Scheduling

Most years, after we spend five nights at Disney World with Bob's parents, they go home and we drive over to Sarasota for a weekend at the beach. This year, we planned to go to Mexico with some friends at the end of January, so in an effort to be responsible, we decided to forego Sarasota this year.

I had been a little worried about the Mexico trip, but only about scheduling: could surgery be put off for two months? And how much trouble would I be in at work if I took a week's vacation, then immediately went out for a month of sick leave? It hadn't even occurred to me until Bob mentioned it that it might not be a good idea to leave the country in the middle of all this, and especially to go to a country where another language is spoken and where the medical facilities might not be what we would expect, or hope for.

And, as Bob also pointed out, even if we decided it wasn't foolhardy to go, if things proceeded as they had been, I wouldn't be able to go in the ocean or the pool, and I'd feel pretty uncomfortable and self-conscious in a swimsuit. And we'd be spending money that we might need to pay medical bills later.

All in all, it just began to seem like a really bad idea.

We talked about it before I had the appointment with the surgeon, and once I saw him, he wanted to schedule surgery as soon as possible. The other glitch was that Eugene, who I work with, was going to be gone most of December and part of January visiting his family in India. We do a lot of the same things, and cover for each other, so it was a bad idea for both of us to be gone at the same time. I ended up scheduling the surgery for the Monday after he gets back in the country--his first day back at work.

Probably not optimal, but that's kind of what happened last week, too--he left the country the day before I got back from vacation. He sent me emails and left me notes, and I'll do the same.