what a week it has been

Three views of Miss Ike

As life slowly returned to a semblance of normality after hurricane Ike here in Houston, our own life sort of started to fall apart.

Thursday night, Phil came home from work feeling tired and draggy, by midnight he was vomiting copiously, had horrible diarrhea and by morning light he was doubled over screaming in intense pain. I took him into our primary care physician's office which was holding an open triage clinic because they still had no power. They referred him to the Methodist Emergency Room. When he was finally seen by the emergency doctor he was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis and transported to another hospital for further care.

So since last Friday, he has been in the hospital on IV saline and heavy duty pain killers. It took almost the whole weekend to convince the staff that he was not asking for pain relief every two hours because he was looking for a quick high but rather that he was indeed in severe and unremitting pain. By Sunday the pain medication was working and on a reasonably prompt schedule and they had put him on clear liquids and his enzyme levels were slowly leveling out.

All that remains is to solve the problem of bloating, he has put on 35 pounds since Friday on a liquid diet with only saline iv and pain meds. They have eliminated gall stones, bladder issue and kidney stones and the enzymes indicate only pancreatitis and something else which is causing the bloating. The only test left that they have left to do is a colonoscopy which will happen tomorrow. Maybe then they will be able to figure out what they need to do so that he can come home and recuperate.

As I came out of the hospital late Sunday evening and approached my car on the third floor of the big parking garage, I saw a dark lump against my tire. I bent over to examine it thinking that perhaps my tire had gone flat. Imagine my surprise when I found a little tabby kitten curled up against the wheel! I did a search throughout the rest of the floor and couldn't find or hear any other cats, so I drove home with the kitten in my lap.

Once home, I dug out a cat kennel and established the little guy with food, water and a kitty litter box out in the garage.

Since then, my schedule has been get up, feed the cats and dog, walk the dog, play with the kitten for 10 minutes, drive to the hospital, spend the day trying to negotiate pain meds, and basic care for Phil, find out which resident is in charge today and corner them for test results and possible diagnosis. This goes on until evening and then I drive home and play with the kitten on the way into the house, walk the dog, feed the dog and cats, take a shower, eat something and go to bed.

Since Houston is still recovering from the hurricane, many of the traffic lights, including all of those between the house and the hospital are non functional. The Texas Houston drivers do not understand the concept of a four way stop and seem to think that since they are perforce, having to travel slowly, start and stop, it automatically means that they can be on the cell phone to pass time. They really seem to be totally unclear on the idea of waiting until one set of cars in each direction has gone before they go, and instead wait halfway into the intersection, blocking all other directions of traffic until everyone gets fed up and starts honking and then peeling rubber and bolting forward in their chosen direction, usually resulting in a fender crinkle or a close call. Today was actually the first day I was able to get too and from the hospital in a reasonable and normal 25 minutes.

I have taken the kitten, name "Ike" to the vet and it turns out that it is actually "Miss Ike". She is a lovely little black and beige tabby, 8 weeks old and very friendly and healthy. The older cats saw me break out the cat kennel and are not speaking to me in the meantime.

The weather has continued basically cooler and drier, which is helpful for the many hurricane survivors who are still without power. It has been perfect bike riding weather but I have been too busy to indulge.

Here's hoping that the weather continues through next week and that by that time Phil is home and recuperating and that we know what caused the sudden pancreatis attack.