Engineering and other triumphs!

Two pieces of good news. First, my white cell count is back to normal! This means I'm not at increased risk of infection and is a sign of things moving in the right direction. Second, my drainagew kits arrived. However, as I feared, having used the wrong kit over the weekend damaged my drain. When I connected it to the new drainage kits, nothing came out. Worst case, this could mean having to replace the catheter (more surgery? No thank you.) But I have not lived in a family of engineers this long for nothing. And I kept hearing Steve's voice in my head saying "Babe, you are super smart. You are very good at this kind of thing. " So, the way I figured it was this. The connector for the wrong kit did work. It was an inch long plastic needle that I shoved into the catheter valve (pushing its innard backward to make it a two-way valve.) Problem was, when the tube/needle was removed, it had become a one-valve the wrong way, like pushing a lobster trap in on itself. After a few false starts that involved cutting my finger with a razor blade, I sacrificed the wrong kit, cut off the needle bit and shoved it in place to see if it would work as an adaptor. Eureka! Yellow fluid started gushing down into the bag, victory dance, yahoo! So now we just have to hold onto the little plastic bit, soak it in alcohol to keep clean, and hope it holds out until I no long need the catheter. That's it for now!