MY HERO BOBAND MYSTERY’S TOO.
Sometime around 2009, two cats showed up in our secluded neighborhood. Apparently, brothers, one orange and one very dark gray with white on his chin (enclosing a round dark circle of gray), white chest, stomach and paws. I fed them outside on our upper porch leading off the dining room, and just as suddenly as they had appeared, the orange, more skittish one, vanished forever. Mystery is still around, shockingly after the near tragedy last Monday, the 15th.
I had my second knee replacement right after Christmas. I have been diligent about going to therapy three times a week and doing my exercises at home. I was feeling quite good on Sunday, Valentine’s Day, until I went to bed. As I was getting comfortable for sleep, I felt a horrific pain in my knee. Later, when I had to get out of bed, as soon as I put my right foot down, I screamed, grabbed at my walker which I only kept near in case of such an emergency, and screamed my way to the bathroom. Bob sleeps upstairs because he snores so loud, and he does not like the pets in bed as I do. I called him on his cell phone at 8:00 so he could come down and help me and let the dogs out. Around an hour later I heard what could have been a cat meowing, or a child (a grandson next door) and it continued then stopped, then I’d hear it again. I called Bob again, this time asking him to look outside from the upper porch. “Oh my g-d Mystery is in the pool and I can only see his head.” He came running down in his socks, grabbed my winter jacket which did not really fit and ran up the steps of the three decks to the pool. He laid down and was able to reach enough to grab one front paw and then the other to lift a nearly frozen Mystery from the icy water, hurried with him to the back door where I waited with towels. I turned the heat up in my bathroom, put the portable heater on floor facing Mystery, and began trying to dry and warm him. Bob got an extra-large heating pad from upstairs. We went through about seven big towels (he is a big cat) and three hours of drying and massaging (I could only lean over) until he could stand without shivering, but his hind end was still lethargic. He also had some bleeding from his mouth and front paws where he had tried to save himself. (Bob shuddered for days thinking that just a few more minutes he’d been a goner.) I put the heating pad under my covers and carried Mystery there and continued to massage him lying next to me in bed. I later put Ebby’s soft fleece top on him (I have given up on trying to clothe her) and for the next week Mystery slept on my bed day and night except to eat (soft food only for a while) and use the litter box. (We have a leak in our liner, so we were advised to remove the pool cover leaving intact only the part attached to the deck.) Mystery likes rainwater.
Today, Tuesday the 22nd, I decided to let him out in the backyard for an hour. I went to clean and fill a large bowl of water. (Mystery also has hyperthryroidism and is on medication 2x a day.) I just happened to look towards the pool and saw a paprika-colored top moving down into the pool. I screamed Mystery’s name and he back tracked and went down the far side steps and then under the deck. It took a bit to coax him out. I lifted him just as Ebby decided to jump up at us. Mystery got away but I was able to get him farther down the yard after putting Ebby inside. I got him to the house, but I forgot how briskly the storm door shuts, so before I had Mystery all the way in, the door closed on his long tail, and he bit down on my arm. I still got the door reopened and he jumped out of my arms and ran under my bed. I cleaned my wound, took some antibiotics I had, and called the doctor’s office so that they could give me a prescription for a week’s worth to protect my new knee from infection; like they had to do when Ebby bit open Bob’s finger soon after his hip replacement. Needless to say, Mystery does not go out again until the pool hazard is remedied. Unbelievable week of Mystery!
