Yes It's Been Awhile...

I've been blog-stalled. First I didn't feel like writing and that went on for a couple of weeks. I then became distracted by all things other than writing and finally, everything came to a screeching halt when my cat chomped on my thumb. I bet most people have no idea of the consequences of what appears to be a mere cat bite.

I had absolutely no clue what was about to happen last Monday night. I was getting ready to end my day with a cup of tea and a few minutes of Castle when my cat, Leroy somehow convinced me to let him romp around outside for a bit. Even though a small voice inside told me "nooooo", I opened the screen door to the big wide world and Leroy took off. Poof--gone.

Usually he just lurks around my door and the upper landing where we live. That night, however, he felt the urge to charge downstairs straight to the bushes in the front yard. I ran after him intending to grab him up in one fell swoop.

However, my thumb and his mouth found each other in one perfect split second. I could hear the thumbnail splinter and break as I instinctively retracted my arm in shock. "You bit me!", was all I could say, looking at the blood dripping, noticing puncture wounds on both the nail and underneath. Ouch.

At that moment one of my neighbors walked past Leroy, who was sputtering and hissing, having poofed himself up like a gigundous furry porcupine. That was all it took to "scare" him upstairs to the door and back to his normal "mew, mew...let me in!!!" docile self.

I was tired so I cleaned up the wound and went to bed. Next day it looked pretty bad and I probably should have done something about it, but I waited until evening to decide. It was infected and nasty so I made an appointment to see my doctor next morning.

Do you realize that a cat bite requires intravenous antibiotics? I did not. Five consecutive days of IV treatment. Yep, I had lots of fun this week going back and forth to the doctor's office for my 30 minute drip.

So, unless you already know this, be most careful around open mouths, particularly cats' mouths. I did learn, however, that human bites are worse, second are cat bites and dog bites come in third. Just so you know.

One last thing. In all 15 years this is the first (and hopefully last) time that Leroy bit me. When indoors he is the epitome of gentleness and "usually" well behaved. He doesn't know this yet, but, Leroy won't be doing any romping around outdoors anymore.

PS: I want to stress that a cat bite is very serious. Cats have some nasty bacteria in their mouths (well, consider where they clean themselves) and the bacteria is very deadly to humans if untreated. I probably could have avoided the heavy IV stuff had I sought medical treatment immediately, or at least the next day. I was informed that there is about a 48 hour window to get medical help without further complications. Even now after 5 days my thumb is still sore and partially infected. I'll probably need a second round of antibiotics when I see my doctor tomorrow. Act fast, especially with children. The nurses at the infusion center said that they treat cat bites "a lot".