InMuWriJu, Day 2

Here we are in the midst of Indiana Music Writing June (InMuWriJu), and I've written a sum total of ... ready? 0 measures.

I know. Pathetic.

Well, school did let out today, so I'll have more time. Supposedly.

My Mom had her knee replacement surgery this morning, and as near as I can tell, she came through just fine. When my wife called her this evening, Mom had been eating pizza and tenderloin and was waiting on them to bring her cheesecake. This, I'm sad to say, was the least interesting part of my day.

We had our school awards program today, which is always a hard day, watching the 5th graders move on from the elementary.

We'd promised Mom we'd stop by after school and check in or their cat, my brother, Mr. Kitty. He'd been acting lethargic the past few days, and for the past day or two was whining when anyone tried to pick him up. So, we got there, and sure enough, he was still yowling when anyone tried to move him, so we loaded him into the cat carrier and got him up to the vet.

They had no clue what was wrong with him, but there was a strange bump on his back, so they kept him in for an X-ray. Well, a few hours later, they called back and let us know -- they'd found what was causing his malaise.

Mr. Kitty has a small bullet in his back next to his spine.

Now, you have to realize that he's been an indoor cat for at least 5 or 6 years, living with my folks, and has only been outside for an hour at a time on a small handful of occasions, and then on a leash and harness with someone close by. There's no way this happened since he's lived with my parents. That means that this poor cat has had a B-B in his body for the past half-decade. The fact he's the most loving and caring cat I've ever seen is just remarkable when you consider that someone shot him at some point in the past.

So, they've put him on some pain/anti-inflammatory stuff, as well as an antibiotic since Mr. Kitty is FIV-positive. They could do surgery, but it's more a last resort since it has the potential to do just as much harm as good. When we left him, after they'd given him his first dose of the pain reliever, he seemed much more at ease, and even let us pick him up and cuddle him. Still not the best of situations, but much better than when the evening began.

At this rate, my father will be the only one in the house without some sort of artificial metal object in his body.