Fixed It!!!

We've been doing a lot of going back and forth to the vet's with Sidney's leg.

I'd thought they wouldn't take a follow up X-ray until his 4 week follow up, I know I'd heard that anyway. But on one of the many trips, my wife got them to send these X-rays!!! Nice though, apparently after 4 weeks, he'll no longer have to have his leg wrapped!!!

Every week they want to check up on his progress, so that's what some of the back and forth has been, just taking him over to get checked out. They sedate him, check him, and re wrap the legs, so it's one trip to drop him off, then pick him up a couple hours (minimum) later, so two trips each time. Twice they've failed to wrap his other foot well enough, and he's kicked the splint off, resulting in follow up trips the next day.

So there's the repair!!! They put a rod down the length of the bone, and screwed a plate on the outside. Design notes from a tooling designer, I think they should have radiused the edges of the plate, and I think it should have been moved up a little, it looks like of all the screws they put in, only 2 made it into the unbroken upper part of the bone, and short ones at that. Not sure, but it looks like the longer ones may be poking through the far side. Hope that isn't an issue.

Hadn't mentioned that I never knew that the bony elbow portion of a cat's leg is actually a portion of the leg bone that runs long!!!

And there he is, being his friendly self!!! Still has the licks and nibbles for us, and reaches out from his cage for us. Just trying to get a picture, and he comes right up into the camera!!!

My wife and my cat now both have titanium bone reenforcements!!! For this post I added a new label that I could go back and add to several other posts!!! What is the cost of all of this?? If I hadn't recently bought the Sky, it would be more than I've ever spent on any of my cars!!!

The Mid Year Vacation

Last November for our anniversary my wife and I had gone to Palm Springs. It was a good time, and I was feeling like going again. I had some vacation time in the middle of last month, so that's where we went!!!

We were big fans of Monster Shakes the last time we were there, so that was the first place we went after we got to our hotel!!! We'd stopped for dinner on the drive in, not at Whalburger's this time. This time we both got a shake instead of splitting one, and the boy had Dole Whip, as they have an amazing array of flavors on tap there. Wife got a cinnamon toast crunch shake, and I got a cookie monster shake.

Looks like the boy is eyeing my shake!!!

After a restful morning the next day, we had lunch, then again went to the Aerial Tram, which was a good move, this time of year it was over 100⁰ down in the city, and up in the San Jacinto Wilderness, it was in the 70's.

Did I mention??? I'd taken this week off for my wife's birthday!!! Once we got up to the top and the visitor's center, we hit the gift shop, and found a nice bag for her birthday.

We headed out the back, which leads to several trails. We headed just a little ways down, and it was apparent it was going to be too steep for my wife. We headed back, and asked if she'd be OK waiting while we headed out for a hike.

Just a little ways into the hike, spotted a hummingbird at a bush. Pulled up my camera, and he came straight up to eye level, and hovered there!!!

Nice little stream flowing through the area...

And this crazy red fungus!!!

There's a lot of Jeffery pines in the area. Thing about Jeffery pines, they smell like butterscotch!!!

We came to one of the areas that overlook the Palm Springs basin, and there was a tree leaning over precipitously.

Walked a ways down, and found out that one tree had toppled into another, which also toppled, and was into the third tree!!!

On the way back, we stopped at a hotel restraunt just a few down from where we were staying called The Reef. The food wasn't anything special, but the theming was great!!!

Speaking of great, the place we stayed was an amazing room!!! It had your own carport, a huge living room with a fireplace, a good sized fully equipped kitchen, a seperate bedroom, two bathrooms, and a little patio with a gas grill. There were a couple of pools and a hot tub, which we took a little swim and soak in in the evening.

On the way back, we stopped off at the Cabazon Dinosaurs.

They're featured in one of the Fallout games, so my son had to see them!!!

My wife wanted to go to The Cheesecake Factory for her birthday, so naturally that's what we did!!!

Happy Get Day

One year ago today was the day Sidney came into our lives. He's a beloved animal companion member of the family.

