Outstanding news Steve... I understand about the "loopy" sensation... when I had my surgery last Monday, they gutted me like a fish, cut a section of the small intestine out and reconnected that, then stapled me shut with about 18 staples.... Monday night as I was coming out from under the anesthesia, they handed me a little push button thingy attached to one of the IV poles and said I could push the button every 6-7 minutes and get some pain relief..... I had a tube down my nose which was a lot more painful than the incision (until I started to sit up)... I only did the button every couple of hours, but I had some strange and weird dreams the first couple of nights.... after that I was kinda used to them and could ignore them some, but whatever that stuff was gave me some gremlins I don't want anymore.
My daughter, whose about 44 now and is a cycling nut, got knocked off her bike by a car about 9 or10 years ago and cracked three vertebrae in her lower back... she was in intense pain for months before they finally decided the needed to fuse the vertebrae and put a cage around them. I went out to CA for her surgery and was there when she woke up. Kathleen's back won't let her do the swim turns she used to do in her ironwoman marathons, but she can still jump on her bike and knock off a 50 or 60 mile ride without thinking about it It's amazing what doctors can do now.... 50-60 years people with back injuries were almost certainly doomed to a life of pain.
Give Judy our love and tell her we are pulling for her.