And the big date is...

Looks like the "recovery beard" will be
with us a bit longer than originally planned.

Drumroll please...

Dec. 10. That's when my second surgery will be, barring an unexpected sudden opening in my surgeon's schedule.

At first blush, this is disappointing. All along, I had hoped to roll right from surgery No. 1 (the revision of my right hip replacement) into No. 2 (a total replacement of the left for the first time). I've even had my physical therapist kicking my ass in pursuit of this goal. But the doc's schedule doesn't currently allow for anything sooner, so Dec. 10 it is.

I was briefly quite disappointed in this development. But as with many things in life, I found, with a little reflection, that there's good and bad to it. The bad is that it draws this whole thing out longer than I hoped, even stretching my recovery into January just a bit. I had hoped to raise a glass on New Year's Eve to the fact that this process was complete and I could start 2011 with a new slate, health-wise. But this timetable fouls up New Year's (not to mention Christmas) pretty good.

On the other hand ... I think I need the break. There will be enough time in between the recovery from the first surgery and Dec. 10 that I can go back to work for a few weeks, spend some time with my friends, and enjoy Thanksgiving. (And yes, there is a girl involved, and that doesn't hurt, either.) Now that I've had 5 weeks on my butt, I realize that the idea of rolling through for several more weeks straight is daunting, in some ways even a little depressing. Yes, I'd like to get it all over with ASAP, but I'm going a little stir crazy here. Now that I've gone from the walker to the cane, I'm much more mobile, and in the last few days, I have been able to drive and run a few errands and even -- gasp -- go out to dinner and a movie. It's been like a little taste of life, and the thought of a few weeks of that normalcy is really appealing.

And, even though I'm feeling pretty good, the reality is that every little bit of extra strength that my right leg can gain to prepare to carry the load when we do the left is only going to help.

So I'm good with Dec. 10. If all goes according to plan, I get a complete release from the doc on Nov. 19, go back to work the next week, and get ready to roll. Of course, if the phone rings and the doc's office offers up something sooner, I will snap at it. But for now, we have a plan, and I can make other plans accordingly. Thanks to that, I feel a whole lot better already.