Nasty Cat Bite Takes Me Down And Out

It has been 3 weeks since my last post all because of a Cat. Yep, that's right a cute and nice Cat. I was pet sitting for my daughter on the Sunday over the Memorial Day weekend while she and my son in law were at the HFS festival. They have 2 dogs and 1 cat and you can't leave them in the same room while food is being served. One of the dogs gets very aggressive if bothered while eating. After feeding the dogs, I went to the basement to feed the cat who tried to get out when I opened the door to go down. The cat wanted to go where the dogs were feeding so I picked him up and was taking him back down the basement when he tried to get out of my arms. I held him while all the time petting him, so I could keep the cat and dogs separated and get the basement door closed. That didn't work. Let me tell you, cats have a mind of their own and this cat wanted down. Just before I could set him down, he chomped down on my left hand. I ran up the steps and closed the door before he got there.

My hand was bleeding from 4 puncture wounds from his teeth. He got me on that soft part of my hand between my thumb and pointer finger. I could feel that the punctures went deep into muscle and ligaments. Damn, that hurt. I will say this, it wasn't the cats fault, he was just acting as a cat being restrained and wanted to get down. When he couldn't get down he, CHOMPED, and he got down really fast.

My wife said I should get treatment and antibiotics. I refused at first and wanted to put it off till the next day. After my hand swelled up and I couldn't bend my fingers, it was time I went to have it looked out. I went to Patients First, which is open 7 days a week, and is staffed by Doctors and Nurses. I have never been there before. In fact I seldom get sick or need a doctor unless it is something like this. I registered and was called in to the inter sanctum of Drs. and Nurses. They gave me a tectnus (sp) shot and a prescription for the infection in my hand.

The Doctor told me that cat bites can get very serious and this was serious. Infection gets into the muscles and ligaments and is hard to get out. I had a prescription that called for me to take a tablet in the evening and in the morning. It was a 10 day supply. I took it faithfully and while some of the swelling went down and my little finger was moving, the rest of my hand and fingers still would not move very well. I couldn't lift anything with my left hand and it hurt like hell. All the while I was taking anti inflammatory pills, like Aleve or Ibruprofin. That helped for the pain.

I couldn't work so I have been home for almost 3 weeks. The infection would make me sleepy at times and I slept a lot. After about 10 days, I went back to Patients First and they had a specialist look at my hand. What I had to do next I did for about a week, but it was working well. It seems that there is no oral medicine to be prescribed that would do what I did in the coming week. I had to go in twice a day for an IV with 3 different antibiotics mixed together. I sat there while the drip, drip of the medicine was going into my veins. My right arm looked like a junkies arm, it was covered with small bruises from all of the IV's I had. It was working much better than just the oral pills. BTW, I was still taking the oral pills in the evening as well.

I got to know some the Doctors and Nurses at Patients First because I was there everyday twice a day. Theyl couldn't have treated me better. While there I got to see some of the other patients come and go and the inner workings of this treatment center. I was impressed by how kind everyone was and how they really cared. I would walk in, sign the register and someone would see me, then take be back for my IV. I had very little wait time.

This past Monday was my last day for the IV and I got a new prescription for more oral pills, which I am still taking. As of today, I can now move my fingers on my left hand except for the pointer finger which is still stiff, and hurts then swells if I use it too much.

I did read some of the posts and responded by using one finger typing which is hard for me to do and takes a long time.

I am looking forward to going fishing in the next few weeks with The Cheese and his son. I just need to get my left hand a little more useful and get a time the three of us can go. It will be fun.

Until this cat bite, I had no clue that the infectious mouth of a cat could be this bad. It was because of the punctures that went deep in my hand that it got that bad that quick. I found out that cats actually have less bacteria in their mouths than humans. We have had cats as a part of our lives for over 30 years. They are great pets and are a part of our family as is our 2 Westies.

I got a chance to catch up on some reading and plenty of movies while being one handed these past 3 weeks. That is, when I wasn't sleeping.