Columbus OH

Another 3 weeks, more or less.  The delay is all for perfectly sound medical reasons, but as Lew waits for them to resolve -- and resolution conceivably could occur all at once, quite unpredictably -- all he really can do is fritter some more.  Patience is not one of his virtues, particularly when he is just plain stuck.

The good news is that Paul remains in recovery, attending his AA meetings faithfully.  Indeed, he has been asked to chair one.  He also attends school faithfully -- this afternoon he has a final.  Rob too has made enough progress to make one sit up and notice -- he has made it through the entire summer without once requiring a financial transfusion from his parents for survival.

The other news is more frustrating.  The black cat with the H. pylori finished his course of triple antibiotics a couple of weeks ago and was doing fine -- no emesis/diarrhea for the next week.  But then the emesis returned slowly -- once one day, twice the next, and do on.  In less than a week we had him back in the ER last Sunday where he once again was examined, x-rayed, and hydrated (subQ in a cat, not IV).  Nothing remarkable except an obviously inflammed bowel -- and a questionable density in the intestine.  Restored to the antibiotics, that instantly was the end of his vomiting.  He has not vomited so much as once since.  But it raises serious questions about how we are going to get him off the antibiotics.

Meanwhile big furry amiable Smokey has been progressing well.  His surgical wounds are healing well.  His medicated baths seems to have been effective.  After the first bath we discovered two places hidden way up in the folds of his pits and groin, where the bacteria had been able to hide grow and form large foul-smelling crusty colonies.  We cleaned all that out and have been obsessive about checking the pits almost daily, and the technician has very helpful also.  It turns out that she is Deaf, so we have a great time socializing each time we take Smokey in.  So far, no recurrances.

All of this is good.  However, as Paul and the animals have made progress, Bobbi seems to have slipped backwards.  Over the summer she developed pain in her left hip, but plain x-rays of the joint show no obvious arthritis.  Her orthopod wants to do an MRI (a very sensible choice given the anatomy), but the insurance company is balking, insisting that she do physical therapy first.  Of course, in the end they will have to pay for both the PT and the MRI, but their bean-counters are not sharp enough to figure that out.

Lew remains status quo.  Of course his back is still bad, but he manages to control the pain by positioning and finds no limitations on his driving -- in fact, he is willing to leave on 15 minute's notice.  Paul probably can housesit and care for the cats while we are on the road (the regular vet is only 300 ft away, the ER 30 min), but Smokey is not yet stable enough for Copper Harbor, where the nearest (and only) vet is 60 miles away.  

Reality is that after we wait a bit longer for the pets to finish convalescing and for  Bobbi's contest with the insurance company to resolve, it is likely that we will be into October.  By then Copper Harbor will be too chilly, though Eau Claire might still be a possibility.  Otherwise, we will have to look southward down the old Dixie Highway.