Wednesday 10 February 2010

CHARLIE & M'S STORY

Charlie is a cat and M is either his owner or fosterer, I'm not sure which. Charlie's not a young cat and M took him on a few years ago. Last year Charlie developed an infection in his left eye and had to have it removed. Cats are adaptable and he's fine with it. Today, however, I had to take him and M to the PDSA first thing this morning as Charlie had to have an operation on his right eye which involved cutting and stitching his eyelid. If he goes blind we'll have to have him put to sleep -he's old and not that adaptable.

M is a bit of a sad case and you're about to understand why I'm just using an initial. He's in his 40's and has a long history of substance and alcohol abuse. It's left him mentally impaired and he mumbles and stutters when he speaks, his thought processes only vaguely coherent. But he's beaten the drugs and the booze and even gave up smoking over a year ago so all credit to him. A pity he didn't do it sooner as he's now waiting for a date for a triple bypass heart operation at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. A much less serious heart op knocked my buddy Barry for six (see earlier posts) so lord knows what effect it will have on M. He certainly won't be able to look after Charlie and his dog Tess, a small yappy friendly mongrel, for quite a while. I shudder to think what state his flat -already pretty grungy- will get into. It's so bad that Susan and Andrea were thinking of taking Charlie off him until his eye healed properly in case it got infected.

In the afternoon I got a call from a young woman who, as a result of a series of operations, is physically unable to look after her cat so I'm going to pick it up on Saturday and take it to Carol's. Sounds quite rehomeable apart from one thing -it chews electric wires.

Charlie was the last animal to be operated on despite the fact that he was third signed in this morning so it was nearly six o'clock when we finally left the surgery. I had to put the surgical collar on when we got him home as M's co-ordination or lack of it makes even a fumblefingers like me look like I have the dexterity of skilled surgeon. I told M to leave it on until Monday then take it off and if he needs it, I'll come back and put it on again. Back to the PDSA next Wednesday for a checkup. Hopefully all will be well.

Count your blessings, folks, count your blessings.

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