Sad that he's got a busted leg for the big day, but he's on the mend it appears, and seems like he's doing well. The follow up to the previous post, I took him to a veterinary surgical center a week ago on my day off. I'd had a dentist appointment that day, and had been hoping to get him scheduled for surgery and be back in time for that. It didn't work out like that, it was pretty far on in the day by the time they examined him. They said he was a little dehydrated and had a little fever, so they would like to keep him until Wednesday to get him stabilized, then do the surgery on Wednesday. I was fine with that, as he's not the best patient.

They said to come pick him up on Thursday, the 4th of July, in the morning. OK, we'll do that. Our plan had been to go down to my mom's and eat and swim, but my wife was concerned about leaving Sid alone, so she stayed home, and we went to Long Beach. A couple of the younger's friends came down, too. My wife's car had the change oil light on, and I did that on her flat driveway with all lifting equipment right there in the garage.

They put a rod and a plate on the break. Don't know if they're going to do X-rays when he has his check up this week, but I'd like to see them!!! When we got him back, he had another splint on his leg. It didn't last.

The surgery center said to come back on Friday and they'd put another on. I didn't think it would take, either, (and I was working that day, so my wife and the younger did it) but what they did this time was to splint the leg, then wrap the other hind leg so he can't kick it off!!! It's worked out good, and he's not complaining at all!!! The other thing the vet said to do is try and find a large cage and confine him. We were able to borrow a cage from some friends, and he likes it fine!!! They say 10 weeks for the recovery. Wow.

So, in addition to the medical update, here's a few pictures from the past year. Firstly, the first two pictures feature the half shaved cat butt. Love the way his pattern goes to the skin!!!

The younger mentioned that we now have enough splints to put one on each leg!!! A few of the other pictures are a little blurry, but I just love the one of him on top of the claw post (one of his favorite spots to sit) reaching out his paw. Sleeping in a pizza box.

And the one time he found Mochi's catnip sardine behind the couch!!!

Ouch

Yesterday my wife was up getting ready while I was still in bed, resting, maybe a little snoozing when I hear a ruckus. Cat howling noises, and my wife loudly talking to the boy. What the heck???

Turns out the boy was up on the counter (he knows he's not supposed to be up there) and when he went to jump down, one of the drawers was just a little open. His back foot went in, and there he went. I don't know if he was hanging by his leg or what, but my wife got all clawed up on her hands.

He's favoring his leg, hopping around 3 legged. We manage to get him in his carrier, and off to the vet's we go. We had to wait quite a while, but they'd put us in an exam room. We let him out, and he was exploring the room. They had a little container of treats, and he had a few of those. He didn't seem that bad, other than favoring his leg.

When the doctor finally makes it in, they say they are going to give him some pain killer and sedate him to take X-rays and see what's going on. I had to get home for work, and they say they'll call.

The first two X-rays it looks broken, but not terrible. (I like the way his tail X-ray looks!!!) The third... yeah it looks bad.

We arrive back at the vets, they bring his carrier out, and have us waiting for he pain meds, when the boy lets out some shrieks and howls for a few moments. My wife thought it was because someone had brought a dog in. We get set up and take him home, let him out of the carrier, and lo and behold, he's gotten the splint off!!!

Packed him back up, and took him back. They apologize, and say they'll sedate him again and re splint him. Give them a couple hours. This has been a long day, so I head home and lay back. They give me a call, and I head back, pick him up and bring him home again. Let him out of the carrier, and he hobbles out dragging his leg, obviously none too pleased with the splint. He relaxes for a couple minutes, then flips out again and kicks the splint off his leg. Back in the carrier, and start heading back. My wife calls, and they say don't bother. The doctor says some cats just will not tolerate a splint, and it's really looking like he's one!!! Put him in a room where he won't jump up on stuff, with his food and a litter box they say. I make some room in the laundry room and set him up. He's still limping and 3-legging, but mostly he's got a pretty good attitude about it.

More to come...