Well, I've had my operation and Alien has been successfully evicted. I can't believe how much better I feel, everyone says I look better than I have done for some time and I certainly feel that is the case. There is a slight disagreement between some of the surgical team as to Alien's size, one says a 34 week pregnancy and the other a 30 week pregnancy, but in any case Alien was a bit on the big side. I spent more time in recovery than I did in theatre, but getting my pain control level right was a bit tricky. I also lost quite a lot of the red stuff during the procedure and this had to be largely replaced. However, apart from my skin allergies kicking in big time I feel fine if a little delicate. I reacted to just about every dressing used, the purple sheet I came round on and one of the gowns I was put into before my epidural was removed and allowed me to wear my own nighshirt. I must admit I have never reacted to any of these before and it all came as a bit of a surprise. However, the antihistimine tablets and steroid creams are getting the better of the reaction so I'm itching a lot less now and I don't look so red. Having said all that I have walked into my local town twice now in attempts to get my stitches out, thankfully it was second time successful. Mind you, I do feel very tired after the walks and am thankful that I won't have to venture into town again until Monday. I did manage to do a couple of small watercolour sketches in hospital and will put them on my gallery shortly. They aren't brilliant, but then I guess a sketch doesn't need to be and I still had my epidural in giving my nice doses of strong painkiller, which made the eyes a little soft focus. I have to say that the staff in the hospital were all great and made my short stay a very happy one (if a trifle itchy!), the surgical team were great too and so were the Doctors who looked after me once I was back on the ward. The NHS comes in for a lot of stick these days, some of it probably is fair, but my local hospital came up trumps and the food was quite good too so I'm not complaining. I will write again soon when I feel a bit stronger. Happy painting to all.