Update

So we came home from the hospital yesterday around noon, everything was fine, Joel showered, got a hair cut, ate lunch, played with the kids, etc... Unfortunately all was not fine for long and he started bleeding again during the night, though not as bad as earlier this week. He ended up back in the hospital, where we thought maybe we could find a surgeon to do a once-and-for-all operation to fix things (which we'd been putting off before now because it is, you know, like surgery). However due to the holiday weekend the preferred surgeons are not around, and since it's not an emergency (he stopped bleeding again), it looks like we'll wait at least till next week to talk to the surgeon and find out when we can do this. He's still at the hospital but if all goes well he can come home tomorrow. Again. I am learning my way around that place way too well. Which for me (directionally challenged that I am), is saying something - I have been there WAY too much lately!

The good bit of news today was the return of Ulysses! Who apparently Ben spotted sitting on a neighbor's front porch, and scooped him up and brought him home. Ulysses has been missing for 2 months, and I had given up hope to the extent that I had put away his food and water dishes and thrown out his cat litter. So I had to go borrow cat litter from a neighbor when I got home from the hospital. I have a theory which is that a couple of days ago, some missing cat flyers (without picture) went up in the neighborhood, and I am wondering if someone "found" Ulysses and took him in as a stray and then lost him again. Hence his appearance back home roughly coinciding with the lost flyers going up. I called and left a message at the number on the flyer, but no return call yet. In the meantime I need to get Ulysses a collar (though he has to date refused to wear one) and possibly get him microchipped and maybe tattoo my phone number onto him someplace LOL... I do not want to lose that cat again! So happy that he has returned home, and just a couple days before his 11th birthday, which otherwise would have been a sad occasion!