I should not have had those two beers tonight.  I should go to bed early and sleep well.  I need to rest up for the big day tomorrow, for tomorrow there is a surgery.  I should have paid more attention.  I should not have let it get this bad.  I should have seen the warning signs.  But instead it has come to this.  I will need steady hands and a clear and focused mind – and my sewing box – for tomorrow Kissy Shrimp goes under the needle and thread.

While tucking Cody into bed tonight I handed him his beloved Kissy Shrimp whom he always sleeps with.  But not tonight.  No tonight he wanted to sleep with Rooster and Dog and actually asked me to put Kissy Shrimp on the pile of stuffed animals at the end of his bed.  I was shocked and a bit saddened to see his long time purple and white stuffed friend so easily cast aside.  Husband, who witnessed all this, informed me that Cody did not want to take Kissy Shrimp with in the truck on our errands today.  According to Cody, Kissy Shrimp had a large hole and there was stuffing that could be seen.  Cody wanted to protect him from further damage. 

I pulled Kissy Shrimp from the pile of the forgotten and together we examined him under the harsh glare of the reading lamp attached to Cody’s bed.  I found a small hole hardly worth noting and started to poo poo the entire thing, when we turned him over to expose his underbelly.  There it was; an open wound running with the seam line, exposed white matter and all.

Kissy Shrimp is currently resting, with aid of a light sedative, on my desk top.  Cody has requested to be there during the procedure tomorrow.  As far as Cody knows this will be an outpatient surgery with little risk of any complications.  I, however, am not so sure.  I do not sew.  I do not like it and I am not good at it at all.  This will be Kissy Shrimp’s third surgery in the last couple years and each one has left hideous scaring in the form of bunched fabric.

Wish me luck.  Wish us all luck.  And may the patient have a quick and full recovery.