While icy cold still pervades here on the Cutoff, temperatures have climbed a bit above freezing and the sun has shown its face enough to encourage icicles to form. These frozen daggers have sculpted themselves above our entryway; that back door portal of our comings and goings in our daily life.
It was Tuesday morning, long before the sun approached the horizon, that Tom and I bundled up for the short ride to the hospital where Tom was scheduled for eye surgery, and left our warm home through this icy dome. I talked about how preparation for the surgery ended up with Tom needing an angiogram a month ago, which I wrote about here. After long, hectic weeks of doctors’ visits, stress tests, coordination of doctors and medicines and such, the day finally came for this delicate surgery. The surgery went as expected and several hours later Tom walked back through this portal, a patch on his eye, and into our home to recover.
He is doing remarkably well, dear reader, with his eye beginning to heal. I’ve posted a bit more about this on our companion blog, Brittle, which you can read about if you so chose here. Tom is resting comfortably, is able to be up for short periods of time, and has had relatively little pain. The initial healing process will take several weeks. It will be many months, however, before we will know how much vision he will have.
We remain hopeful, in this season of hope, and look at this time as an opportunity to enjoy the holiday decorations surrounding us, the bevy of Christmas programs on television, the songs of the season, the holiday books that abound, and the quiet comfort of home, just inside the portal of icicles.