“Seriously, Foster? You hissed at Aunt Karen?”

Panda voiced the question as we looked through the photos on Mom’s phone after she came home from her surgery. “I would never hiss at Aunt Karen,” I replied, feeling a tiny bit offended. “I was meowing ‘Hi’ to her when she came to check on us Thursday afternoon.”

Panda looked thoughtful. “Okay,” he said, “because that wouldn’t have been very nice if you had. So did Mom tell you anything about her surgery when she got home?” I decided Panda’s query was more important than my nap, so I gave him as many details as I could.

“Well,” I began. “Aunt Mary Jo took her to the hospital Thursday morning. Her surgery was at 7:30 and she had to be there at 5:30. I wasn’t even really awake yet when she left the house.” Panda shook his head. “That’s pretty early. I must have been sound asleep because I didn’t hear anything.”

“So did Aunt Mary Jo take that one?” Panda asked. I replied in the affirmative. “She doesn’t look very scared,” Panda continued. I nodded. “She was, though,” I said. “She just always smiles when she gets her picture taken.” Panda clicked on a photo of some colorful charts. “What’s this supposed to be?” he asked curiously.

“On the way to the registration area,” I replied, “Aunt Mary Jo told Mom that she had prayed for God to anoint the doctors with skill and wisdom. Mom said she had prayed that there wouldn’t be an earthquake during her operation. You know she says there’s always an element of risk.” Panda rolled his eyes. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” he replied. “Raised by Swedes,” I said before continuing my narrative. “So as soon as they walked into the registration area, the first thing they saw right next to the door was this sign!” Panda took a deep breath. “Alrighty then,” he said. “Go on.”

“Once she got into the pre op area,” I continued, “they gave Mom these special socks, and put these things on her legs to keep her from getting blood clots.” Panda’s eyes widened. “Those are pretty big socks!” he exclaimed. “Mom could probably make me two or three shirts out of one of those!” I agreed. “They said 3XL was the only size they had.”

“Hey!” Panda cried in alarm when he saw the next picture. “What are they doing to Mom? That looks like a vacuum cleaner hose!” I laughed heartily. “It’s a new invention. They attach that hose to your gown, and it blows in warm air in case you get cold. I can tell you right now, Mom didn’t like it so she turned it off.”

“So before she knew it, Mom was done with her operation and she got to be in her own room until the next day. She could have gone home the same day, but she had arranged to stay all night, to be on the safe side. Look at the great view she had from her window!” Panda nodded in approval. He looked at the next photo. “I suppose she thought the clock was crooked?”

“It was!” I replied. “She said she felt like Hercule Poirot, because stuff like that bugs her. She said you can’t really tell in the picture, but it was off by like a fraction of an inch.”

“Is that a real plant?” Panda asked. “It’s pretty cute.” I shook my head. “No, Aunt Mary Jo gave it to mom saying it was a plant she wouldn’t be able to kill.” Panda stifled a laugh. We both remember what happened to Sunny the Sunflower and the ill-fated chrysanthemum from Mom’s garden a few years ago.

Panda clicked to the next picture. “Well, I see they gave her real half and half for her coffee,” he commented. “She said it was real coffee, too,” I said, to which Panda responded, “That’s always a plus.”

“Hey,” I added, going to the next photo. “Look what Aunt Karen gave Mom for our Talavera kitchen! She put it up when she came to check on us. Mom said when she got home, she walked past it a couple of times before she noticed it!” Panda looked perplexed. “This is the same Mom who noticed the clock in her room was an ever so tiny bit crooked?” he asked slowly. “Go figure,” I replied with a shrug.

“Well, it sounds like Mom’s operation was a success,” Panda said, yawning. “I heard her say there was no cancer in her lymph nodes.” I snuggled up next to Panda’s feet. “Yes, that was definitely good news,” I agreed. “And that small bit of breast cancer has been removed, too.” We talked a little longer about how thankful we were, and then, before we knew it, we were sound asleep.