diff --git a/pageserver/src/metrics.rs b/pageserver/src/metrics.rs
index fcba76a3d2..03433f3204 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/metrics.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/metrics.rs
@@ -1320,31 +1320,30 @@ impl SmgrOpFlushInProgress {
         let mut fut = std::pin::pin!(fut);
 
         let now = Instant::now();
-        // Whenever observe_guard gets called, or dropped,
-        // it adds the time elapsed since its last call to metrics.
-        // Last call is tracked in `now`.
-        let mut observe_guard = scopeguard::guard(
-            || {
-                let elapsed = now - self.base;
-                // self.global_micros
-                //     .inc_by(u64::try_from(elapsed.as_micros()).unwrap());
-                // self.per_timeline_micros
-                //     .inc_by(u64::try_from(elapsed.as_micros()).unwrap());
-                self.base = now;
-            },
-            |mut observe| {
-                observe();
-            },
-        );
 
-        loop {
+        let v = loop {
             match tokio::time::timeout(Duration::from_secs(10), &mut fut).await {
-                Ok(v) => return v,
+                Ok(v) => break v,
                 Err(_timeout) => {
-                    (*observe_guard)();
+                    let elapsed = now - self.base;
+                    self.global_micros
+                        .inc_by(u64::try_from(elapsed.as_micros()).unwrap());
+                    self.per_timeline_micros
+                        .inc_by(u64::try_from(elapsed.as_micros()).unwrap());
+                    self.base = now;
+                    /* bug with `now` not renewing isn't fixed */
                 }
             }
-        }
+        };
+
+        let elapsed = now - self.base;
+        self.global_micros
+            .inc_by(u64::try_from(elapsed.as_micros()).unwrap());
+        self.per_timeline_micros
+            .inc_by(u64::try_from(elapsed.as_micros()).unwrap());
+        self.base = now;
+
+        v
     }
 }