Three Beautiful Things 02/26/19: Beautiful Cataract Surgery, Grinder at Capone's, Waking Up to Basketball

1. Christy pulled up in front of the house at 11 o'clock and drove me over bare roads to the North Idaho Eye Institute for my second cataract surgery.

Nurse Betty Lynn, who is close to my age, called me into a surgery preparation room and put me completely at ease as we enjoyed friendly banter about a variety of things. She took my blood pressure (it was superb), put a variety of antibiotic, dilating, and numbing drops in my eye, put an IV port in my arm, and did other things to prepare me for the procedure. A most amiable anesthesiologist briefly interviewed me, augmenting Nurse Betty Lynn's goodwill, and before long another nurse wheeled me into the  surgery area.

For the next fifteen minutes, give or take, I was was completely relaxed. I smiled all through the surgery's painless flood of water and kaleidoscopic light show and, before I knew it, the surgeon's two assistants unhooked me from the IV, untaped my head, and removed the protective materials from my face. With hope and trust, I said, "Well, how'd that go?" The surgeon's nurse responded concisely, "Beautifully."

2. In preparation for the surgery, I hadn't eaten for about eighteen hours, so Christy and I drove to Midtown in CdA, discovered Capone's was closed for repairs after suffering damage from the weather, so we went to Hayden and ate lunch at the Capone's there. I couldn't have a beer -- no alcohol for twenty-four hours after surgery --, but I enjoyed my Italiano grinder with an order of fries.

3. Back home, I was tired and fell asleep in the living room chair, oblivious to the Virginia Tech vs Duke men's basketball game. Byrdman texted me.  Three minutes left in the game. It was a nail biter. I rallied, flipped on the tv, and watched those final three minutes and, to my delight, the Hokies outplayed the Dukies and emerged victorious, 77-72.

I kept the tv tuned in to ESPN and hoped the Deke's Hoosier loving cousin Sally was also tuned in to the Wisconsin/Indiana game. It's been a rough season for the Hoosiers, but tonight Indiana played inspired defense, got some clutch play from Romeo Langford, including a game winning drive to the iron, and beat the Badgers, 75-73 in double overtime.