My brother, Dr. Teacher, went into hospital on Tuesday for some tests. He knew he had a bulging disc in his neck and they were going to do an MRI and other tests to decide the best couse of action. Which turned out to be surgery on Wednesday. They went in through the front of his neck, just above his right collar bone, pushed the larynx and other bits and pieces out of the way and scraped out the rubbish between his vertebrae and then put a spring sort of thing in to keep the bones apart. That is the non-medical description!! He says that when he came around from the anaesthetic the pain in his arm and neck had gone. He is thrilled. He came home from hospital over the weekend and I spoke with him yesterday. He is still limited in what he can do and will be recuperating over the next two weeks which is great as it's school holidays and he hasn't had to take much time off at all.
Mother rang me over the weekend to tell me that the bloke who has bought their house wants to take the cat. This is good news for the cat. They tried to get it to the vet last week to be destroyed but the handle came off the cat carrier and he escaped. I haven't worked out how the puchaser found out that the cat was available but as long as she's not bullshitting me, then all is good.
NGF rang on Friday as Himself and I were coming home from work to tell me that Two had broken up with her. And that he is using dope again and drinking too much. I knew he was drinking more than he should but thought that he had stopped smoking dope after his 'issues' just after Christmas (which weren't drug related, by the way). She made out that Two was a step away from the gutter but when I spoke to him he said that she was exaggerating. He admitted to smoking again (since the wedding we went to 4 weeks ago) but didn't sound as badly depressed as NGF made out. I am still concerned (actually, worried sick) about him and am treading a very fine line. I don't want to push him away by being overly protective and fussy nor do I want him to feel that he's alone. He's going for a drink after work with some of his mates so hopefully I'll be able to have a chat with him this evening. He deferred his uni course last week which is probably a good thing. One less thing on his plate and he can concentrate on getting his life in order. He is still working two days a week as an assistant at the uni and two days in a fast food outlet.
One came for dinner on Saturday night. He is getting very frustrated with LGF and her refusal to consider moving out of her parents' place. Also she is spending money on her credit card like there's no tomorrow and expecting him to pay the card debt. I think he is slowly realising that he would be better off financially on his own. Himself tried to get him to consider moving back here for a while to get rid of his own debt and get some money behind him so he can find a decent flat. I'm not holding my breath.
Three is cleaning his room as I write. Then he has to go and pick up the shared car from Two so Two can drink this evening. I might drive him so he doesn't have to take public transport.
On Saturday night as we were finishing dinner Tom jumped on Two's lap. Two complained that Tom stank. I sniffed. He reeked. I thought he had killed something and still had muck on him so he got wiped down with anti-bacterial wipes. (He smelt like dogs do when they roll in something dead and gross which is very uncat-like behaviour but Tom is a very uncat-like cat). Then I realised that the smell was coming from his ear. It really did smell like something had died in there! If any of you have had cats who have had abcesses you will know the smell I mean. When I spoke to Dr. Teacher yesterday he suggested syringing the ear with some warm salty water. The cat is not speaking to me but his ear is less pongy today. Still rank but not as bad. The syringing exercise was a challenge. We had to pin him down and then I gently squirted the water into his ear. Of course he shook his head violently and sprayed all within shot with smelly gunk. But it seems to be working. That is assuming he comes home this evening and lets me have another go! He's not distressed by it apart from flicking his ear occasionally and lots of grooming. He is eating and drinking and smooching (which results in cries of "Tom, piss off, you stink!"). And this morning was sitting on the back door mat warming his ear. Clever cat!
I have cleaned the house, done a couple of loads of washing and spent too much time checking out favourite sites. It's lunch time so I'll go and see if I can tempt Three with something and then I'll hit my books.
And try not to worry too much about Two.
