My life a.k.a. "The roller coaster ride"

Last week was a really hard week. For some reason it was very emotional. Being the single parent of 4 kids isn't always easy. My life hasn't taken the course I expected and some days I'm just tired of it all.

So, last Sunday my sisters-in-law took my boys home with them...to Chicago, for about 10 days. As a mom I felt terrible because I felt like I was sending them away. My friends insisted I needed a break. I'm definitely torn between guilt and joy.

I'd had a 4 day break from work so when I went back to work yesterday, Monday, I figured my paycheck would be there. Well, it wasn't. I was frantic. I needed gas. My drive home would've finished me. I also needed groceries, badly: bagels, no cream cheese; caramel, no apples; bread, no butter or strawberry jelly and so on. Of course, my girls (teens) consider having "no food" as being out of fruit snacks, cookies, ice cream, pop tarts and the like. I ended up having to call my husband and ask him to cover what I needed. Thankfully in this area we have a good deal of friendliness! As I left work, empty handed, I left the HR lady a note since she was already gone for the day and wouldn't be in until NOON the next day.

Today, Tuesday, I forgot I had to take my husband's kittens in for their first shots. The first kitty, he got a couple weeks ago and she's about 9 weeks old. My boys named her Snowball. The 2nd cat the boys and I got for him last Thursday to keep Snowball company. She is about 3 months old, but seemed just fine on the ride to the apartment. She was skittish, which is normal. I get to the apartment today to pick up the kitties and Snowball comes bounding out of her hiding place. "New" kitty, who is named Princess Leia, is in hiding. I find her under the treadmill. I try to grab her and she runs. I shut her in the bedroom and try numerous times to get her out from under the bed. I finally get her in the small spot under the dresser. I pull her out and she freaks out! Oh, and I don't mean, "she meowed and hissed." No, I mean, FREAKED OUT! Have you ever seen the Animal Control shows on Animal Planet when they catch feral cats? Well, that's what happened with this insane feline! Mind you, I've had cats all my life and have never encountered this.

Evil Kitty, as I quickly renamed her, tore into both of my arms and hands with her teeth and claws. I was able to get her by the scruff, but it didn't release any of those things that are supposed to relax kittens. She kept trying to reach up with her left back paw to get hold of me. I called my husband as I was trying to keep hold of her. I was actually afraid to let her go because I wasn't sure what damage she'd do when I released her. I finally dropped her and took Snowball and left.

When I got to the vet's office I asked the front desk girl for a band aid and ointment. My arm was bleeding pretty badly and was actually pretty deep. I got the band aid and that's it. When the vet came into the room, I'd been there for about 20 min and I noticed my pointer finger on my right hand was swelling pretty badly. I showed the vet and she said I HAD to get to the doctor today to get on antibiotics.

As a side note, a friend I hadn't seen in about 7 yrs was in town for the 4th and I happened to bump into her. When she moved 7 yrs ago, she was going thru a time where she'd almost lost her arm and her life. She'd been scratched by her cat on her left forearm. She has about a 6" gouge out of her left arm where the doctors had to take the dead tissue. She said she still gets really high fevers of about 105! All from a cat scratch!!

Of course, her arm is going thru my mind as I call the doctor's office. Do you think they have anyone available after the 4th of July weekend? Nope! So, Urgent Care opened in the same clinic a few hours later and I went in at that time.

While I was at home waiting, I headed to the computer. That is until my friend, Lisa, called me. We talked about what had happened and she started yelling at me, while she was at her kids baseball game because I hadn't put anything on the punctures. I'd forgotten by the time I got home. I couldn't find my triple antibiotic so she told me to pour Peroxide on the cuts. Now mind you, I haven't used the stuff on myself for ages. I use it on my kids and tell them it doesn't hurt. Oh, Lisa had a hey day when I started freaking out because of all the burning! I honestly didn't know it burned. I was whining LOUDLY because it felt like dozens of tiny needles everywhere Evil Kitty attacked me. THEN she told me I had to open, yes OPEN, the deep wound that had closed! "What?! Are you out of your mind? Why...I don't wanna. It's gonna hurt." Her response? "Do it, NOW!" More burning!

So, by 1:30 I was off to the Urgent Care office. The doctor saw me and asked me questions I didn't know about the kitten. She left to make some calls to vets and I called the kittens owner. The owner said Evil Kitty had only been out on a couple of occasions. She also told me kitty's mama was a "scaredy cat" and grandma had the same disposition. Why thank you for sharing AFTER I took her home. Yes, she did tell me the kitten was nervous, but I didn't know exactly what that meant. Well, she was more right than we would've ever guessed. My doctor came back and said she had to call the Minnesota Dept of Health. She thought we'd have to euthanize the kitten to test for rabies because she hadn't had any shots yet. Doc came back and said my husband would have to quarantine her for 10 days and if she died or started acting "insane" then she probably had rabies and I'd have to start intensive rabies vaccinations. I also had to start medication immediately! So, now I'm taking the largest medication I've ever seen in my entire life.

My index finger on my right hand feels like it's on fire and it's still swollen. I've marked it and the puncture that I didn't notice so much on the underneath of my left forearm. By the time I went to work, the skin surrounding the puncture on my left arm was the size of a quarter. The bite on my finger is barely discernible and I can't believe it's caused so much pain. At work I kept hitting both my finger and the left arm on all kinds of stuff. Working at a hardware store, I'm constantly physical! I feel like if I bend my finger the skin is going to explode apart! If you can see it, between my swollen knuckles is a tiny spot, toward the top which is the puncture site. Clicking on the picture it will enlarge it I believe and you'll actually be able to see a blurred expanded version with the puncture. I know, not everyone will be interested, but this kind of stuff is cool to me. It has to be, if I can't find something interesting in this life of mine, I'd go completely insane. :o)

In relation to a roller coaster, I think I'm on one of those curves that seems to take your breath away. Oh, and by the way, my work called after this escapade and they'd found my check attached accidentally to someone else's who had picked up their check last week. They meant to tell me they'd found it and put it in my folder at work, but forgot. hahahahahahaha Ah, my life!

~Mimi