Next Week: I leave Monday for Bethesda again; that day is a travel day, Tuesday is surgery prep day (with blood work, an EKG, and a chest x-ray on the menu), and Wednesday is the surgery.

Nervous, but confident that the operation will go smoothly, if that makes sense. Paraphrasing Barb, it's not the first time I've had a stranger's hands in my guts.

Hope to be back in Oregon by the middle of the week following surgery (recuperation time is expected to be about five days).