Top-to-bottom Update

1. It's not obvious to the naked eye, but the hair on my head is making a comeback. It's very fine and very fair so far—reminiscent of a baby duck. Zach noticed it first. He was doing that thing people do when they can't resist the tactile sensation that near-baldness provides: he was rubbing my head like a genie's lamp. I don't know if he made a wish, but he definitely scooped the competition (that would be me) with the news that my scalp is showing signs of life.


2. My eyebrows seem to have completed their round of layoffs. Had I been consulted, I would have voted to purge the hairs below my arches, but they weren't nearly so systematic. Still, the results aren't awful. (They're actually not all that noticeable, actually.) But I'm still peeved about the whole thing. It's like a late hit in football—there should be some sort of penalty, I think.


3. I was right. The belly-button steri-strips fell off first. OK, I did help them . . . a little. But they definitely would have fallen off first even if I hadn't—the ones on the other three incisions haven't budged.


4. I'm still relying exclusively on drawstring pants, but I am hopeful that I may return to the world of buttons and zippers before too long.


5. I am down about five pounds from my recent all-time-high. I'm hoping that the other 10 will bid me a gradual farewell once I get the all-clear to exercise once again.


6. There's really nothing to say about my legs or feet except that my attempt at a do-it-yourself, pre-op pedicure was thwarted slightly by the fact that I unwittingly purchased a polish that is not remotely age-appropriate. It looks OK in the bottle, but on my toes it has that shimmery-pale-pink-fairy-princess thing going on. It will look darling on my adorable 7- and 4-year-old nieces, to whom I plan to bequeath it the next time they visit.