Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Tell Me Why I Don't Like Mondays (or Tuesdays for that matter)

Yo, Bob Geldof, I hear ya man.


This week blows so far. Monday I worked Rt. 02. Still kind of crappy at it. I am frustratingly slow on that route and I began my day by slicing the top of my finger on the case. Kind of like the mother of all paper cuts. Nothing serious but a nice deep bleeder. It took me a full 10 hours to do the route and that was even with the kind assistance of Penny, one of the other substitute carriers, who helped me case a tray of letters. I started the day off on the wrong side of the bed anyway. Matt came home from L.A. on Friday evening and I knew that by the time I got home from work on Monday he would be gone again. We wouldn't be able to support this adventure here in Washington if it weren't for his job but I don't think either of us suspected that he would be gone so regularly and frequently.


I came home to an empty house and an alarmingly listless Russell. He is our talkative snuggle bunny and he neither talked nor snuggled. In fact he was curled into a tight ball under the bed and didn't even acknowledge me when I gave him a pat. I watched him closely for the rest of the evening figuring I would take him to the vet on Tuesday. I awoke at 1am to the sound of him trying to hack something up but all that came out was spittle. While awake I realized that I had not taken out the garbage and recycling cans so I set the alarm for 5am to get them out before the truck came by.


At 5am and after a miserable night of anxiety dreams (one of which involved Matt being lost at sea and leaving me barefoot, pregnant and destitute!!!) I took the garbage down the driveway and upon my return realized that Russell was nowhere to be found. I called him for 45 minutes gradually dissolving into a sobbing mess as time went by. He ALWAYS comes when called. He never wants to miss out on anything. I tried to compose myself and called Matt at 6am. As soon as I heard his voice I burst into tears again sobbing that I couldn't find Russell. After listening to me list off all the places I had looked he asked if I had shaken the treat can, a sound sure to bring him running if he was alive and within earshot. Sure enough, he came in through the bay door but he looked awful. He only sniffed at the treats - unheard of!


I called the vet first thing and got him in at 10:30am. He had a fever and his ears were swollen. She did a blood test and found that his platelet and white blood cell count were wonky so she followed up with a feline leukemia and FIV test (negative! Yay!) She gave him something to help bring the fever down and sent me on my way with a bottle of antibiotics for him. So that all turned out better than expected.


Still, starting off with a major bout of sobbing is no way to ensure a full and productive day. I had the most miserable headache for the rest of the day so I tried to sleep it off.


I have high hopes that Wednesday(today) will be better. I have yet to leave the house but neither have I cried every last milliliter of fluid out of my body so I count that as a win.

1 comment:

Tairah said...

I hope the next few days are better. And you get to see Matt a little more. It looks like things are going good on your home. That is great. I love reading your blog. I love how you say things. I wish I had your talant. Hope your cat gets better soon.