Eight to two

The A-fib thing when he was in the hospital: cardiology put a heart monitor on him after he got out to see how well the meds were working.

Two days later, it fell off. Just, plunk, on the floor just like that. Now what do we do??

They had a solution I’d never heard of, although it took a long wait for an operating room: an implanted monitor, good for five years of readings. About the size of the tip of a matchstick, they said.

(Can’t we just buy an Apple watch? I guess not.)

Looking at the incision tonight he said wryly, Y’know, they didn’t say whether that was a wooden matchstick or a paper one.

Get there by eight, they’d told him; we’ll have you out by about 11:00.

Last night I considered dragging the afghan there and decided emphatically not. I went stash diving. Did I find a ball of yarn for the rheumatologist I wrote about yesterday? I did not. What I found was just the one, it felt like, for the cataract surgeon. I had a few already-done Mecha hats but none had ever felt quite right and this skein in my hand demanded to be it instead. It totally was the boss of me.

In Rios. In ribbing, like for the retina guy; they’d operated together, let them be twins.

It felt so right that I didn’t even mind doing the 1×1 stuff again. I figured I wouldn’t get very far during his operation but at least I’d get some of it done. I cast on and did two rows before bed just to give it a running start.

Heavy traffic. Different town. Eight o’clock. Signed in. Waited.

They finally called him back, and once he was set up on the gurney with his pretty new bracelets they called me to come join him while they waited for the surgeon. (It always amuses me that at every surgery setup I’ve ever seen, spouses are not allowed to be there to watch the other undress for it. Ever.)

It was after eleven when a nurse pulled back the curtain and basically said, You guys still here? Let me go check on that doctor.  …Followed by, She’s almost ready. She had someone ahead of you.

Waiting…

I read a news article on my phone from time to time to give my hands a rest. But I did learn that I can knit on size 5s comfortably for longer than I can the larger sizes; I’d forgotten that.

But then it’s been a long time since I’ve done a six hour long block of almost continuous knitting.

Two more inches, then the decreases. And here I’d thought it was going to take me a week.