neurotwitch

pooch, puss, & pus

We went back to see the surgeon again today. He told us Stanley picked up a staph infection while in the hospital, that lay in wait for the opportunity to turn into a bit of a monster. All I can say is I admire nurses, doctors, and paramedics everywhere for their fortitude in dealing with oozing, pus-filled wounds. Fortunately, there is almost no pus left—just ooze. I just wish it would go away altogether so Stanley wouldn’t writhe in agony every time he has to cough (which makes the open wound ooze even more). My bandaging is much neater than Dr. Robinson’s, though, I have to brag. Stanley’s fever was down to 99 degrees today, so that’s another good sign. Dr. R. is worried about how pale Stanley is, so he ordered some blood test done. We’ll get the results on Monday. I suspect he might still be pretty anemic.

It’s been very strange today. Stanley is totally sapped, with fighting off the infection and healing. So he’s been going away much more frequently than he ever has since he got out of the ICU. Fading in and out doesn’t describe it at all—there’s no fade. It’s binary. Either he’s here or he’s out, mid-sentence, mid-bite, mid-thought. It was weird the first time it happened, he was nodding in agreement with something I was saying and then he was zzing away.

I snapped this photo with our new little Vivitar we got via Woot for $100. A total impulse purchase, well, kind of, we needed another digital camera, well kinda sorta (we wanted it). All three of my creatures curled up on the loveseat, Stanley in one of his zero moments. The cat is on Stanley’s lap, honest! I know it’s hard to see him. Ginger is just so bored. I think. Do dogs get bored?

Today marks three weeks since the operation. The infection really set him back—all the plans he had for learning all the ins and outs of CSS and reading all those novels, well, maybe next week. He hasn’t been able to concentrate. I read an article about how pain and healing just consume you. I’ve never been laid up and in pain for days and days so I really don’t understand what it takes out of you—the worst that’s happened to me is a broken wrist and later I cut off the top of my index finger and had to get it rebuilt. Neither all-consuming healing/pain events (though the finger stuff hurt like the dickens when I injured myself and then post-op for a few hours).

I’m looking forward to sleeping until I wake up at whatever time on Saturday morning (or afternoon), not having to be anywhere. The only gotta-dos this weekend are a trip to the library to return books and a trip to the other library to pick up a book Stanley asked for via inter-library loan. Crap snow again Saturday, so I’m not very anxious to be on the roads again. And this weekend I want to make sure I carve out a couple of hours to finish setting up a blog (mainly because I’m looking forward to reading it!) (Yep, Candy, your journal—I haven’t forgotten!)

It amazes me how much TIME taking care of someone takes. And I’m happy to do it (especially considering the alternative). And how focused I get—today I was so worried about getting Stanley to Bridgeport Hospital on time I wouldn’t stop to look at something S was showing me. And I felt bad about it. Feck.

Today I was ready to work on this unexpected project that cropped up at the last moment that has to be done. Should’ve taken me maybe 90 minutes. But I had to fool around for two hours trying to figure out why the hell Word wouldn’t load, reinstalled it, went nuts (it worked last week!) Then, after I’d given up hope and downloaded OpenOffice, I remembered that I installed the latest Bullfighter plug-in—aha. Uninstalled that, and Word popped open again happy as a clam in muck. (Gotta figure that one out—too handy a plug-in to do without!)

Oh, cool, William Shatner is on Jimmy Kimmel. Gotta watch it.

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