Amber & Watching, Waiting

Last week was very dramatic.  On Monday, Woody fell and seemed to hurt his backside.  We went to the kitty ER late Monday into Tuesday.  On Wednesday, we went to see our regular vet who took x-rays, determined there were no broken bones, and then scheduled us to see an orthopedist on Thursday with the hope that a specialist might be able to determine if there was a ligament broken (again).  The orthopedist could find nothing wrong, was concerned we might be seeing a spinal injury, and referred us to a neurologist... in Yonkers.

So, off we went to Yonkers.  None of us were very excited about it.

But, once there, my buddy barely even limped.  In fact, he jumped up twice onto the guest chair in the exam room, walked around casually, and showed no sign of diminished reflexes.  Hrm.

The neurologist felt that the problem was "not that serious" since Woody was, apparently, able to mask it so well, although he still stood by the theory it could be a spinal issue like "impingement on the spinal cord."  (Which sounds serious to me, dear readers.)  So, we were sent home to monitor the boy and look for progress in any direction.

Mostly, the progress we have seen seems to be in the direction of napping, sometimes with brothers...

...sometimes with brothers and a blow-dryer on an ergonomic pillow I bought for myself (but cannot figure out--who sleeps in one position all night?)....

So, the boy seems sort of up and down.  He can seem fine walking from room to room, but then you notice his tail is always curling to one side of his body.  Or, he will fall trying to jump up onto the window sill near the stove to steal eggs from the fry pan and then be very limpy for a short time.  It seems like just the one leg to me, but then sometimes it seems like the hip?  It's all very confusing.

But, he seems happy.  He can get around, beg for people food, snuggle me at night (with the mattress on the floor), and even scratch his left ear with his bad leg.  Really, he seems like regular old Woody.  Just a little limpier?  So maybe just regular but extra-old Woody?

Do you think Hercule Poirot does veterinary house calls?