"I sad."

Mommy: "Daddy's home early from work so mommy can take kitty to the vet. He's sick, and the vet can help us get him to feeling better."

Colin: "I sad."

Mommy: "Yes, I'm sad, too, but they'll take good care of him"

This was the conversation in our household this afternoon. Elliot has barfed off and on for the past 18 + hours, and I took him to the cat hospital ER to get him checked out. And I haven't bought pet insurance why? Does flexible spending cover non-humans in our family. I digress....

Elliot had x-rays to check for a blockage in his tummy, blood and other lab work, and nothing shows any signs of why he is sick other than just a few remants of nausea from an antibiotic that didn't sit well with him (for treating cat acne, of all things!)

So, the bad news is that he was sick twice while they had him in doing lab work. So they are keeping him in "kitty intensive care" overnight to administer fluids and to nurse him back to health.

They asked if I wanted to see him before I left for the night. Sure, why not. And when I saw him, I had a range of emotions flash through my mind, which I hadn't expected. It must have been the smell of the cat hospital area, or perhaps just seeing my kitty sitting behind some bars and knowing he wouldn't be coming home with me tonight.

The last time I left Elliot overnight at the vet was when we lived in Indiana. He had surgery September 10, 2001. The next day, I was told I could come visit, and I thought, "He's just a 2 1/2 month old kitten. I'll just get him in a few days."

the next day was Septemnber 11, 2001, and the world as we knew it came to an end. I had only been living in Indiana for about a month, and all of my family except my husband was hundreds of miles away. Stores were closed. My office was closed, and people had gone home for the day. The mall was closed. Everyone wondered what was coming next.

So what was a lonely gal in Indiana suppose to do? I went and visited my family, my 2 1/2 month old kitten. As I pet him, the sound of Tom Brokaw on the TV was being broadcast throughout the back room. Yes, I had gone to see my only other family member, even though he had just joined our family a few weeks earlier.

Tonight as I left Elliot, I felt the heaviness of his sickness as I left behind a member of my family and drove home. Alone.

Last month we fought his cat cancer once again -- and this shall be no different. He still has many of those 9 lives left to go!

Yes, dear Colin, "I sad," too!