Everything is all set. We are checked into the hosptial. We met all the doctors. It is a go for surgery tomorrow at around 12pm here in Germany (6am Eastern, 5am Central, etc . . ).

I’m a little apprehensive because we’ve been talking about it all day. Although I did meet a guy that had two artificial discs put in less than a week ago and he was walking around and doing okay. That was encouraging.

They will give me something to help me sleep and then it will be over before we know it.

The internet connection isn’t as good here in the hosptial as I hoped (it doesn’t work in the room) so I’m not sure how well Valerie will be able to keep you up to date. If she can get it working here in the lobby tomorrow, she will give you an update.

[thumb:168:l]We had a good trip to Straubing. It was just under 6 hours of driving. We even stopped and did a little shopping in Vienna (no buying, just looking). I think the first Saturday in December must be like the day after Thanksgiving in the US because it was totally packed at the Mall.

As we drove into Straubing, it began to snow. We were so thankful that it didn’t snow the entire way. After checking into our hotel, we went downtown to the Christmas Market. It was beautiful in the snow. We wanted to sample all of the food. There was tons of different types of sausage, sweets and drinks. We also had dinner at a great Bierhaus on the Old Town Square. I had Wienersnitzel and Valerie had this wonderful turkey dish.

It was a wonderful day. We enjoyed being together and almost forgot the reason that we came here.

It is just about finalized. It looks like Monday, December 5th is the day that I will have back surgery (Back Day). I will have an Artificial Disc Replacement between my L5-S1 vertebrae. If you want all the details on the surgery, read more here. Also, there is a cool animation here (it’s even more cool when it is someone else’s back).

I’m going to have the surgery in Staubing, Germany which is about an hour east of Munich. It is about a 6 hour drive from Budapest. The surgeon’s name is Dr. Bertagnoli and he is one of the pioneers in this type of surgery so I feel like I’m in very good hands. Some of you might be surprised by Germany since I mentioned Vienna in earlier posts. The doctor in the US mentioned that this doctor does some surgery in Vienna. As I’ve looked into things, I realized he is much more setup to do things in Germany and has a staff that serves non-German clients. Since it is only 3 hours farther, it seemed like it would be best to be where they can help me through the process.

Valerie & I are still working out the details of how we are going to make this thing work. It looks like I’ll have to be in Germany for 8-10 days and we are trying to figure out how much of that time she will be with me. As you know, the first of December is a busy time and it isn’t easy to just take 10 days away.

I’ve also been sobered by the length of the recovery. They are telling me that I might not be able to return to work 100% for 6-8 weeks (although I’ll be working from home long before that). It is a bad time for me to be gone since we have launched a huge Campus Measurement Project. God is sovereign and he knows these things. He needs me to trust Him more than anything else.

I’ll keep you posted as more details come along.