From way out here, Morticia, 42 seems VERY young! That's a year younger than our first-born son (the one we had for free in London, courtesy of the National Health !).

Seriously, even the trabeculectomies weren't all that bad. During the first one, the African-American nurse who was monitoring my blood pressure was humming a hymn. I asked her if she might sing Amazing Grace, which she did, with me adding a tenor harmony. Then we found others that we both knew, and we managed to sing our way through most of the procedure. The surgeon allowed as how that was fine, as long as I held my head still while I sang. He later confessed that it was a first for him, to have some idiot singing all through the operation. I'm no hero, mind you. I just found the connection with that wonderful woman very peaceful. It made me glad that it's performed with a local, rather than a general.

You'll do fine, I'm sure, if you remember the observation of the old Mormon elder: "The way to live a long time is to get an incurable disease -- and take care of it!"

Sandy