Tuesday 06 April 2004

Spiked

Owie owie owie.

And then again, not so owie.

I had the facet joint injection today and am feeling a bit woozy but otherwise grand.  I had this procedure years and years ago and not only did the doc spend forever finding the correct - already extremely tender - place (via process of elimination, I think; "does the needle go here? no, here. whoops, no, here ...") I had a shocking reaction to it, a major screaming pain flare-up (requiring lots and lots of pethadeine, not so shabby) so I wasn't looking forward to the occasion, also the injection hurts like bloody hell.  Anyways, the doc who did the deed this time around was charming, flirtatious*, cute and also very very efficient and competent, didn't fuss around at all, just got in there with the x-ray machine and shots of local anaesthetics and then the main cocktail.  And while it hurt (you can really feel when the needle hits the bone, eeeh) there was zero blood sweat and tears.  Fantastic.  They had me sit still for a while after because I was a bit pale and woozy but even so the whole thing took about 40 minutes.  The hospital staff were just lovely too, sweet and friendly and explained everything, kudos all round.

So anyway within a couple of hours I can already feel the benefit of the local anaesthetic in the neck area and mmm wow.  The actual site where I got spiked is very very painful and ouchie, as you can imagine, plus I have a Bandaid all stuck up in my hair which doesn't help matters, but that's it.  Cross fingers this is gonna work ... I should know in a couple of days if there is going to be a longer term effect when/if the actual cocktail kicks in.

Glad that's over; not too bad a procedure at all, I could cope with having it done again especially if the charming flirtatious doc is in situ.  <grin>

*he made a couple of remarks along the lines of "we don't usually have such trim, slim individuals in here" and "being so little and thin certainly helps in this procedure" so yeah, I was charmed.  I can believe it too - most people having that procedure would be larger or elderly, also if there's less um flesh to get through then those injections would be a helluva lot easier. 

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My poor wee kitty has a rather nasty wound on her head - cat bite for sure, she was in a bit of a fight yesterday I think, and I smelled this before I found it, its in the really dense fur in front of her ears so difficult to find.  I sponged it out with warm salty water, squeezed some pus out of it and slathered it in Betadine, then called our lovely vet for an appointment tomorrow a.m.  I don't think it'll require any slicing - I've got it before it turns into an abscess or anything icky, so she'll probably just need antibiotics jab and tablets.  She needs to go to the vet anyway for her booster shots, hopefully if she's well enough she can have everything done at once.  Erk, vet bills ... our vet is pretty reasonable though and so so gorgeous. 

She's such a daft cat though.  After vetting her wound on the bathroom bench I washed up my hands, running water into the basin.  She batted at the water-flow with her paw and went to lap around the plug-hole so I filled the basin up with a few inches of water so she could have a drink.  She lapped and lapped away, then proceeded to play; splashing with front paws, then all feet together, having a lovely time.  Nutty animal.  I left her to it and wandered back to HQ.  Fifteen minutes later I walked past the bathroom to go to the loo and there she was (and yes the basin still had water in it; she was soaking wet and very very happy):-

Come to mention, she always comes into the bathroom with me when I go for my shower, and goes and splashes about in the bottom of the bath and shower when I'm done.  Another pointer she is part Maine Coon.  Or dog.  I don't know about Abi, I really don't.  Fetching ping pong balls and picking them up in her paws is one thing.

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A big kiss and good luck hugs to my Tuxedo who starts his new job tomorrow;  you'll be grand honey, though the 0600 alarm call isn't much fun - ah well, when we have our own place we'll be closer along the bus/train routes so it won't be quite so bad.

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