Note: Until Hannah is up to it, I'll be posting updates regarding Hannah's surgery and recovery. -Eric

Today was the day that Hannah had her intramedullary spinal cord tumor removed. What follows is a chronological account of how our day went. If you're looking for eloquence and creativity, you won't find it here. As you will soon learn, I am tired by now and don't have the energy for it;-)

4:30 a.m. - We were awakened by the sounds of our iPhone alarms. While we turned in relatively early last night, it was not near early enough and we felt it. We rented Lawless last night. I had seen it but Hannah had not. I wanted her to know how much I now despised Guy Pierce for playing such a vile monster. I think she liked it well enough. Good movie, BTW.
5:15 a.m. - We got into the cab I had reserved earlier that morning. Turns out the driver was given some grief as he cut the cab line that is constantly waiting at our hotel to meet our reservation. I new there was a line there, but didn't know if there would be one that early and I didn't want to risk being late.
5:30 a.m. - By now we had arrived at the Sheik Zayed Tower at Johns Hopkins. We made it up to the inpatient check-in and did a fair amount of waiting. Eventually Hannah was taken to prepare for surgery while I was debriefed in the waiting room. I was given a pair of numbers that would help me determine Hannah's progress on a screen in the waiting room. I was told that I would receive regular updates. There were lockers and vending machines available.
7:00ish a.m. - I was brought back into something like a staging area for those awaiting surgery. Hannah was already in her hospital bed with an IV drip. Dr. Jallo came by to explain the procedure, go over the risks, etc. We signed some paperwork and he was off. Later the anesthesiologist came by to fill us in on his work and the risks. We signed some paperwork and waited a little more before Hannah was taken back.
I went downstairs to get some coffee and breakfast. I didn't like lox on my bagel as much as I expected to. I went back up to the waiting area which by now was pleasantly lit by the morning sun. I got a little work in before the first update came.
9:00 a.m. - The first update came. It literally was, "Surgery has begun and everything is going well." I was not caught off guard that I was hearing surgery had begun one and a half hours after I watched them wheel her to the OR. I had heard similar updates given before mine. Apparently the anesthesia and whatever other preparations they do in there must take some time. I also did not expect this to put us behind schedule. They had blocked her surgery until Noon and from what I could tell so far, Johns Hopkins is a well tuned machine. I suspected I may even hear from the doctor before then.
10:30 a.m. - After finishing what work I could do, I turned to reading my book (Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry), all the while being distracted by Drew Carey and his Showcase Showdowns. The next update came, "Hannah is still in surgery. Everything is well."
11:30 a.m. - I made some phone calls, sent some texts and was just about to get back to reading when Dr. Jallo came into the room. He looked pretty pleased with himself and so I assumed everything had indeed went well.
He reported that most of the cysts had drained. We could expect the rest to drain in the coming weeks. The tumor itself was mostly, if not completely removed. A follow-up MRI tomorrow will tell us with more certainty. The tumor looked to him to be benign but the pathology report will tell us in a week or so.
It occurred to me that it must be pretty nice to be able to finish a job like that and shake the hand of a smiling spouse. Unfortunately I had seen the opposite a couple of times that morning.
God is good.
12:30 p.m. - About an hour later I was able to visit Hannah in the ICU. I had been well primed by friends, family and the anesthesiologist to expect Hannah to have all sorts of things stuck to her, inside her and down her throat. I was pleasantly surprised to see that, save for a couple of IVs, she looked well and was even awake! She was in a bit of pain, which the hospital staff monitored and adjusted throughout the afternoon.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in the ICU. When Hannah was awake, I tried to be helpful. When she wasn't, I made phone calls, sent emails or watched Hulu.
Hannah endured a fair amount of prodding, poking, adjusting and medicating throughout the day. I was impressed with the speed of her recovery. six hours after she was done with her surgery, she was able to drink ginger ale and her voice was recovering.
8:00 p.m. - Hannah's friend Sydney arrived at our hotel to drop her stuff off. She'll be staying overnight with Hannah while she is in the hospital. A huge help as I'm exhausted and could use a real bed. We ordered some dinner to-go from the restaurant downstairs and then cabbed it over to the hospital.
They only let one person back in Hannah's room at a time and so I spent some time with Hannah first. We chatted a little, prayed a prayer of thanks, and Hannah called her mother. I said goodnight and then switched with Sydney.
I'll be back at the hospital to relieve Sydney at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow. They expect to take Hannah out of ICU by Noon.
God is good.