The $177.10 Word of the Day

It isn't often I hear a word I don't know, but I heard one today.

Our cat, Boots, had a boo boo, as I've posted, but there was so much hair on the boy, we couldn't SEE the boo boo.  Jerry adores our cats -- and, I guess, I sort of do to, but don't tell him -- and he was worried that whatever the wound was might get infected.  Therefore, we took him to the vet yesterday.

The wound was barely visible, but we had noticed Boots licking the hair to death in that area, and he squealed if you tried to touch it.

We packed our fat kitty into his carrier and took him to the vet.  Now, this is a country vet, and the girls that work for him aren't the brightest employees in the world.  One of them takes her young son to work with her, and he was running in and out the doors and making weird noises.

One of the young girls asked us a bunch of questions.  Their "system" consists of 5 x 7 index cards that they WRITE down what you say on.  Yep!  Real advanced technology.

Jerry and I have become "those weird cat people" who talk about their cats as though they were human children.  We used to make fun of them!

Jerry told the index card writer-downer girl that our cats live outdoors, and then I told her that they come in the garage every night.

Jerry told her  that Boots is afraid of air, and I told her that he won't go to anyone but us.

Jerry told her that Boots got hurt somehow but we don't know how; and I told her that I noticed it last Saturday, and when I tried to look at it, he tried to bite me!!!

Jerry told her that we have another cat named Barney, and I told her that we used to have some other cats but they all got eaten by wild animals.  (I got the "what a CRAZY lady you are" look on that one, but I'm used to it.)

Jerry told her that Boots has been very healthy; and I told her that if she didn't get him out of that case, he would throw up all over it!

The poor girl was trying to HAND write all of this down on the 5 x 7 card, and she wasn't keeping up very good at all.  She decides we can leave the cat there since Jerry and I both have a doctor appointment ourselves in an hour.  We can call her later to find out what the vet decides to do.

We left.

I called back later to find out what was going on.  The girl told me that Boots had to be sedated so the vet could look at the wound.  AND, since Boots was sedated, he had to spend the night.  GREAT!  I could see dollar signs adding up in my brain!

So we had to go back this morning to pick Boots up from the vet.  Jerry said in the car that we would probably owe $150.  I told him it SURELY couldn't be that much.  All they did was cauterize the wound and give him a shot of antibiotics.

Well, guess what?

The bill was $177.10!  I guffawed and shrieked, "WHAT ON EARTH did you do to Boots that cost that much?

She looked at her computer screen which I was surprised to see they even had, and she said, "Boots was "fractious", and there was an extra charge for that."

"Fractious"?, I asked.  What does THAT mean?

She said Boots was VERY temperamental and the vet could not get close enough to even see the wound.

Well, join the club!

We already TOLD them that!

They brought Boots out to us, but we couldn't really see much while he was inside the carrier.

When we got home, and we let him out in the kitchen, I could NOT believe my eyes.  Look at our poor baby:

The vet CAUTERIZED the wound.  I GUESS that is the black part.  Well, right now, this minute, ALL of that black stuff has been licked off, and the wound is open.  I was able to put some antibiotic cream on it, but I imagine Boots will just lick that off too.

The girl at the vet's office told me that Boots COULD NOT LICK that area.  Does she know ANYTHING about cats at all??????????????  I'm beginning to wonder!

Was it really necessary to shave off that much hair!

I don't know which one lost more hair today, Boots or Jerry.

Jerry feels really good right now -- just like his old self.  Nothing hurts.  His voice is back.  He does complain that everything is too salty or too sweet, but that's no biggy.  He asked me to take a ride with him over to the pond a little while ago.  He just wanted to sit and look at his handiwork.  It was wonderful to see him have so much pleasure.

For those of you who don't know, we live on 11 acres in Southern Oklahoma.  When we bought this property a thousand years ago, it was nothing but trees.  Jerry built this pond all by himself -- week after week after week after week -- for seven years.  It is an amazing feat, and he really loves it.

Took this with my Iphone, so it isn't much, but you can see how great he is feeling!  Praise God!!!  If you will click on "Youtube", you can see a bigger version -- maybe.

HEY!  How cool is that picture with all the trees reflecting in our pond.  The clouds are reflected too!

  Jerry was just sitting there.  I had been sitting next to him, but I MADE myself take a walk over to the dock to maybe lose an ounce or two.  My husband weighs only 20 pounds more than I do right now.  YIKES!!!  

So that is it for today.  I've got to go find Jerry and find out what exciting thing we are going to watch on TV tonight.  Last two nights were football.  He watched both games for hours and hours.  Didn't come to bed until midnight.  THAT IS AWESOME!  What a shame he has to get more Chemo on Wednesday just when he is feeling so great.

And here's a picture of our furry babies with all of their hair!  Guess you know why we call the big one "Boots".

Hugs, Joy