Bao is fine. The surgery went well. He's here at home with me, sleeping at my feet.

I remained there with him the whole time. (I couldn't just drop him off at 8 am like a bag of dirty laundry and then wait for them to call and tell me to come and get him!) That actually worked well, because they let him stay with me during almost the whole pre-op period, and I think that calmed and reassured him. It certainly calmed and reassured me!

Also, they let him come home a couple of hours earlier than usual. The vet said she knew I'd watch him. I'm definitely watching him. I'm watching every little breath he takes. I'll probably be up all night, checking to see that he's still breathing, the way I did when he was a tiny puppy.

Thank you -- all of you -- for your thoughts, messages and emails. They helped both of us, enormously.

Now, I'm going to pour myself a Scotch.