I woke up in recovery at 2:00 a.m. believing that I had just returned from my first visit to the moon.  I truly saw myself wearing an enormous

moon boot, stepping down onto the surface of the moon.  It wasn’t until the anesthesia had worn off a bit that I realize that my moon boot was really a $20,000 piece of space-age metal in the shape of an external fixator (wrapped up here in an ACE bandage).

My Dad spent the rest of the night with me in my hospital room.  It was such a comfort to see the light of the moon reflecting off of his sweet, bald head.  Every time I looked at him, I knew that I wasn’t alone in all of this.