Health

The Saga of the Toes, Part Two

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Took pictures of Monkey’s paw today and sent them off to the vet so she can decide whether we need to come back for a check-up or it’s going well enough that we can just go on with the antibiotics and wait it out. I love living in the future 😀

The picture taking was an adventure on itself. I was wrestling the cat into not moving in my lap with one arm, all the while holding his paw out and spreading the toes with the other arm. Nienke then took some pictures. They’re not the best quality, but I hope they’ll do.

His paw looks much better already, I think it was indeed the soaking that was slowing down the healing process. While the stuff disinfects the infection, it also made Monkey lick and clean the paw even more. And with the rough tongue cats have, he was continually making it worse again.

Over the past week I’ve noticed him cleaning the paw much less, and the sore has diminished in size considerably. On the top of his foot, where you could see the edges of the sore at first, almost all the hair has come back. I’m hoping the vet will not have us come back, my bank account would be grateful, but if we must, we go.

The Saga of the Toes, Part One

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So Monkey’s been having a wound/infection kinda thing between the middle toes of his back leg for a while now. I took him to the vet in early December to have it looked at, and she gave me some antibiotics and told me to soak the paw in sodium carbonate.

So I soaked his paw every day, and finished the antibiotics treatment (about a week), but the wound didn’t really change. So I gave it some more time, kept soaking the paw once every day and then the holiday preparations hit and I got distracted. But last week, as excitement ebbed away, I took notice again, and saw that there were still barely any changes.

So today I took him back to the vet, and just like last time he’s turning out to be quite medical marvel. The vet was surprised it hadn’t healed yet and took a swab to have it checked out to see what kind of infection it is. She also said to stop the soaking, it seems as if the wetness isn’t helping, so we’re trying keeping it dry. She also gave me another antibiotics treatment, this time ten days worth. We probably have to come back, like last time, on a weekly basis, unless I manage to get good pictures of the paw to send to her. Will have to try doing that.

I know the cat will be pleased that there’s no more soaking. He absolutely hated it! The first few times, as I was trying out how best to do it, I got scratched all over. Then I figured out how to roll him in a towel tight enough that he would stay confined, and calm enough, to soak the paw for a minute or so. But as the days went on, he started realising what it meant when I put the bow with the solution on the floor and came at him with the towel so he’d hide in corners 😀

And today he decided he really didn’t want to go to the vet, so as we (Nienke drove us) were just a couple hundred yards away from the vet’s office, he decided to poop in the carrier…

The smell was horrible, and as he was squirming about in the carrier, trying to get out, and away from the poop, he managed to spread it over the bottom, and into the towel, and some on himself too. The vet was heroic, in that she cleaned out the worst in the carrier while I held the cat in a stranglehold. The carrier got at least cleanish enough to take Mr. Poop home without making it worse.

Back home I cleaned the cat, which he did not like. But serves him well for the crap he gave me (pun intended). Then spent fifteen minutes minutely scrubbing the carrier since poop had been in all the corners and crannies. Joy.

Weekly Four: week 52

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I’m grateful for renewed inspiration.

I’m happy with the book I’m reading, it’s awesome!

I’m sad the cat’s paw infection is turning out to be something quite alike the Saga of the Spots a few months ago.

I learned, for the nth time, that cat claws are sharp *glares at kitty* and the angrier the kitty, the sharper they seem to get 😀

Weekly Four: week 51

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I’m grateful for how the world looks so pretty, all covered in snow.

I’m happy with the new books I bought today. One with the book money I got for Christmas, and the other two myself since they were parts two and three of the trilogy and I know how I am about epic fantasy books 😀

I’m sad-ish the year is almost over, there’s a few things I wanted to get done this year that I didn’t. I’m not letting myself see those things as failures, but still, it would’ve been nice to make it. More about that in the overview post(s) later this week.

I learned I stayed pretty constant, weight-wise, this month. Only gained 0,2 kilos since same time last month, nicely done.

Weekly Four: week 48

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I’m grateful for chocolate 🙂

I’m happy I got the book I wanted from St. Nicholas 😀

I’m slightly annoyed at the lack of free free-time. All my free days of late seem to be filled with obligations. Most of those obligations are fun ones I really enjoy ( like last night’s St. Nicholasmas party 😀 ) and on the whole it isn’t even always true, I think, I can’t remember :S But it does feel like I barely have any me-time left the last few weeks and it’s wearing me down since I need the me-time to regenerate my energy, being a major introvert. Yesterday I was exhausted by 21:30/22:00, and then had to get up at 6:30 this morning to be at work at 8:15, and I spent most of that time half asleep still. Next free day is Wednesday, and I have no plans for that day so I’m making that my relax day (even though I desperately need to vacuum too).

I learned listening to my body is probably a good idea. Tied in to above, the cold I’ve been having is still not gone. My voice is still messed up and I’m not done coughing either. I bought some cough medicine yesterday, and got some extra fruit for vitamins, I want to get rid of it! I finally wanna try out my Glee karaoke app 😀

Weekly Four: week 47 / voice

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I’ve a cold, and as a result I’ve been having some issues with my voice the past week or so. And somehow it also transferred over to having problems with my writing voice, hence the lack of posts lately. For now, the Weekly Four.

I’m grateful for being on the e-mail team which lets me work even if my voice doesn’t work instead of having to call in sick because of not being able to talk (which kinda sucks in a call centre 😀 )

I’m happy in general. I’ve started to actually enjoy the world around again, instead of moping around because of dark and greyness. I love the fresh wind that smells of snow, I love the start of the holiday decorating in my house. I even made a wreath, of which I will post a pretty picture later this week, I only have an evening shot on the phone and that doesn’t do it justice. I also love cake, and friends, and music, and books. Especially books. I’ve been rereading Eddings’ Belgariad books. I read them first when I was about 12, and while I had read some fantasy and sci-fi before, this series was THE one that pulled me in and made me a fantasy fan for life. And an epic fantasy fan specifically. Back then I read it in Dutch, I’m reading the original now, and it’s even better than I remembered, I’m falling right back into the story, just as I did then, and the characters walk with me in my day and night dreams.

I’m sad that my voice isn’t back yet 😀 I downloaded a Glee karaoke type app on my iPhone, and as long as my voice is still off, I don’t wanna play with it. So I’ve had to wait, and I don’t wanna wait anymore.

I learned cats can be worse hogs of bed and blanket space than humans 😀

Weekly Four: week 46

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I’m grateful for cheesecake, I <3 it.

I’m happy I managed to get to revered with Zandalar Tribe. I might even make it to Exalted if the Shattering doesn’t happen coming week. #WoW

I’m annoyed with the cold that decided to attack all my soft squishy bits and cause and excessive mucus production.

I learned showing the hairdresser two images and explaining what you want of each image doesn’t always lead to the desired effect. Not that the cut I ended up getting was bad, I do like it, it just wasn’t what I had in mind. In the end it doesn’t matter, that’s the beauty of hair, it’ll grow back 😀 And in the mean time I wait eagerly for April next year when I’ll be going peroxide blond for my Spike dress-up for the Elf Fantasy Fair.

Weekly Four: week 43

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I’m grateful for good health, a couple of my kin of my parent’s generation have had/still have some health scares going on recently, so I’m just really grateful that my parents are good.

I’m happy my Halloween pumpkins turned out good.

I’m sad/annoyed bordering on angry because daylight savings time is over again. I do NOT deal well with winter time.

I learned I really need more hours in a day 😀 Too many plans, not enough time. Let alone enough light.