Amber & Short Term Memory, Long Term Dread

Q: Mr. Owl, how many days does it take for a cat to forget a very bad thing that happened to him?

A: Let's find out. One...

Two...

Three...

Exactly 754 days.  This can not be a good thing.  But, golly that surgery was great for him and healed super well.

Amber & Kitty Yoga

This morning, the kitties seem all very laid back and harmonious. For example, Woody is doing his morning yoga by the window.

I think he's doing cobra pose with modifications for his surgeried knee. It doesn't bend quite the same since the ligament was reconstructed, and Woody knows to choose the modifications that meet his needs. I'm not sure turning your head to sniff the breeze is so good for your practice, but kitty yoga could be very different.

Or maybe it's just the same.

Amber & History

Kevin sent along this photo which he took on February 2, 2008.

Diana and I are standing in what is now my bedroom, discussing the merits of the apartment. That bald fellow is Casey, the broker, walking back through what is now the kitten runway into what is now my living room.
A few things that are different now than then might include:
1) I now live in N.Y.C., not D.C.
2) The floors in the apartment are now covered in cat fur, not plaster dust.
3) Instead of being about to take a job at the Garden of Botanical Delights, I am about to leave one.
4) The purple scarf I am wearing got peed on and then thrown away.
5) Diana's hair is much longer and very nicely styled.
A few things that are the same:
1) That blue coat still desperately needs to be dry cleaned.
2) Diana still hyper-extends her knees, ostrich-style.
3) I still rely on my friends for fellowship and support and I continue to love them super much.
4) 1.75 of those bedroom walls are still white.
5) There is still just that one electrical outlet in the bedroom.
Sunrise, sunset. And then: sunrise again.

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 & Pulling a Kevin

Kevin has this cool thing about him where he can make his knee pop out of joint. He can't do it on demand, and it's excrutiatingly painful, but still. Way cool.

So this morning, I decided to be way cool just like Kevin. Coming down the steps to the D train, I managed to step wrong and felt my knee sort of scrape against itself. And then I couldn't straighten out my leg. When I got on the train, I laid down on the bench on my side and straightened it out. Fun!

Now, I'm totally pulling a Woody and limping.

I am such a copy cat.

P.S. Note the new feature added today over on the right, TIGGY OF THE WINK. She deserves a little spotlight.

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 & Modern Medicine

It was a busy weekend! Woody came home on Sunday night, shaved below his kitty waist (and looking quite chicken-like) stitched on his boo boo leg and wearing an Elizabethan collar. He was pretty miserable that first night, but did manage to sleep pretty well on the floor in my sleeping bag with me. He was happier yesterday, although he is quite a "spitfire," as the attending vet called him. He managed to squirm out of three different collars and, this morning, over-turned his litter even though I had taped it to the bottom of the resty den. The key difficulty with this recovery is going to be getting him to rest. We can't tempt fate by over-using the knee before its ready.

Poor kitty baby.

Many thanks to Nick for visiting us and for being such a good buddy for Woody.

Amber & Stifle Injuries

Poor Woody. The good news is that he does not have a fracture. The bad news is that his injury is consistent with a cruciate tear which means, in lay terms, that he tore a ligament in his knee. The non-medical term for this is boo boo knee.

We're going to try medical management first (pain management and putting him in a crate when I'm not there to make sure he doesn't jump or leap and further injure himself) for two weeks and see how he heals on his own. If he's not improved, we'll need to investigate surgery.

I'm going to choose and take him to a neighborhood vet today or tomorrow (I really wish we were closer to Schaubhut since I trust him implicitly) to get more pain meds and make sure he's doing okay. The poor baby is in a tiny crate today, but tomorrow a bigger one will arrive. It makes me feel sad inside to know the baby is in pain and confined to such a tiny area.