I just wanted to report that I survived toe surgery and am recovering nicely. Once they got in to my toe the ligament was entirely missing from my toe rather than mostly gone, so I ended up with a pin through my toe as well as a metal brace screwed into the toe bone to fuse it. The pin will come out after 2 weeks (Umm, I'm scared for that?), so it is covered in a bizarre plastic cover at the end of the pin which looks like a gumball. I will have "the boot" on for 4 weeks and it will swell from 3-4 months. I will be unable to wear heels for 4 months, so no fancy holiday parties for me. It will be worth it to have my toe not hurting and the ability to walk without swelling back. They expect I'll be able to do everything I normally do including dancing once the fusing is completely healed. The only limitation is I will not be a prima ballerina. Alas, let's hope this software thing works out instead.

If you tried to chat with me last week, please forgive me if I fell asleep or didn't make much sense. I had very strong anethesia and medication to make sure that my muscles didn't cause my toe to go out of alignment for healing. I'm afraid I wasn't not great for conversation or anything intellectual. Please try again in a week or so when I'm more recovered and have my memory working fully again. I was supposed to be back at work tomorrow, but it depends on my ability to walk and drive if I'll be going or not.

I am terrible at lying low and recovering. I get easily bored. I decided instead of resting to begin writing a Science Fiction novel. It is much harder than I thought and I'm only up to 800 words. I may be less naturally talented at writing novels than I'd hoped, but I always make an effort on my life's To Do list. If you have fantastic test material for me to read, please send me links.

The thing I'm most happy about right now is that I have tickets to travel to Placencia, Belize in Feb for a vacation with my Mother. The main idea is to travel to snorkel, go down The Monkey River to see the wildlife, and spend time on the beach. It's been such a rough year for me in terms of health that the break will be very welcome. We travel very well together as we both enjoy a most rustic and cultural experience to a fancy resort lifestyle. We love to meet real people and see the natural landscape. I'm looking forward to trying the seaweed milkshakes and exotic fruits I've never heard of. It will be my first visit to Central America.