We're still on alert, mind you, but it's lights out on the emergency knit-signal and the stress-o-meter took a nose-dive this evening.  Thanks to all you super-heroes for the prompt response!!  What a day...

The surgery, originally scheduled for 7:30 a.m., finally began at around 5:00 and was finished at a little after 8:00.  (Holy scalpel, knit-girl!)  Thankfully, there was warning about a delay last night, but we had no idea it would be so, so, so, so long a delay.

We saw Michael only briefly afterwards, awake but very, very sleepy -- and doing just fine.  He did good.  We all wished him a happy birthday and got a big smile, too.  There's a plate holding things together (from T1 to C6) and there was no new, previously unknown damage found in that area.  Whew.  The broken vertabra in other regions will be left to heal on their own (he'll need to wear that brace for a while) and will have to be monitored -- he's got a lot of life ahead and there's no way to know what to expect in the long-term.  In the short-term, I fully expect to see him sitting up, alert and out of ICU very, very soon!  Woohoo!!!!

So, there's still some time left this St. Paddy's Day for a toast -- to my brother on a most memorable birthday!  I raise my glass...

May God grant you many years to live,
for sure he must be knowing,
the earth has angels all too few
and heaven is overflowing...

All of my sisters (and Mack!) will be here over the weekend...  I think I'm going to go collapse now.

P.S.  Did anyone notice, in the earlier post, that the "Kiss Me, I'm Irish," happy birthday, green socks bit landed RIGHT next to the photo album picture of St. Brigid?  She, too, is a saint of Ireland!  I took it as a very good sign.  ; )