The Six Million Dollar Cat

This is a picture (to the left) of my wonderful wife Carla. You can click on it to see the larger version of the picture. This is the sort of face she presented to me when I suggested we might want to put Shadow to sleep. Let me elaborate.

Shadow had gone missing for several days, and when we finally found him, he was laying on the front lawn. It was obvious from the way he was laying that something serious had happened to him. So we scooped him up and headed off to see the local veterinarian.

Upon examing and x-raying the poor cat, the doctor brought out the x-rays and showed us where Shadow's right rear leg was shattered. You could literally see the bone fragment shards in the picture. No wonder Shadow was in considerable pain. Should we do the smart thing and put Shadow to sleep? That was when my wife gave me the horrified face similar to what you are viewing. Any way, it became quickly obvious that putting poor Shadow out of his misery by simply killing him was completely out of the question.

Fortunately for us, the veterinarian loves complex 3-dimensional puzzles and viewed the rebuilding of Shadow's leg as an enjoyable challenge. So... we let him proceed to rebuild Shadow's leg. And the costs began mounting up. Ultimately, with paying for anesthesia, being in the pet hospital over night, the doctor's skill and everything else involved, the bill came to almost $1,400 dollars.

Now I realize that is a bit shy of the Six Million mentioned in the title above, but all I can say is that Shadow had just better not ever run in front of a car again.

When Shadow came home, he also had a pin that ran the length of his upper leg. The doctor showed us the x-rays he took after he had reassembled all the shards and pieces of bone and reassembled them. He did do an incredible job. And then he wrapped four wires around the bone fragments and twisted them all tight together. I was pretty amazed. There were no fragments left over, and apparently he got them all in the correct places. But he left the pin sticking up because he wanted to be able to remove it later.

He stitched up Shadow's hip very nicely and we took Shadow back in about 2 weeks later to have these stitches removed. Oh... did you know, this is another office visit and another charge. The total bill was now OVER $1400.

Well, soon after he removed the stitches, I briefly observed that Shadow had a piece of skin on his thigh that was lifting up and was open on two edges over the pin. Okay, we needed to take Shadow back in and have him examined. But... Shadow had other ideas. He hid. We had put him in the empty house up front. (another long story about how this house came to be empty... I will tell you that story some other time)

The next day when I was planning to take him to the vet, I could not find Shadow. I knew for a fact that he was in the house, but I could not see him anywhere. There are hundreds of little holes and crevices through out the house due to the fact that it was lived in by a pack rat. And even though I did not want to, I had to finally give up. The next day we took off for a short vacation and I hired somebody to feed and water the cats.

She never saw Shadow either, but his food and water kept disappearing. Since he was the only cat in that house, I knew he must be still alive. But of course that open flap of skin could not feel too comfortable. I think Shadow associated us with all the pain he was experiencing because he refused to be found. After several weeks of not seeing Shadow and watching his water and food disappear, I decided "enough is enough." I was determined that no matter what it took, I would find Shadow.

I bought a super bright flashlight and began upstairs, checking under the bed, behind the dresser, under the dresser (there was just barely enough room that he could have crawled there) and behind bureau drawers and inside of fake fireplaces. Finally I felt I had exhausted all possibilities upstairs.

So I went down stairs. Just about this time, Brad showed up and I told him what I was doing. He started helping too. He went into the front pantry room off the kitchen and as he rolled a round stone table so we could look under yet another dresser, we heard Shadow's MEOW. He was indeed hiding behind the stone table under the dresser. The only reason he meowed was that he did not like the fact that Brad--a stranger to him--had come close to him. Brad is a smoker and Shadow did not like the way Brad smelled and wanted to run away... except he couldn't on his bum leg.

I grabbed Shadow and dragged him out. Was he ever dirty! He had been hiding with spiders and dead flies and all sorts of dust under that dresser in the corner for about a month now!! And I immediately put him into a carrier and off to the vet we went. Even though it had not been a full two months, the vet took x-rays and determined that he was healed up enough to remove the pin. And of course he stitched down the flap of skin again. Fortunately for everybody, Shadow did not get a major infection in his open wound. I am sure that Shadow started feeling a whole lot better after the pin was out. But he could not rejoin the other cats for 2 more weeks.

I wasn't sure that the leathery skin would reattach (It had basically dried out being supported up in the air by the pin in his leg) but it softened up a bit and the stitches held. And Shadow did not try to go off and hide any more. After a couple more weeks in isolation to let the stitches heal, we brought Shadow in the house again. Oh was he glad to be a part of the family again! He ate heartily and wanted up on "his" tower. His leg was too weak for him to climb up, so we lifted him up.

