Clean bill of health

A more appropriate blip for today would have just been a box with a big tick in it. Why? Because I ad my post-op appointment at 11.30 am. I was expecting the surgeon himself to be there, but it was actually a member of the medical team. The assessment couldn't have gone any better. Everything is fine, he says -- blood pressure, pulse rate, heartbeat, wound progress, all spot on -- and at the end of our chat, when he'd written out a new prescription with my medication reduced from five tablets to three a day, he told me 'we don't want to see you again'. I still need to arrange an appointment with the cardiac consultant who did the angiogram and got the bypass ball rolling, and I've also been referred for cardiac rehabilitation in Beaumont. Apart from that, I'l right as rain. I can drive right now if I want to (though I should 'take it easy', and I don't feel myself that I'm ready just yet), and there's no problem with going away for a little foreign break (though the flight shouldn't be too long: the South of France, which I specified when he asked, is fine.

So, all in all a bit of a red-letter day. There was heavy rain overnight, and I didn't think when I woke that I'd get to the hospital without getting a soaking, but the weather changed for the better and the sky was nicely blue as I got off the bus and headed for O'Connell Street and on to the Mater. I stopped to say Hi to the James Joyce memorial sculpture.

Hospital appointment over, I met my normally-once-every-six-weeks-going-for-a-meal buddy. We ate in what was Fitzers on Dawson Sreet (now Marco Pierre White's). As usual with these lunch-special or early-bird deals, we ended up spending a lot more than the at-first-glance two-course price, but then we ask for it by adding an extra course and coffee and a bottle of wine to what we had. Still, it was an enjoyable experience and I'd go back again. A few bevvies in Café en Seine finished off a great day.