on the mend

There will not be part deux. I don't need a rerun of the last five days, and truth be told neither does my loved ones.  Troubles began Thursday morning, Andrew twisted his ankle very badly in the work yard.  He hopped around all day in excruciating pain, it was fortunate that he did not take his boot of until he came home, because he would never had been able to get it back on.  We took the boot off gingerly, so as to not hurt him more than he already was.  It was so swollen that he looked like it was going to break the bootlaces.  We did the usual foot up with ice on/off every 15 minutes.  If it helped, I don't know, because Friday morning he could not put any weight on it, nor did the swelling go down.  Andrew's foot and ankle, he has the best looking feet I have ever seen, was so swollen that if he entered a "swollen foot contest" with pregnant women, he would win hands down, I am sad to say yes he had a cankle going on.  Even his instep was swollen and turning colors.

While we were making dinner we made the decision, that if the swelling was not better in the morning, we would go for an X-ray. 

Well all of our plans for the next day would not come to fruition because of the phone call we would receive, Gabriella was admitted to RWJUH.  Elmyra (Gabriella) found a litter of kittens in the shed and decided she was going to "help" them.

 She started feeding them, and after a few days, noticed that the runt was not getting any food.

 
My Gabs then thought the best plan of action was to bring the little kitten inside to feed her, well everything was going along just ducky until Luna came around to investigate.  The little kitten hid, Luna tried to get her out, it went downhill fast.  Next thing you know, the kitten bites Gabriella a few times.  Fur flying, Gabs screaming, little kitten exit stage left. 
 

Gabriella cleaned the bites, she and Vincent talked about excess fat or skin, I did not want to hear.  She cleaned it very well and kept it clean.  Needless to say it was not enough.  It started to swell and by Friday afternoon, it was uber swollen and very, very painful. 

I am so very happy that she knew that it would be in her best interest to come home to go to RWJUH, the care there is wonderful.  She went to the ER.  Everyone came to visit the girl who got bit by the cat.  They hooked her up to IV, gave her the news that she needed to get Rabies shots because it was a stray.  Infection had already set in and she needed heavy duty Antibiotics.  She did not bring her phone with her to the hospital, she thought they would just clean it out, and send her home.  Well that did not happen.  They hooked her up, shot her up with 3 rabies shots, and really strong painkillers.  They found her a room in the Children's Hospital, and moved her over.  When Andrew and I got the call, because she can make all the decisions of her care by herself, we raced up there.  We had to borrow a car, thank you Kathy, because neither my truck nor Andrew's would fit into the parking decks. 

When we got there she was pretty loopy and in pain.  It was devastating to see her lying in a hospital bed with tubes coming out of one of her arms and her other hand bandaged, covered and hanging from the IV thing attached to the bed.  I took a quick look at her hand, and it was red, angry, swollen, and very painful looking.  Her poor skin was stretched to the limit.  We got the skinny on what was what and made a plan of action.  At 10 PM, I walked and Andrew hobbled to the Main Lobby and he went home.  I was joking that for the first time I wasn't trailing behind him.  It was decided that I would stay with Gabriella and he would go home.  Vincent left to go home, he had to go to work in the morning.

Andrew and I have been blessed in that neither one of ours' have ever been ill enough to require a hospital stay.  Yes, we had a couple of ER visits but thank the Lord, nothing to life threatening.  So it came as a complete surprise to find that there was a place in the room for me to sleep.  

Gabriella and I slept sporadically through the night, they kept coming in to take blood, temperature, blood pressure, and checking to see if the swelling was going down.  The doctors came in at around 7 AM, to see how she was progressing,  it was decided to wait to see if the antibiotics were working.  The alternative was surgery.  That was somewhere we did not want to go.

What we did not know was that a cats' bite is terrible.  There teeth are so sharp, penetrate deeply, and that their mouths are so full of bacteria.  Cat bites almost always result in surgery.  There was also the fear of rabies.   The doctors decided they would wait another 24 hours.  Hopefully the IV antibiotics, keeping her hand elevated, and painkillers would do the trick.

Andrew picked me up around 11 AM to go home to shower, get some fresh clothes, and get Gabriella some things to make her more comfortable.  We went back to her in the early afternoon. 

Andrew's ankle was even worse now, so after bringing her some stuff, making sure she was good, and ready to sleep, we told her we would be back right away, we went to the ER for Andrew.  We were fortunate that the ER was not busy, he was fast tracked in, questions asked, whisked away for X-rays, we waited a bit, then they said he chipped a bone, that they would put an air-cast on it, some crutches, and he could be on his merry way.  All that in under 2 hours, imagine that.  When we were getting ready to leave, they were bringing in a Rutger's band member that got knocked out at the football game by a tuba.  It was so sad, knocked out cold by a tuba.

Gabriella in a hospital waiting to find out if surgery would be necessary and Andrew on crutches, it could always be worse, yes it could, so I am counting my blessings.

The nurses' liked Gabriella's window bed, I said she looked like "The Princess and the Pea"......

We spent 3 1/2 days at the hospital getting better.

My beauty, I love this child....

I am more than thrilled to say that they are both getting healthy.  The swelling on Gabriella's hand will take a few weeks to totally go away.  I am sorry to say that the same is probably true for Andrew as well, his foot/ankle are still terribly swollen.  He can fit almost fit it in an old low boot.  

Gabriella has to go back twice more for additional rabies shots. 

I am counting our blessings for our good health and hoping for a speedy recovery.