Seattle we have a GO

Jeff, in the tunnel under Euclid Ave

Jeff is scheduled for surgery tomorrow at 10am.  That's 7am for those of you following along on the west coast.  Surgery should last about 5 hours.  He'll then spend a day in the ICU followed by 4 in Recovery.  He'll have a breathing tube in for a while after he's brought into the ICU so if I take any pictures of him and you see the breathing tube don't freak out.

I plan on taking my laptop with me to the hospital and getting some real work done.  I need a break and I need something that will occupy my mind so I don't spend the whole time thinking of the things that could go wrong.

We met Dr. Svensson, Jeff's surgeon, today.  He is everything you want in a heart surgeon.  Confident, without being arrogant, reassuring but not condescending.  He knows what he's doing, he's the best in his field and it's beyond reassuring to know that Jeff will be taken care of by this man.

I shamelessly named dropped at the end of our appointment.  On Saturday while Jeff and I were in Beachwood Mall we went into the Eddie Bauer store.  Oh come on, how could I not stop in there.  Anyway, we started talking to one of the associates, Chris Blanchard (I hope I am spelling his name correctly).  Chis is an avid outdoors man and a First Ascent fanatic who recently returned from spending 7 months in New Zealand.  As proof that this world really is small, Chris's family is friends with Dr. Svensson's family.  Chris assured us we were in good hands and told me to tell Lars hello.  So I did.  Which led to a great discussion about Eddie Bauer and how indispensable Jeff is to our continued success.

Okay so I didn't go that far but we had a great conversation in any case.  I just wanted to be sure he saw Jeff as a person, with friends and family who love him and need him, not just as another patient.

We left the hospital and went to the Hard Rock Cafe for a late lunch.  I was hoping to pick up a Tee Shirt for Jon but didn't find anything that inspired me.  We did find that the Hard Rock is attached to Tower City, which is a retail mall with a theater sitting above a transit center.  We now have a new plan for getting home.  Or at least for getting to the airport.  The Red Line.  For $10 dollars we can hop a train that will take us right to the airport.  That beats a $40 cab ride any day.  We are on a budget after all.

I had a mini scare today when we went to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription.  The pharmacy told us that Jeff wasn't covered by my insurance so we had to pay for the nose goo ourselves.  Jeff paid the bill, broke the bad news to me and then took off down the tunnel before I completely exploded.  Visions of the mountain of hospital bills that would soon be making their way to me flashed before my eyes.  Thankfully it turned out to just be an error on the pharmacy side - they put Jeff in as the insured instead of as the dependent.  When we get home I can fill out a reimbursement form and get our money back.  What I won't get back are those 15 minutes I spent in terror of being buried alive by medical bills.

On to happier things.  Pictures.  I didn't take many pictures today, just wasn't feeling it.  But I did get a few good snaps of the family of squirrels that call the front yard of The Esmond Apartments home.  They are our most active neighbors.  Everyday when we walk by they scurry around and watch us.

Fountain in front of The Cleveland Clinic

Fuller view

E 2nd St. and Euclid Ave.

Until tomorrow folks, keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

P.S. - I made Jeff say the following promise to me:

No matter how bright the lights

No matter how loud the engines are reving

I will return to you

And he hasn't broken a promise yet.