I’m finally heading for the hospital this afternoon to get this creaky, uncooperative left knee replaced with a joint that actually works. You can guess how miserable I’ve been when you hear the surgery was originally scheduled for January 19th. My surgeon ruptured a tendon in her wrist, so I rescheduled the surgery for April. In March, while returning from a trip to Illinois, I broke the fifth metatarsal of my right foot and ended up having surgery for that instead. It took a good three months to get through the cast/walking boot/rehab process. The knee fix had been postponed again, this time to August. But then the surgeon cancelled. It turned out she had to have surgery on both or her wrists and would be in for a long recovery.

I found a new surgeon, one who has a great reputation and appears to have very strong wrists. We’re good to go. You probably have never known anyone so eager to head for the operating room as I am today.

So, I’ll be off computer for a few days, gathering (funny, I hope) stories for my next blog post. I promise I won’t post any gory photos. And I promise not to whine.

Well, maybe I’ll just whine a little bit.

Now, before I go, I do want to tell you what I was reading over the weekend. If you’re in the mood for a terrifying thriller, one that will keep you turning the pages to the end of the book, one with great pacing, tons of information, and an amazing cast of characters, I highly recommend:

The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus by Richard Preston.

Yes, this thriller is nonfiction. Yes, it’s terrifying. And yes, you should read it. There is so much information in this book about viruses that we all need to learn.