


Random Fact 14: When I feel content or semi-sad, I light all the candles I can find, relax either on my couch or bed, and read. It helps.
It's been an interesting 4 days.
Sunday started off normal. I closed at work Sunday, so I slept in a little, got ready, and headed out. Work turned out to be pretty crappy. We were really busy, which is normally a good thing because it makes the day go by faster. Unfortunately, the majority of the customers that day were rude, obnoxious, and down right hard to work with. The makes even a busy day slow down.
Once all the complaining and time wasting was done, I decided to go pick up my cat. Harley normally lives with my Dad, but since he's on vacation, I thought I'd bring him to my apartment and cat sit. That was my first mistake.
If you have ever met my cat you'll understand what it takes to cat sit him. If you have not, let me fill you in. When Harley was a kitten, I chose him because he was the runt. He was small, blind in his left eye, and skinny. I knew that if we didn't take him home, he would be put to sleep. I couldn't stand to think of that, so he was ours. Everything went fine and well until he started to get mean. And I don't mean playful mean. I mean MEAN. He would (and still does) rub up against your leg and hands for attention, and when you try to pet him, he bites you.
Anyway, I picked him up, loaded everything into the car, and headed home. I should have known things would go bad. On the way to the apartment, Harley peed all over the backseat of my car. Not too awesome.
He calmed down after that (figures) and I was able to get him out of the car and up the stairs. When I opened the apartment door and Harley saw Rex, he went crazy. He started hissing and swatting and biting. The biting is my main problem because he bit me. Hard. Hard enough to leave 2 sets of puncture wounds big enough to see into and a serious infection. Again, not awesome.
I dealt with it that night and into the morning, but as I was getting ready to leave to shop with Angelica and Stefani, I notice something coming out of the bite marks. It was sort of greeny brown and thick. The other bite mark had turned black around the edges. I started to panic. Harley hasn't had any kind of shots since 2006-ish.
I called my doctor's office and spoke with the head of nursing, who said I had better come in and get the bites looked at. The doctor examined my hand and didn't like what he saw. He decided to admit me to the hospital directly from his office to administer IV antibiotics.
Apparently, when someone is bit on the hand or face, normal oral antibiotics aren't as effective and may not even treat the area. Doctors recommend IV medication 9 times out of 10. I'm in that statistic.
My mom and I went to Rush-Copley and I was taken care of right away. The IV took some time though. My right arm wasn't cooperating. Neither was my right hand. Eventually the nurses moved over and got the IV into my left arm. It was really uncomfortable considering the bite is on my left hand. It was like my whole arm was immobilized. And to make things worse, the infection from the bite was "a deep, near tissue infection" requiring not one night in the hospital, but two.
After two days of laying around with a needle in my arm, a bite in my hand, and only a few hours of sleep at a time, I was released. My hand is still pretty sore and swollen, and the bite marks are still pronounced, but it's nice to be home. Well, nice until I saw my cat.
I couldn't help myself. Once I saw him I started crying and apologizing. Because of this whole mess, my dad, sister, and mom want to put Harley to sleep. They all think he's becoming too wild. They think he's less like a house cat and more like a wild animal. I don't know what to think or do.
This all feels like my fault. If I would have left him alone and just gone to my dad's to feed him and change the water none of this would have happened. It's my fault he's going to die. It's my fault he's going to be all alone and dead.
I tried to love him and change him by bringing him here and only made things worse. I feel awful. I'm the reason he's going to die.
He's going to die.
I'm so sorry, Harley. I know you can't understand me, but I'm so sorry. I tried everything to be nice and loving but it all backfired. I promise not to leave you alone and I promise it won't hurt. I'm sorry.