Surgery Speedbump

Yesterday was an interesting day for us. We travelled to Stanford Hospital in the morning where Mark would be having his retinal surgery which includes a corneal transplant surgery. The cornea surgery is done so that the retinal surgeon can see how the retina is doing after he fixes it. Without this add-on surgery (which, we should mention increases scheduling complexity since two surgeons are now necessary), it's nearly impossible for the retinal doctor to see if the surgery was a success or not.

The report from yesterday's procedure is that the procedure wasn't done. Somehow, the cornea never was ordered. We're sure it was a simple oversight, whether due to the strike that occured at the hospital earlier in the week or for some other reason (we've heard speculation that the corneal doctor's wife might have had a baby which we all know can send the best organized person and the best laid plans into a tail spin), but it was a bit frustrating to have spent so much time in the hospital only to learn that we'd have to do it all again (including the whole IV thing which is, truthfully, more painful for MeLissa than Mark since she's a bit phobic about sharp pointing things going into anyone's skin!), but since it's better to do things right the first time, we understand. And, on the bright side, it did allow us to run a few errands that we've needed to take care of for a while. We'll post an update on Mark's real surgery once it happens. :)

In other news, Christmas preparations for our families are finally done! We packed up the first of two boxes of goodies last night - one is on its way to Maui for Mark's parents and Grandmother and one is on its way to Tahoe City, California, for Mark's brother and his wife. We hope they like what we've put together for them! MeLissa's family's gifts will be wrappped and assembled tonight for mailing tomorrow - although the presents certainly won't make up for our absence, we hope that they'll at least make Christmas somewhat exciting for our families.