THE BUILDER, REPAIRED!

Last week, Bob "the Builder" Bunderfeld sent an Instant Message, to tell me about a new resident's impressive builds. "You really will be amazed to see what he's up to, and what he's already implemented."

I thank him. "But right now," I say, "my question is, HOW ARE YOU DOING?" Because the last time I had heard from Bob, he was preparing-- not to put too fine a spin on this-- to be laid out on a table so he could have his head cut wide open. "How did the operation go?"

"I'm doing pretty darn well," he says, smiling. "If I learn to lay down and take it easy... I feel good, most of the time, no pain."

"So the pain you had before the operation is pretty much gone?"

"Yeah," Bob answers, "I can actually play now for up to three hours without pain. Yes, gone gone gone."

"That's really great, Bob."

"Yup, I think so too! Thanks for all the prayers and good thoughts, Hammy. I can't tell you how good it felt knowing everyone in SL was hoping the best for me... One thing for sure, I can get back into the everyday business of the sim." Bob helps runs a neighorhood community, and it's there that I visited him last Tuesday, at his new home. "Slate is really coming along, especially now that I can be here daily to watch over it, and help things along."

"So not much time in the hospital after [the operation], sounds like?"

"I went in Monday, threw up on the gas doctor, had surgery Monday morning, left Wednesday afternoon."

"With like a giant bandage on your head, or what?"

"They said the wound needs to be open to heal. I got the staples out on the 23rd [of March]. Thirty of 'em. Here's the head."

And with that, Bob drops a texture into my inventory. I suggest that he display that texture on his house, to get a fuller view of the procedure's aftermath.

And at this point, readers with fragile constitutions should read (or click the thumbnails images) no further.

"ACK!" I say. I think of something more constructive to offer. "ACK! ACK!!!!"

Bob just laughs.

"YOU! HAVE! A GIANT ZIPPER! ON THE BACK! OF YOUR HEAD!!!"

"Yes I do," says Bob, smiling. "That's gonna be a great scar!"

"It'll impress the ladies, that's for sure."

Earlier, I ask him to describe the operation.

"Well, they cut me from the crown all the way down to the neck. Then they opened the dura, and found that my foram magnum was peaked."

"What's a foram magnum?"

"The boney area that holds the brainstem and spinal cord connection. That was deformed a bit, from birth, and [the surgeon] shaved that out to give me some more room. Then he took a graft from the upper portion of the back of my head to cover over the dura, to give the whole area more room."

With more room for his brain, he has more time to be in-world, to work on his projects, and foster his community. The operation is done and over with, Bob has plans to create a souvenir for it, in here, besides a texture image.

"Actually," he says, "I have someone working on it to put on my avatar."