I know Ned wasn’t my cat, but I’m just too sad to write about anything tonight. Well, maybe this. Requiem for a Cat
Worst day ever
Anything for a post. Again
I know it wasn’t smart. Please refrain from telling me what an idiot I was. Unless you can make it really funny.
We occasionally have stray cats or dogs around the center. In the past we have found dog owners right away, and last year we saved a kitten who wouldn’t leave the playground – we found it a good home with one of the families at Lincoln Lutheran. Well, the past two days there has been a wrong-looking kitten across the CDC’s fence. It’s all scrawny and has a horribly weepy eye. I told the kids that if it came over the fence they shouldn’t touch it because it’s sick. I, of course, had to try and go get it so I could take it to the vet. I lured it with a hot dog, but it kept running away. Finally, I got close enough to grab it – and it gave me some pretty bad bites. Stupid Lauren. The first thing that raced through my hypochondriac mind was Brad’s voice. He often gave the advice, “If anyone asks when your last tetanus shot was, say it was a couple of years ago.” I don’t think I’ve ever had a tetanus shot. I really hoped I wouldn’t get the ‘thirteen shots in the stomach’. I knew I should have some antibiotics, since I could practically see the germs all over the cat’s face.
So feel free to not comment on this. Just pray that that kitten is alright. or dies soon of natural and humane causes.
UPDATE: I caught the cat this afternoon. I had a box and some irresistible cat food and trapped it nicely. I’m glad it was me, since I didn’t know if I could trust the police to do it kindly (Yes, I reported everything yesterday, and Officer Hoag came to talk to me this morning.) I took it to the vet and explained everything and they agreed that the kindest thing would be to euthanize it and have it tested for rabies. So, here I am at 4:50 in the afternoon crying in my beer over a stray cat’s death It was the right thing to do, but I have the right to be sad. No cruel comments, please.
Note to self: Your last tetanus booster was July 18, 2007
Good-bye, summer
Well, Brad is gone. All the carefree fun of summertime took off on that plane with him. Now comes the hectic beginning of the school year, complete with unfinished projects, home visits, and daily panic. It’s the worst time of the year.
Last year when Brad left I made a version of Goodnight Moon to document the sorrow. Maybe I’ll post that tomorrow when I figure out how to use the scanner, but this year we made a movie. It will only be meaningful if you’ve followed our websites during his visits. I hope it will bring every single viewer to tears!! Fetch your Kleenex boxes, folks. Who am I kidding? This is only meaningful to me.
‘Bye, Brad.
Home again, home again, jiggety jig.
Well, we’re home. Lloyd called me at school around 10 and said that they could discharge him today! I shared that will the preschoolers who were busy making ‘Get Well’ cards. (Actually, some of them were making ‘Thank You’ cards – oh well.) I got to the hospital around noon, and things looked fine. They said someone would come and talk to us, then he could go.
A very nice physician’s assistant came in and went over what we needed to know. I’ll never be able to get across how this sounded, but read it as if you were a preschooler and a grown up was teaching you a big word. Not condescending, just ‘big-word-y’. She said, “Now, I’m hear to tell you about your condition, which is called (holding up the folder of information with the title) ‘Heart Failure’.” Zoinks!!! Again, she wasn’t weird, it was just that first sentence It sounds much, much scarier than it is. One of his ventricles is just a little weak, so he needs medicine to help it get stronger (I think I talked about that before.) She said that since he’s so young and in pretty good shape, he really just needs to take it easy for a while and restrict salt from his diet. We went down the list of foods high in salt and….. well, let’s just say that snacks are right out. We scored bonus points for not eating out very much, although it’s due to my cheapness rather than health maintenance.
We asked to visit with the doctor again, because what he told Lloyd about ‘take it easy’ and what the nice p.a. said seemed very different. Well, as we all know, seeing the doctor is a tough task. We finally decided to just go, and ask questions over the phone tomorrow. As of now, we’re going with what we believe they recommend – Lloyd’s going to take this week off, then go in next week and just teach his 7th grade math, not the high school stuff.
So, we’ve unloaded the car, put the stuff away, I made a fairly salt-free dinner that was loaded with three different kinds of Mrs. Dash, and now I’ll show some pictures. If you click ‘continue reading’, all those pictures will come up Lloyd’s folks and my folks have dial-up, so it’s tough to load pictures.
Here’s Lloyd, waiting for the ambulance from Lincoln.
Here he is after getting checked in.  Note the time – we’ve been up for 4 1/2 hours. Dang it, Saturdays are for sleeping in!
This guy did not think it was amusing when I asked about taking pictures. I think he thought I was asking for a print-out, because he kept saying, “I think this printer doesn’t work”. Anyway, he didn’t know I took this picture. (Don’t tell him.)