Well, it has been over a month since he was brought back into our house, and Shadow's leg is healing nicely. I sure am glad, because removing of the pin cost another $200. We are almost up to $1600 total now. Maybe over. But Shadow's leg has gotten much stronger. He can climb up the tower now. And he started jumping in and out the window again. In fact, other than the scar on his hip and the short hair that is still growing back in, you would hardly know Shadow had shattered his leg.

I don't think Shadow is going out in traffic again -- and he just better not. I cannot afford another $1600 -- I am still paying for the first time. And I don't want to see my wife make her distressed face again.

So... that is how Sammy came to be our six million dollar cat.

My aching shoulder

Picture to left enhanced by John Bond....

I hurt myself about four months ago. I was in bed and was reading while leaning on my left elbow. Suddenly something in my shoulder made a tearing noise accompanied immediately by intense pain. I think I somehow tore my rotator cuff.

This happened back in December or so, and I have been telling the doctor about it each month during our visits. Finally I reminded him about the shoulder today. He checked his records and found out where x-rays were taken back in January.

So I think I am on the verge of being scheduled to go see an orthopedic surgeon. My guess is that after he does his initial investigation, I will be scheduled for some type of surgery to reattach something or other in the shoulder joint.

Today I also found out that I had gained a whole pile of weight since I checked in about a month ago. I guess my eating out has taken its toll. So, I am going to have to cut back on fat foods again. I hate dieting... the first three letters of diet are die!!

I need to refocus on getting healthy.

Happy health hunting,

David A. Youngs

Being Healthy at 55 isn't easy, but it is doable!

Okay, so I am 55. That doesn't mean I have to be unhealthy does it? So why am I "suddenly" overweight. I think somebody played a trick on me one night and switched bodies on me in my sleep. That must be what happened. My body never looked like this. And this body has begun to develop problems. Severe problems are beginning to exibit themselves. Problems like swelling in the ankles and now the feet. And apparently high blood pressure.

Now when I "retired" several years ago due to a severe neck injury which revealed advancing problems with the cervical vertibrae, of course I did not work any more. Work was hard physically. I had been a janitor. Pushing around a BIG mop loaded with water is tough. And I did not miss it one bit. So maybe my muscles did start to get a little flabby.

But this is ridiculous. And I find myself out of breath at the slightest sign of physical exertion.

Well, I joined a health club and began going. At first it seemed like things were going to get better as I rode the stationery bicycles, but... I did not lose weight. And it began to be a drag to drag myself over to the health club. I have to start going again because I am still paying for it. And I should start eating better.

Well now there is the rub. Eating better. We all know what we should do, but do we actually do it? Not always it seems. I mean, I know that pizza is not the best thing to eat, but wow does it taste good. I have a rather thin and healthy friend who suggested I eat only RAW foods. Well, I did not find RAW PIZZA all that exciting. (just kidding)

Well, raw foods? I do eat bananas, oranges, nuts (except I find they are usually roasted AND salted -- a no no) and grapefruits. But I really don't like raw potato. Now raw corn isn't too bad and raw fresh green peas are okay.

I do eat a lot of salads now. At least a whole lot more than I used to.

And I know that the vegetarian (and expecially the vegan) diet is far superior... but fried chicken tastes sooooo good. What I am supposed to do? I do have a juicer. A Champion brand juicer. Have you ever juiced things. I mean it is okay, but then I got to clean up the juicer.

Well, one of my friends said I should try a "JUICE FAST" until I lose the weight I want to lose. I may have to eventually try that, but I do have a lot of weight to lose. I find out that I am 275 now. I should be 190. Hmmmm. That is losing 85 pounds!!!!

Now everybody and their brother has got some sure fire way to lose weight. I have never heard more misinformation and drivel on any other topic unless it is politics and how Hillary Clinton is going to be the first female president of the United States. But don't get me sidetracked into politics. Hilary is a liar. And I still need to lose the weight.

I think that my overweight condition right now is the primary problem. And as I started to spew.... everybody has a "diet" or a "weight loss plan" or some magic "pill" or "food suppliment" that is supposed to really help. Some of them are downright dangerous. Now after reflection, the juice fast doesn't sound as bad as some of those other diets.

I knew an overweight lady who decided the only way she would be able to lose weight was to undergo stomach surgery. Well, to put it bluntly, it worked. She lost weight like crazy until the day she died. She never could eat enough to actually nourish herself. So, the operation was a success, but the end result was she DIED.

Fasting is a proven way to definately lose weight. But Karen Carpenter lost a lot of weight fasting.... and she DIED.

If you take amphetamines, you will probably lose weight too. But the side affects.... not sleeping, and becoming paranoid at not exactly what I am looking for.

Somebody suggested Human Growth Hormone. Now I don't want to get any bigger. Hormones can have devistating side affects.

Well, so apparently can being 85 pounds over weight. You know, that juice fast idea is starting to sound good. Maybe I will dig out the old juicer, dust it off and fire it up.

I will keep you all posted exactly what happens.

David