scorpion

TORTIE TUESDAY PLUS ONE & SOME OTHER STUFF

The tortie is Astrid, but the plus one is not that dumb scorpion. (More on that later.) The plus one is Giulietta.

I have been telling you how tortie Astrid is becoming less timid, and how she has even been going out on the catio some. Today, she spent nearly four hours there and had Giulietta as a companion for part of that time. The two of them even cooperated when I grabbed Tom’s phone for some photos.

Giulietta and Astrid keeping their eyes on the bird feeder.

Giulietta and Astrid keeping their eyes on the bird feeder.

 

Giulietta looks as if she is surprised to see Astrid on the cat tree.

Giulietta notices Astrid on “her” cat tree.

 

Giulietta and Astrid Catio 3

Giulietta thinks if she stares hard enough at her, Astrid will get the hint and leave.

 

Stare down time.

Stare down time.

 

Giulietta gives up and turns her back on Astrid.

Giulietta gives up and turns away.

 

I attribute much of Astrid’s change in behavior to having the love of a good cat. Thank you Cat Scout Sampson from Kitty Cat Chronicles for helping Astrid regain confidence.

Scorpion

So as promised, here’s the update. It has been one month since the sting on May 10.

The vascular surgeon was “pleasantly surprised” to see how much the wound on my ankle had healed. He gave me the okay to start biking. I am so deconditioned and my quads are so flabby, I hope I can make it around the block. Tom says we can start with 20 miles.

Swimming is still from two to four weeks away. The wound must be totally closed.

This discoloration of the skin (due to necrosis) in the ankle area may or may not go away. I already have lots of scars on my foot, ankle and leg from surgeries, so I don’t really care about that.

I return to the doctor in three weeks.

Catnip Quilt

So y’all have guilted me into letting the kitties have a catnip quilt. Notice I said “a” and not “the.” I really want the BlogPaws one as a memento and am going to order one just for them. They will be able to fur and tear it up to their little, furry hearts’ content.

See you all tomorrow for Wordless Wednesday.

MONDAY MEOWSINGS: THE EVIL SCORPION

As most of you know, Mom’s trip to the BlogPaws conference ended on a painful note when she was stung by a scorpion. And though we have been taking extra good care of her since her return home, she developed an abscess on her ankle that became infected. She ended up going to Urgent Care, and then her PCP sent her to a vascular surgeon. She had her third appointment with him today, and he decided she has improved enough to avoid hospitalization. That’s a huge relief for all of us.

Home Health will continue to come each day to repack and redress her wound. She will return to the surgeon next Monday. So she continues to sit on her butt with her leg up; though, the addition of a compression bandage today will allow her to be up and around a little more. We aren’t complaining about all this lounging around as it means her lap is always available for one of us.

We all think she should share some photos of her ankle with you. She has declined, however, stating that our blog is rated PG and the photos are much too graphic. She did tell us that her ankle looks much better today as all the dead skin has been removed.

arizona_bark_scorpionSince she won’t share one of her gory photos, we requested one of a scorpion. Supposedly there are from 15 to 23 different species of scorpions in Nevada. Mom has no idea which of these stung her. The photo at right is that of a Bark Scorpion.

She is very grateful for all the purrs, prayers and well wishes our furiends and friends have sent her. She especially would like to thank Savannah’s and Sage’s (Savannah’s Paw Tracks) mom, Linda, for soliciting purrs and prayers for her from the Cats With Blogs Facebook group. We all know the incredible healing power of both those things.

Though this incident cast a bit of a pall on Mom’s BlogPaws attendance, she still feels as if it was one of the best experiences of her life, and she has already registered for next year.

framedastridMom asked us to end this post with something upbeat and “catty,” as this is a cat blog. So, it is with pleasure that we report on how Astrid continues to shed her “scaredy cat” persona, which Mom attributes to the love of a good cat…Sampson from Kitty Cat Chronicles. Astrid spent about two hours on the catio this morning and is now chasing Calista Jo and Fiona, instead of the other way around. Thanks Sampson and way to go Astrid.

Until next time…purrs and paw-pats from Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo

p.s. Please forgive us for not visiting and commenting as often as usual. We are doing our best under the circumstances.