Surgery and Water-Pine

My surgery went really well. They removed the tumor and missed the nerve. I have a little numbness in my lips, which makes it hard to eat, but he said it will go away. They reopened the same scar, so I won't have a new scar. 

I was nervous before the surgery, irrationally-so now that I look back, but once in the pre-op room they turned off the lights and covered me with hot blankets. I dozed off and woke later to hear my mom complaining about how two hours had passed. The surgery was delayed. The nurse was confused that I was asleep and had thought I had already been sedated. They gave me the sedation and moved me to the operating room. 

I don't remember making any inappropriate jokes and being scolded by nurses like last time, but after they strapped me to the operating table and unsnapped my gown, a doctor told a nurse he needed to find a place without hair to put the electrodes on my chest, and I blurted out "Good luck!"  Soon after they put a mask over my mouth and that was the last I remembered. (Nurses got the last laugh the next day when they ripped them off).

I woke in a dim room in a bed with the mask on still. They wheeled me to the sixth floor. When they brought food at 6:30, I ate it ravenously. It was meatloaf, potatoes, sweet tea, a roll, and other stuff that probably went down too quickly to be noted. My mom seemed irritated that I put C-SPAN on to hear the election results. She left to get herself some food, and I asked if she could bring me back a second meal to eat. My dad came; I don't remember much except he kissed my forehead. Then there were tornado warnings and thunderstorms. 

My mom left at ten and they gave my hydrocodone, which made me feel really happy and warm inside. I fell asleep and slept so deeply. They dismissed me the next morning at ten. 

My roommate landed a job, a post-doc in one of the most prestigious oceanographic institutions in the world. I'm happy for him. He said he'll get to ride in submarines and travel all over the country and world. He leaves in June.

Today I went to work. I can drive as long as I'm not on pain medication. It was a slow day since I worked hard to get ahead before the surgery. I had no idea when I'd be coming back. My dad planted the remaining dawn redwoods and bald cypresses just before the rain. 

I have been reading about a tree from China that is related to the two, called water-pine. Dawn redwood has the Latin name Metasequoia glyptostroboides. I had never thought about what glyptostroboides refers to, but water-pine's Latin binomial is Glyptostrobus pensilis. So dawn redwood is a Metasequoia that resembles aGlyptostrobus. Maybe I'll buy a water-pine for dad to plant too.