Drained

I'm continually amazed at how exhausted I get lately. I had an appointment with the vascular (blood vessel) surgeon this afternoon at 1:15. We left early because we weren't 100% sure where we were going, so we got to his office a few minutes after 1:00. Of course, the doctor wasn't even in the office and there were two people in front of me (one of whom had already been waiting an hour or so - and he got frustrated and left, so we only had to wait for the doctor to see one other patient) - so by the time he saw us it was already after 2:00. I get so frustrated when doctors do that. Anyway, he explained what he'll be doing during the surgery and the good news is that my dad didn't pass out. He has the weakest stomach for this stuff of anyone I've ever seen in my life. He looked pretty queasy, but he was alright. The cool part of the appointment was that the doctor showed me what they're going to insert in my disc space to prop it up to the appropriate height. It's a titanium piece that looks like an oversized thimble but has grooves on the outside of it. He said that they use two of those, side by side, and they insert a sponge in them that is soaked in the protein that will encourage the growth of the bone cells which will eventually fuse the vertebrae. They'll insert rods in the back as well, but I don't know how big they are or anything like that.

Anyway, we got home around 3:15 and I am completely fried. I'm back in bed now, TV off, lights down, and thinking I'll probably doze off in a little bit. Our next-door neighbors are coming over a little later, which will be fun. We have the greatest neighbors. They just moved in this summer and have become good friends. The parents are in their 30's and they have two little boys. The younger one had his first birthday last month, and the older one turns 3 today. We saw him playing in the driveway when we got home from our appointment and shouted to him, "Happy birthday!" - to which he grinned and replied, "Happy birthday!" Little kids crack me up.