Dad's surgery

My Dad is having surgery today to have his carotid artery roto-rootered. I stayed over at his house in Dewitt last night and we sat around watching my Dad's taped editions of Oprah (In his defense, David Letterman was on) while I drunk Will's gift of 12 year old single malt scotch. In preparation for his surgery, I volunteered to shave his chest, but he said it wasn't necessary. I explained that you can't be too careful and drew the line at giving him a sponge bath - again, not necessary. We got up at 4:30 to get to the hospital in time so that we could wander around the hospital lost for fifteen minutes and then wait around for another hour.

The procedure he's having is called Carotid Edearterectomy and they do it under local anesthetic, so they can make sure he's still getting enough blood-flow to the brain, but they keep him knocked-out enough so he won't try make jokes or tell "funny" stories. When they put him under with the initial dose of truth serum, I asked him who his favorite son is, and he said me. Enough said. Many people wrote in suggesting I assist with the procedure, ready to toss a junior mint in at a moments notice. Apparently, the surgeons are not as open to help as one might think. Prima Donnas. He's at Ingham Medical in Lansing if you want to stop by and say hi. Don't bring him any Single Malt Scotch, Will already took care of that.