The last week was one of the most stressful for a long time, there were a number of things going on but mostly we were worried about my mum, she was in hospital all week following her fall. I didn't know which way to turn, I needed to spend time with my mum and support her, but I also needed to help my step father who is ill and frail and not used to being on his own. Then there were the ordinary demands of life to be considered, going to work, feeding the family and trying my best to keep on top of the house work. I seemed to rush from one task to the next with no time to stop and think – perhaps that was a good thing!
My mum had a deep wound on her head which was surrounded by a large area of severe bruising; they were worried that the force of my mum’s fall may have caused a bleed into the brain. The wait for the brain scan seemed endless, but thankfully it showed that we have hard heads in our family, there was no damage to her brain. More tests were necessary to determine why she blacked out, it seems her blood pressure is very high but at times her pulse becomes dangerously low. This may necessitate a pacemaker, but in the short term she has been sent home to recover from her fall and to stabilise her blood pressure with medication.
We picked her up from hospital on Friday evening and settled her in at home before going home to pack the car and do all the last minute jobs in preparation for our holiday. I was disconcerted but too tired to argue when Robbie announced that he was packing the Lego men. It left me wondering about his priorities because at that stage he still hadn’t packed his underwear!
Robbie will be returning to work tired (as promised) and wounded. I was only indirectly responsible for his injury, it happened when I called him to rescue a kamikaze cat. After a lazy morning, I took possession of the bathroom and I was just about to get in the bath when I realised that there was something moving on the ledge outside. It was Oreo, he must have scrambled through the tiny top window and he was poised on the edge of the ledge ready to jump on to the paved area far below. I opened the larger window but he wouldn't come in, my and fear for his safety combined with fear of the vet bills if he survived the jump.
I was not prepared to scare the neighbours by hanging out of the window in a state of undress so I yelled for Robbie to help me. He sprinted up the stairs (clad only in pants) and reached out of the window and along the ledge and grabbed the cat. Oreo found himself flying through the air held only by the scruff of his neck, he is not used to such harsh treatment and he panicked. His legs flailed but there was nothing solid for him to grab. Then as Robbie swung him in through the window he realised that he was dangling over a full bath, and not being keen on total immersion he lurched to one side and sunk his claw into Robbie's chest. In a split second Robbie yelped and the cat fell to the floor and fled. A torrent of abuse followed and then Robbie clutched his chest and danced on one leg unable to adequately express his agony.
Oreo had come within an inch or so of piercing Robbie's left nipple! Robbie stood there admiring his wound and telling me over and over again that the claw had punctured the skin twice, it went right through his skin like a needle. I offered him a plaster, but he wasn't brave enough, he would have needed a general anaesthetic to remove it from his hairy chest! Since then Oreo has kept a safe distance from Robbie, but they have traded insults from opposite corners of the room.
