Hooray! the plumber has been and now my sink drains properly! He's coming next week to fix the non-functioning hot tap (which may have been the original reason for the blasted thing blocking in the first place). Now I'm off to do several day's worth of washing-up.

The hospital just called - I'm to go in for pre-clerking this Wednesday and for the actual operation on the 11th. Hooray!

Now I can devote myself to full-time worrying about the operation...