Watched a live webcast of disc replacement surgery today. Fascinating stuff. High-tech. Greusome. Scraping out the old disc like old window-frame putty; using a mallet to tap into place the metal-bases of the polyethylene bushings. Ouch. I gotta have me one of those...

I can't wait until the archived copy is available. Maybe if Alane watches the operation enough times, she can perform the procedure for me -- at night, after the boys are asleep. I have a full set of Craftsman tools that she can use, and I'm pretty sure I can fashion my own prosthesis out of some soup-can lids and soap erasers.

Where there's a will...