Tuesday, we took Mom’s cats to the vet. Long story short, she was holding Ozzie and he didn’t want to be held. When he jumped down, claws went hither and yon into her arms. One of those claws had apparently been somewhere it didn’t have no business ta be, and that one puncture got infected.

Yes, he’s still alive. Mom’s like, “Poor Ozzie! He didn’t mean to do it.” And I’m like, “Oops! Did I just kick him into the middle of next Sunday? I didn’t mean to do it! I didn’t mean to do it again! I didn’t mean to do it again….”

No, he isn’t actually as evil as he looks in this picture. He was just freaked out at the vet. I get that way when I get a shot, too.

Wednesday, we didn’t like the looks of it and got an appointment with the doctor. Her PA gave Mom a shot of antibiotics and one against tetanus, and drew lines on her arm to show where the swelling and redness was so we’d know if it was getting better or worse.

She told us to make an appointment for Friday so they could assess the effect of the antibiotics, but said we should hit the ER if things got questionable outside of office hours.

Then she drew a little happy face on the upper mark to keep Mom company. 🙂

She wrote a prescription for oral antibiotics, and sent her home.

I spent the night with her, natch. About 4:30 in the morning, I heard a thump and ran into her bathroom. She hadn’t fallen, but her knees had given out. She was weak, and her hand was more puffy and the red streaks were worse.

ER. Antibiotics. Better now. The nurse said getting her in to be seen so quickly gave her a much better chance of a quick recovery.

Kids, don’t mess around with cellulitis! It can lead to sepsis, meningitis, and who knows what.

Mom didn’t have me take pictures of her arm at the worst. It was pretty scary.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A character has a narrow medical escape.

MA