This was the cool couch I ‘slept’ on Saturday & Sunday night. The photo is for demonstration purposes.ÂI really had a pillow and cover.
This is Lloyd’s patented ‘i.v. protection glove’ for taking a shower and keeping your hand dry.
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Ok, that’s all for now. We have to tape Lloyd’s second lesson.
A quick look
I’ll try to put up a picture or two before I head off to work. Here you go:
Lloyd, if you have the inclination, you should really write a little about this picture.
Desperate for material.
As we’ve joked the past couple of days, “We’ll do anything for a good post!” No pictures today, but many more to follow!
Where to start? First of all, Lloyd’s ok. (Sounds ominous, eh?) Let’s begin with what we’ve told countless nurses, aides, physicians’ assistants and a doctor.
As you know, Lloyd’s been sick with a cold for a couple of weeks, and he had a fever last… Tuesday? Anyway, Thursday night he had some mild chest pain around midnight, but it went away by 2:00. (He didn’t wake me up.) Friday morning his chest started to hurt as he was driving in to school. He didn’t have his cell phone, so he was trying to figure out the safest way to drive off the road should something happen. At school, he wondered if it might be gas, so some co-workers offered some Tums and soda. It went away by 9:00, so that was that (He told me about it after school.)
Friday night I awoke at 2:15 to Lloyd sitting by the bed and saying, “Lauren, you need to come downstairs and sit with me.” (Now THAT’S a shot of adrenline.) We sat in the dining room while he drank some pop – I offered baking soda water, since I’ve watched lots and lots of medical shows. Finally he put his head on the table, and we decided to go to the emergency room. “Better safe than sorry” and all that.
We went, and they were very kind and helpful. Lloyd got hooked up for an EKG, had an i.v. port put in, had oxygen pumped into his nose, had a chest x-ray, and got some blood drawn. (Lloyd did not pass out! Usually he’s kind of a woozy guy with that.) We kept thinking, “It’s probably just gas.” Well, they said that some heart enzyemes were pretty high, so they were going to send us to Lincoln. We thought we’d just drive ourselves in, but the P.A. shook her head and said, “No. You’re really sick. I’m surprised you don’t feel a lot worse.” They said it was probably pericarditis, and inflamation of the sac around his heart, probably caused by his cold virus. Lloyd had to take an ambulance. By they way, it arrived around 5 a.m., and by this time he was feeling fine. These episodes just last about two hours.
I went home to get the car that had enough gas to get to Lincoln, Lloyd’s toothbrush and some extra clothes, and – of course – the camera. (Don’t think we’re morbid, but we’ve joked that if anything super-serious should happen to one of us, the other one has to make a post about it.) Unfortunately we can’t load pictures yet, but perhaps this evening or tomorrow we can.)
Lloyd rode in, I followed, we arrived at St. Elizabeth around 6 a.m.- a very nice facility! He had all the same tests over again, minus the x-ray, and waited to hear from the doctor. We had to wait quite a long time, because it was Saturday and there was only one cardioloist on duty. He was probably helping people who were in big trouble, so it wasn’t too hard to be patient. We sat around, had people come in and do the same tests, and around 4 p.m. we met with the doctor briefly A bit later, Lloyd had his first dose of actual medicine – the experimental wonder drug….. Motrin! We joked with the nurse that we weren’t sure about Lloyd taking such strong medication. Whatever.
We were pretty tired all day and tried to nap, but people kept wanting to take Lloyd’s blood away. Annette and her family were coming into Lincoln and we asked if she could bring Lloyd’s keys and his papers to grade. I got his laptop from school and we had a pretty nice setup When Lloyd took a shower he had to pull 23 sticky tabs off his chest, and 2 from his ankles. He ate the hospital food without complaint, and we went to sleep around 10:30.
An hour later I woke up to him calling the nurse because the pain was back, but not as severe. It took a while for them to come in. Anyway, someone came to draw some blood and the nurse said they needed to run ‘a complete set of tests – he hasn’t had the three blah blah blah test since he’s been here!’. Then they gave him morphine – just like on M.A.S.H.!
We actually got some sleep after that, though they stole his blood again in the night. It’s been fascinating watching his heart rate and blood pressure change throughout the day and night. So, a nutshell, he’s just fine 93% of the time, and a mess 7%. We’re hoping to leave today, but we’ll have to talk with the doctor today. We’ll keep you “posted”!
A sweet side note – they play a snippet of a lullaby over the intercom whenever a baby is born, and seven babies have been born while we’ve been here!
So, Brad, I guess this trumps Amsterdam, huh?