My first trip to the ER (or ED as Chris would say)

Jem, the cat, was neutered on Monday morning. I brought him home that night, put the E-collar (did you know that stands for Elizabethan?) on him, and sequestered him in the spare bedroom for the night. Other than the grogginess and semi-paralysis of his hind legs, he was fine.

Yesterday, I let him out for a little bit in the afternoon while I was reading. He sat on the bed with me, occasionally coming to get attention. He was recovering well, I thought.

I went back in to check on him at about 5:30 (after-hours), and his incision had started to bleed. It looked to me like a lot of blood, but what do I know about cat anatomy or post-surgical occurrences? I also noticed that he was completely lethargic; he just let me hold him in my arms without squirming.

We tried calling the vet, but of course, it was after hours and we were directed to call an animal emergency center. Which we did. I think Chris was really happy about this.

The tech came in to check him, and decided to take him in the back to administer some pain medications, because he was probably hurting quite a bit. We then waited for the vet to see us (about an hour later). There was cable in the room, though. I told Chris that they should do this in the people ER so that patients won't complain when they have to wait. He said they already have them in every room, and that some doctors want to get rid of them because patients get to comfortable in their "hotel suite," and start asking for food delivered to their beds, and wanting to stay longer.

But I digress.

Bottom line: the vet gave us two more doses of pain meds to give him at home, and then told us to watch the bleeding. He explained that male cats don't typically bleed from this incision, and that if we wanted, he could do a complete blood count, etc. We declined.

Not that I don't love my animals, but I am a minimalist when it comes to pet health care. I thought the $90 fee to be seen was enough. More than enough.

He's fine today; the Humane Society (who performed the surgery) said to just watch it.

Lesson learned. Pet ERs not worth it.

I read too fast, again!

I finished Water for Elephants in two days...I tried to slow down, but had nothing else to do. A friend suggested that I go to the library to reduce the amount that I spend on my books, and although I appreciate the suggestion, I cannot follow it. I have a thing wherein I like to own the books that I read. There are very few books that I have read that I do not have on my shelf(some of the really awful ones from school were discarded). I really want to have a library of substantial size one day. I rarely re-read a book, but I just like to know it's there.

For those of you interested, Water for Elephants was just okay. The beginning hooked me, but I found myself just reading much of it in order to finish, not necessarily because I was dying to find out what happened next.

Whereas the book I am reading now, The Thirteenth Tale, is so intriguing. It came highly recommended to me. One of my students even chose it as her final novel for her essay. Her essay intrigued me, so I am reading it now. I love it so far. I'll let you know what I think at the end.

My own virtual book club

I have decided, now that my summer is getting started, to update my readers on my current reads. I love to read (duh! I'm an English teacher), but don't have much time to do it for leisure during the school year. Today was the official last day with students, and I started celebrating over the weekend with my first book: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Kahled Hosseini. Loved it!

Chris was at work on Saturday, and I found myself without much to do, having cleaned the house the day before, and not having any papers to grade! So I ventured out to Costco to buy some cheap books. I bought two.

I try really hard to read the books slowly so that I don't spend tons of money over the summer on my hobby, but I am really not good at that. I started the book on Saturday evening and finished it today at work (the students were taking a test; I just had to sit there). I was riveted by this novel. So much better than The Kite Runner, if you read that one.

When Chris saw what I was reading yesterday, he was a bit confused because I hadn't really loved The Kite Runner. I had completely forgotten about that until he mentioned it. I have a hard time reading a book, or watching a film for that matter, where I am angry or annoyed with the protagonist the entire time. Just say something, dang it, and you wouldn't be carrying this much anguish all the time!!!! But, that might also make a good story--if I am so annoyed with the protagonist, it probably means the author has done a good job at getting my attention.

Anyhow, I really enjoyed this book; I was completely compelled by the story. I love stories that take me to a different place; that help me to understand a culture that I would otherwise would not know. I learned so much about the Afghan people and the struggle of the Afghan women over the past forty or so years. I loved how well the author was able to get inside the mind of women.

Overall, I would whole-heartedly suggest you read this book. Most people already have though. I was just a little behind the times.

Ice Cream? Now? Really?

I'm sitting here at the computer, reading other people's blogs, thinking that I have nothing to write about, watching the rain pour down, when I hear the ice cream truck drive up my street. Really? It's literally pouring outside.

And yet, there are teenage boys swimming in the pool across the street.

But they didn't buy any ice cream.

If Chris were home, he might accuse me of blaspheme for even suggesting that there is an inappropriate time for ice cream.

By the way, I did not receive a rose at the faculty meeting. I'm in limbo right now. Lots of fun.