I've had surgery before--nothing as serious as Pat's going to have tomorrow--and I know how much it can take out of you. I pray Pat has the strength left to survive the surgery.

I pray that the surgical team's hands are quick and sure, that the surgeon's eyes are quick to find the source of the bleeding and that his skills are such that he can repair the damage.

I pray that whatever channels we use for sending our love and healing thoughts to Pat will carry them in sufficient volume to help Pat win this struggle.

I pray that this community, this forum, will soon be blessed with heaping qualities of the finest quality of the real stuff, the flying litter of the original litter kicker, Catspaw the Magnificent.

And I pray that Karen and her whole family and Pat's friends will soon have this terrible shadow lifted from their lives. --seed