Yesterday was Mike’s procedure and I lasted as long as I could before I left the hospital. We got there at 8:00 a.m. He went into surgery at noon and didn’t come out until 5:00. Then he was three hours in recovery and the nurse told me it would be four more hours before a room would be ready for him so I just left.

He was alert and himself when I left. They were concerned because his blood pressure was so high (He doesn’t suffer from hypertension) it was 190/80 when I took off. I think they over-complicate things there. They were scurrying around trying to figure out which meds to give him to lower the blood pressure. His standard bp is 120/30. I finally told them that my thought was even though he can’t feel pain in his legs- his body can respond to the harshness of the procedure (they basically sanded his legs smooth) and his body is responding even if his mind isn’t. But hey, I am not a doctor. They did both legs and they shut down the vein in his left leg that was working backwards. On the other leg, it was decided that because all the veins are funneling blood to his toes instead of his heart- they couldn’t do anything. All the valves are malfunctioning in that leg, so they just debrided that leg as well. The nurses called him quite “entertaining and charming.” LOL I told them not to encourage him! *G* He woke up under anesthesia believing he was Tarzan’s chimp Cheeta. LOL We had watched one of the old tarzan movies before he fell asleep the night before his hospital stay.

I arrived home at 10:00 p.m. grateful to find out that Haley had made it over and seen to all the cats’ needs. The new kitty in the bedroom was standing at the door of the room just crying his heart out. I went in to check and see that he had food and water and he rushed me and attacked my ankles. It wasn’t play, it was intent. He’s 6 months old for cripes sake and supposedly owned by this woman since he was 6 days old! Every time I went in there, he would attack me. Yet, when I left him in the room alone, he would sit at the door and cry endlessly until I came back in. I wrapped him in a blanket and sat held him, petted him told him he was safe. He was growling and swearing at me the whole time. We played that game for a few hours. I tried putting him in different areas of the house in cages, that didn’t work. He just kept crying.

When the other cats would come to the bedroom door, he would rush the door and slam into it in an attempt to get to them- he was hissing and growling, but there wasn’t the pure aggression that I have seen on some kittens who come here. At 2:00, out of options, I just opened up the door of the bedroom to let him out into the house. Unlike Mike, who can take out his hearing aids and sleep, I can’t sleep with a screaming kitten in the house. So I figured, I would just give it to God and open the door and let the cats figure it out for themselves. Worse case scenario, I would have an abscess to drain in a few days. Then exhausted, I fell asleep on the couch.

This morning, I woke up and he was on my chest. Calm as toast. Right now, as I type this Franklin is on my computer desk with his paws folded watching me. Who would have thought? It makes me wonder after the incident with his previous owner, what someone did to him immediately after? When I went to fetch him, he was in one of those (horrid) cardboard carriers. Those things are really dark inside. I wonder if they just kept him in there (out of fear or ignorance) thinking that he might attack and hurt her again? But I did everything in my power, used all my tricks when he was crying- left the lights on in the bedroom, played my harp of hope CD, but he was wound up like a top.

I guess he just wants to be with people and all the other cats, he will have to get used to. He goes on alert sometimes, especially when Chauncey starts talking to me about her day yesterday. I swear this black kitten is a Siamese traveling incognito! She talks a lot!

He hasn’t met everybody yet- but he will in time and hopefully, he will go to a good home sooner than later. I need to get him adopted before Mike comes home, because Mike will fall in love with him and his golden eyes and want to keep him! LOL

So sometimes, I just take a chance and hope for the best. In this instance- my gamble has worked so far.

Mason, Maybelline and maybe Teo are getting neutered today. I did voice my concern to his owners about the neuter possibly bringing on another episode of FUO. I told them if they did decide to get him neutered, that CATS would pay for the neuter as well as the preliminary bloodwork and depending on what the findings were, the vets were to decide if they wanted to do the neuter or not. I was a bit concerned though. The gal dropped by the other night to see her other cat “Girlcat” she showed me a video she had on her phone of poor Teo exhibiting the same symptoms as he had here- with the same swollen and white tongue, the drool the open mouth breathing, snapping at the air. I kept hearing her ask him what was wrong and the video was long- really long. I asked her how long she observed him like this before taking him to the vet. She said 2 hours! I couldn’t stand to see him suffer for ten minutes and she video’d it? I told her to show the vet the video. I believe once Steve sees it, he will decide not to neuter at this time.

I don’t think that they don’t love their cats. I just think that they need to become better educated when it comes to cat care. I had to laugh though- when she came to visit girlcat, I went out with her into the enclosure and sat down on the straw. She was in the chair and she called her kitty out from the catio. Girlcat came out and went directly over to me! LOL She kept coming to me and headbumping me. Katherine goes “Well, she certainly loves you!” LOL

When GC came, she has all these scabbies all over her body. She was crawling with fleas an she had worms. I de-flead, dewormed and then sprayed Schrieners on her scabbies and they are mostly now gone. I love that stuff. She had so many scabbies from scratching her ears, so I attacked her earmites. Now the mites are gone and the scabbies are vanishing. Yes, I would say, she probably does love me- LOL

Okay, I have a day without Michael and as bad as it sounds, I am going to enjoy every minute of it! I’m off to feed and greet my kitties and get on with my day. Thanks for reading my novel. *G*

Well, so much for at least one day of rest. The hospital just called. They are discharging Mike today. I am going up in a few minutes to fetch him home. He will have dressing changes several times a day now. The bandages have been coated in a sort of petroleum jelly so they don’t stick to his wounds. He will be followed up weekly with appointments in Portland. No rest for the weary I guess.