LIFE LESSON #43
So, yeah, there's been another hiatus in my journal updates. On the other hand, there was a minor spike in my posts to America's Debate. With work picking up - more like snowballing - it seems like my "recreational" internet time is at a premium.
Plus my typing has been slightly impaired for the last week or so - which brings me to the (rather obvious) life lesson: Never try to break up a cat fight with your bare hands. Even if they're your own cats.
A week or so ago, both cats were outside - they've taken to the great out of doors like a Republican takes to boysex - and there was a rare incursion into the territory by another cat from the village: much yowling, hissing, and screaming ensued outside our bedroom window. So, of course, we went out to the porch and called the beasties in.
They both came tearing into the house with enormous tails and arched backs and turned on each other - screaming around the house, bouncing off the walls, overturning furniture - so I attempted to come between them, finally grabbing Xerox(traditionally the more submissive cat) and tried to calm him down. Heh - stab-stab-stab-stab-stab-stab-crunch. All six claws (Xerox is polydactyl, which I should maybe have taken into consideration) on all four feet were raked across or sunk into various parts of my left hand, wrist, and forearm - followed by every possible tooth being sunk into my forefinger.
I washed the wound out pretty well, applied some hydrogen peroxide and so on and bandaged the worst of the punctures and scratches. The next morning (last Sunday), however, the finger was swollen up like a gnarled pink sausage and I couldn't bend it. So off I went to the emergency room for remarks from the receptionist - "You tried to break up a cat fight?" - the nurse - "You tried to break up a cat fight??" - and the doctor - "You tried to break up a cat fight?" - a tetanus booster, and a course of antibiotics.
Now, about a week later, my finger looks a bit more like a finger and I can finally make a fist again, so the infection seems to have cleared up. The wound is still sore and bits of the hand remain somewhat tender, but I can at least use all ten digits for typing. Hurrah.
Plus my typing has been slightly impaired for the last week or so - which brings me to the (rather obvious) life lesson: Never try to break up a cat fight with your bare hands. Even if they're your own cats.
A week or so ago, both cats were outside - they've taken to the great out of doors like a Republican takes to boysex - and there was a rare incursion into the territory by another cat from the village: much yowling, hissing, and screaming ensued outside our bedroom window. So, of course, we went out to the porch and called the beasties in.
They both came tearing into the house with enormous tails and arched backs and turned on each other - screaming around the house, bouncing off the walls, overturning furniture - so I attempted to come between them, finally grabbing Xerox(traditionally the more submissive cat) and tried to calm him down. Heh - stab-stab-stab-stab-stab-stab-crunch. All six claws (Xerox is polydactyl, which I should maybe have taken into consideration) on all four feet were raked across or sunk into various parts of my left hand, wrist, and forearm - followed by every possible tooth being sunk into my forefinger.
I washed the wound out pretty well, applied some hydrogen peroxide and so on and bandaged the worst of the punctures and scratches. The next morning (last Sunday), however, the finger was swollen up like a gnarled pink sausage and I couldn't bend it. So off I went to the emergency room for remarks from the receptionist - "You tried to break up a cat fight?" - the nurse - "You tried to break up a cat fight??" - and the doctor - "You tried to break up a cat fight?" - a tetanus booster, and a course of antibiotics.
Now, about a week later, my finger looks a bit more like a finger and I can finally make a fist again, so the infection seems to have cleared up. The wound is still sore and bits of the hand remain somewhat tender, but I can at least use all ten digits for typing. Hurrah.