But we don't have any Cats!

Finally, at 2:15pm, Caren was picked up to go for her CAT Scan. It only took two Residents to figure out how to inject the contrast medium into her NG tube and a third Resident to start screaming on the phone at someone at Patient Transportation to get the show on the road. In defense of the Residents attempting to inject the dye, they actually knew how to perform the procedure, actually Jack could squirt fluid in a straw, but we learned why the Head of Colo-Rectal Surgery doesn't do the simple NG tube insertions anymore. He grabbed an old-school NG tube and threw it in there (not literally of course), the Residents are used to using a different, newer tube that actually has a port on the end designed to inject stuff into. The problem they were having was figuring out how to attach syringe "A" to port-less NG-tube "B". The bewilderment on their faces is actually amusing in retrospect, trying to decide of the parts were compatible or not.

Eventually they got the right syringe, the one designed for NG-tube "B", and got the stuff in. Then the waiting began. I'd say, roughly two hours passed before the screaming on the phone occurred. There was someone waiting outside our door in fifteen minutes after that.

The rest of the day has been spent trying to manage her infection and get her fluid and electrolyte levels back into sync. She's been relatively comfortable, except for the last hour or so sitting with a belly full of contrast medium. No new fever and no more vomiting episodes (thank goodness!). Once we get the results of the CAT scan we'll be able to come up with a plan for the next few days. I really can't thank Fran & Al, Suzie & Eric, and especially my parents for putting damn near everything on hold to take care of the boys and the dogs (I feel obligated to mention the dogs here because Sadie, the puppy, is probably the most work of all of them!). Caren and I have been able to focus on the task at hand without worrying about how our guys are doing up there. I also know that there's a limit to how much we can reasonably expect; my only hope is that Caren gets well enough so we can come home together, very soon. Don't worry guys, I won't leave ya'all in charge of the zoo up there for ever! We'll know more this afternoon and go from there.

Thank you again for all the support. Caren reads my posts and your comments whenever she feels up to it, so keep them coming. So far I haven't written anything that got her too upset with me, although the bit about almost throwing up on her made her laugh so hard her incision hurt, and that got me a dirty look. We can't wait to see everyone soon.