It’s been along time since I spent any time in a hospital and, frankly, I wasn’t looking forward to it now. But there are a couple of things that need fixing and investigating and so today surgeon John Erbicella and urologist Mitchell Kotler will be doing their thing while I nap, so to speak.

They tell me I should expect a stay in the hospital of five to seven days, which I think is quite long in these days of in-and-out surgeries. Still, I’d rather be sure than sorry, as the old folks used to say.

In times past, I’d be surrounded by friends at the hospital.  My friend’s mother, Terry Cogan, used to be a nurse here before her retirement.

The ever-cheerful Rich Bellamente was the public relations honcho here before his retirement. He’d have been down to see me before the anesthesia took effect in the old days.

Rick Maxie’s mom, Carla, used to run the front desk down in the lobby.

Nowadays, I don’t really know many folks at Inspira Medical Center in Woodbury. But that’s OK. My Closest Companion will demonstrate how she got that name by spending a great amount of time at my bedside, I’m sure.

Maybe I’ll get some writing done, or maybe not. I’ll surely get some reading done, no question about that.

I certainly hope to be convalesced enough to write next week’s column and stay up to date on Facebook and things like that. We’ll see.

Anyway, that’s enough for today, what with surgery tomorrow and all.

See you all on the other side of the anesthesia … zzzzzzzzzzz.