Modern Hebrew uses Arabic numerals (how’s that for peace in the Middle East?!), but older Hebrew used the letters of the alphabet to represent numbers. For example, the Hebrew equivalent of ‘A’ (aleph) is 1, ‘B’ is 2, etc. The symbols for 18 use the Hebrew letters that spell out “life” (“chai”; that’s a guttural ‘ch’, not a type of tea). Because of this positive association of “life” and 18, it is common for monetary gifts between Jews to be multiples of $18 ($36, $54, …) or values that end in 18, like $118. In general, 18 is associated with good luck and long life. Therefore, it was quite propitious that Luanne’s surgery was scheduled for the 18th of the month. Automatically, no reasons for fear nor concern with her upcoming surgery.
It’s not clear why this surgery was so much like going fishing: it is best done in the wee hours of the morning. Luanne’s was scheduled for a check-in time of 6:00 AM on December 18. Of course this was preceded by a day of preparation, similar to that of a colonoscopy—drink this concoction from 8 AM to noon, poop, take this pill at 1 PM, poop, take this pill at 2 PM, poop, take this pill at 11 PM, poop, drink this concoction at 4 AM, poop, show up at 6 AM. Good thing they knock you out for this because you are definitely exhausted. Luanne was not too concerned throughout all of this prep. Here she is waiting to check in:
Before Surgery
Kaiser San Rafael, where the laparoscopic procedure (i.e., no wide open incision, just 3 little slits on the abdomen) was performed, uses an interesting procedure. Each patient is given an ID number (630824 for Luanne) which appears on a large TV monitor in the waiting room. Interested parties can then follow their loved-one through the entire process. Here you can see Luanne’s progress:
Waiting
In Pre-op
In Surgery
In Recovery
We were told the surgery would take 131 minutes (not “about 2 hours”) with an hour for recovery. After 95 minutes we were called and told “all done”. Shortly afterwards we walked with a conscious Luanne while she was rolled to her room. She was in great spirits and looked pretty good, as you can see for yourself:
Post-surgery
Should we have asked for the phone to be surgically removed at the same time?