These things always come in threes

So, I've been away for a while. Occupied with what may be the worst two weeks ever. Let me count the ways these 2 weeks totally sucked. They are three fold.

#1) The power cord to my laptop (and only home computer) got completely severed. I noticed that it was shorting out from time to time, but mostly ignored it. Until I heard popping & cracking one night while on the computer in my front room. I actually thought it was rain. But when I got up to get something from the kitchen & looked out the window & saw it wasn't raining, I went back to the front room to find out what the noise was. And then I could smell something hot (you know what I mean, everyone does, but everyone always looks at me weird when I say something smelled hot.) I eventually traced it to the plug where the laptop was plugged in, which was scorched. The next day, Charlie said the power cord was completely severed & laying in 2 pieces in the floor. I don't know which was the cause & which was the result, but I got a new cord via ebay & we don't use that plug any more.

#2) My cat Steve blocked. Meaning he couldn't pee. Early that morning (8 am IS early for us 2nd shifters) he jumped in bed with me (totally normal) and growled (totally NOT normal.) I was half asleep & didn't think about it much. I went to work & came home, thinking everything was fine. About 1 am, he jumped in my lap & started breathing weird and kind of groaning. I sat forward in my chair & hugged him. He cried & growled again. I KNEW something was wrong now. Being the good vet tech I am, I felt his bladder & it was huge. I called work & thankfully the dr was still there. She said to bring him on in & we got him unblocked by 2 am. He had some high kidney values, but his electrolytes were pretty normal. He stayed in hospital for 3 days & by the middle of day 3, we took some more blood & everything had returned to normal. He's doing well at home now, he'll have a recheck with the dr next week.

#3) I got bit in the finger at work on Saturday. We had replaced an IV catheter on a cat that was having difficulty breathing. We got it in, but he had started to stress a little more than I like to see, so I put him back in his oxygen cage. I was stroking his fur, hoping to calm him down a bit. Suddenly, he lept up, latched onto my finger, and went completely stiff! He had gone into caridac arrest with my finger firmly clenched in his mouth. He held on for at least 10 seconds until he finally relaxed, I removed my finger & passed him to the dr. The dr did get him back, but only until later that evening, when I was there by myself, he went stiff and died. I couldn't get him back. I started taking some left over antibiotics on Sunday, but today when I removed the bandaid at work, pus started dripping out of the wounds. Figuring that this could in no way be a good sign, I went to the UTC down the street. The dr there said he thought it looked ok for now, but if I get any streaking or swelling down towards my hand, I'll have to go to the ER & get in lanced! He started me on some new antibiotics and told me to soak it in warm water to draw out the pus. And I will be following his directions to the 'T'. Lacing does not sound like my idea of a good time.

So, the only good news I have from last week is that Jack is doing well! He will probably get neutered tomorrow & hopefully go to the rescue soon! I love him, but he needs to find his forever home.

I hope to have some better news to post next week!