Cindy's fever was lower most of the day yesterday and is normal so far today. She feels much better when her temp is normal. The abdominal distention and pressure is still there and that's what's giving her the most trouble right now.

They decided to move her surgery up a day, so it'll be on Tuesday afternoon. We're still very nervous about what they'll find, but hopefully that will finally answer our questions. So far none of the tests - blood cultures, sinus CT, chest x-ray, etc - have identified the source of her fever, but at least we're crossing things off the list. Right now the two best possibilities seem to be an intra-abdominal infection or an inflammatory reaction as I mentioned yesterday. Unfortunately, that also means that Cindy will be in the hospital until after surgery, but that's probably the best place right now.

Cindy's hematocrit was a little low this morning, so she's getting a couple of units of blood in preparation for surgery. Lab tests also show some reduction in her renal function, which is a bit concerning. Physically it still seems normal, so hopefully its a transient reaction to the dye used in some of her scans.

On another note, many of you have asked if we need help with Abby, our lab puppy. We had already planned to board her when we thought the filter placement was going to be done as an outpatient and we just extended her stay. She loves the group playtimes and is worn out at night . . . a tired puppy is a happy puppy! I picked her up today and she'll stay at home until Tuesday when she'll go back again for another couple of days.