so how are you feeling now Teague?  I hope you're doing okay.

In the grand scheme of things, and if it wants to take its time, and not a cause pain, all well and good.

Just glad that it's not to bad anymore, but even still that was what almost a full week of pain? Yeesh.

Makes me knock on wood and count my blessings that I've not had any medical issues over the last few years, what being freelance and not wanting to deal with the extra outlay for insurance. Here's hoping the "discussion" of possibly offering me the a staff position actually bears fruit at some point.

Oh that's definitely the plan.
I've realized that I am in the past few months in a position where my finances are actually stable, and that while I am working a freelance gig, it is reasonably long term for now, and even if it ended I have pretty stable options open to me.
Before I was always a bit ... concerned that once a gig wrapped up, I would be eating into my savings for month to month cost, so the extra expenditure was something that I was hesitant about.

In Australia we have Medicare, I don't know how a first world country functions without robust public health services. 

Pfft on your public health care system. I still pine for the days of private fire insurance. If you didn't have insurance, the fire brigade would come, but they wouldn't put out the fire. Survival of the fittest was the rule of the land!

Oh, the fun we had, rolling hoops with sticks past the poor children just getting off work at the textile mill.....

I was going to say, I thought the buffer cupboard might be getting a bit bare.