if there wasn't a genetic basis, what is there to be appalled about? If a bishop wants to target sexual immorality, that's another matter, I think, but just going after gays for being gay is really ridiculous. Reminds me of the time during a theology oral on the life of Paul that I intimated there had been a case made for St Paul being gay - the lack of evidence of his marrying, the references to hating his body, etc. Some of my audience wanted to hear all about it afterwards!
All righty then, see you tomorrow.

The Last Supper

Well, I'm writing now to calm my nerves somewhat. It's the night before my knee operation and I admit I am now anxious about it. The knee has felt close to 100% much of the last six weeks, but just every now and then I feel a twinge or something shift and I know it's not entirely reliable. It's just hard to shift the feeling that I'm going into hospital with a pretty good knee and may or may not come out with the same feeling. Hard to believe that this time tomorrow (in fact by lunch time tomorrow) it will be all over. Thank goodness I haven't had to wait six months or more for the op, even though I think I've done a pretty good job of putting it out of my mind in recent times.
I am scared of the unknown - I've had operations under general anaesthetic before, but not since 1984 when I got my wisdom teeth out. I shouldn't be too worried about needles, because I've had them before enough times. I kind of just don't want to know all the details of what's going to happen in the operation, which I suppose is going to be a problem because I'm sure the nurses, surgeon and anaesthetist will feel obliged to tell me (or are legally obliged to tell me!)
Can't eat or drink anything after midnight tonight, even water, although I am allowed to shower tomorrow morning which is a good idea.
Had a nice dinner with Greg & Ingrid last night at the Caravanserai restaurant at West End - pretty busy for a Sunday night but great food, very good service and only $35 per head for the simplest banquet (with $2.50 each corkage). I couldn't remember much about the food we ate in Turkey when I was there in '99, but I would guess this was authentic. I am very confident that Al and I will be going again - a great find, with brownie points to me for picking it, if I may say so immodestly.
Kids and Al were out a lot today playing and shopping so I have advanced further in my lesson prep, but there's still a fair amount to do. I fear I am going to have to abandon most if not all of the big home projects we had planned for this Winter break, e.g. sanding and repainting the deck. I just don't think it's going to happen. Still, I shall try hard to do the school stuff fast and see what my knee allows me to do this week.
Liking DJ Ironik's take on Tiny Dancer atm. Missing my old penpal Adam too. Time to be helpful elsewhere.