Thank you Mark. The responses from this thread and others were an unbelievable boon to me in the hospital. I can't begin to describe how indebted I am to you, and to Johanna. [Folks, do you guys realise how Mark really, really rocks? It was a joy everytime his ugly mug showed up at my hospital room door.]
Yeppers, I'm back, and I've got a lot of catching up to do. That should be easy enough, as my mobility is still a bit limited. I've mastered the fine art of the walker, but it hurts to get around still. It's a good hurt though. I haven't used ENWorld to make a scene about the pain I'm in (using Randomnlings for that ;p), but the last three monthes have been especially hard. It's all downhill now though, and the wind is at my back. When I came out from under the anesthesia following the surgery, I waved my doc over and shook his hand. Even then I already felt better. Muscle pain is a much better thing than bone on bone pain (Doc who assisted in the surgery came to me the day after, looked at me, and said he just wanted to meet me. Said he'd seen my hip and couldn't believe I'd been able to walk, but I did, and worked, right up until the surgery).
Thank you, everyone who wrote. Mark brought these to the hospital, and it meant a ton. It truly did. Thank you from the depth of my heart.