Amber & Items of Note

1. I am not dead, just not blogging.

2. Woody had a check up Dr. Pacchiana appointment yesterday and his knee appears to be healing normally. (Or, as normally as Woody can do anything given that he is Woody.)

3. I have eaten all of the veggies from last week's farm share except for the beets and the bok choy. I consider this a success, as I am certain to eat those additional goods this week.

4. I am on antibiotics for an ear and sinus infection. Ironically, they have made me feel worse.

5. I had no cold water this morning and no shower.

6. I will do good blogging tomorrow.

Amber & Projectile Hypochondria

I worry about Woody. Dr. Pacchiana discussed the risk of him tearing the sutures holding the ligament repair in place during his recovery and stressed we should only see forward progress.

Of course, when he says this, I hear, "Blah blah blah, something horrible could happen."

Well, now I'm afraid it has. I need a second, non-anxiety-ridden eyes to assess the situation, but the boy came out of the resty den on Friday and seemed to be limping a bit more. I tried to do the drawer test on his boo boo knee to see if there was any slippage, but I had no idea what I was doing.

Should I take the boy to the vet? It's hard to live alone. I need a live-in rational person who also does laundry. I just love my boy.

(Photos of W's suture removal by James  more here)

Amber & Suture Removal

First things first: Woody is doing well. (Hence the smiling cat. Which is not Woody.) Dr. Pacchiana says that his incision is healing relatively well and that the knee repair feels solid. He showed me some techniques to use for the physical therapy (not Woody's fave) and said to try taking off the collar, but to make sure he didn't immediately go after the wound.

Of course, as soon as I took off the collar, he went straight for licking, so he's back in his Elizabethan get-up.

Now, we need 8 weeks of restricted activities and then the boy will be as good as refurbished.

Bodies are pretty amazing things. God bless, Modern Medicine.

And, special thanks to Jimmy for coming for moral and photographic support.

Amber & Kitty Recovery

Right now, as I post, Woody is in recovery from surgery. Yesterday, we went to see the wonderous and trust-worthy Dr. Schaubhut who demonstrated that there was no question that the original diagnosis had been correct: he had a torn cruciate ligament. But, not in keeping with the advice of the ER vet, there was no chance of recovery without surgery. Kitty stifle ligaments can't heal themselves.

So, Dr. Schaubhut referred us to Dr. Pacchiana who saw him this morning, confirmed Schaubhut's information, and admitted him for surgery.

The boy has a long recovery ahead of him. He will likely come home tomorrow, and then for 8 weeks need to be crated, possibly with a neck cone. And, within a week, we will need to start kitty physical therapy on the leg. I imagine it will look something like this.