Steinbeck, Mom’s finally adding something to our blog and the readers want to know all about it.
Oh, well, I wish they wouldn’t stare at me when I’m trying to take a nap.
Maybe you shouldn’t take naps all the time.
This is me guarding the house. I work hard at this so I need lots of naps. Sometimes there are strange noises outside like boomers and I want to make sure nothing tries to get in the house. Mom says if she doesn’t leave the door open just a little, I tend to panic. I wouldn’t say I panic, but I do get very concerned. Lately I’ve been making sure none of thatCoughedstuff comes around.
Steinbeck, that’s Covid and I think it’s great you’re watching out for it.
I’m in charge of making sure none of our beds get messed up. Mom used to have nurses and physical therapists coming here all the time and she kept moving our beds out of the way. They weren’t in the way! Don’t humans realize that cats reign supreme?
Well, that’s all that’s happening around here. Mom didn’t lose her memory when her heart broke so she knows she should give us treats.
Steinbeck, you have such a one track mind.
Maybe……….but you love me.
From the Mom….and I love both of you boys. You’re doing a great job of getting me back to healthy. I’m still not working but it will only be a couple of weeks now and I can go back part time. I was working from home before all this happened and the boys were used to me being here. I’m hoping I can still work from home for a bit. I really don’t want to be around any of those germs. Thanks so much for all the kind words, thoughts, prayers. They all mean so much to me!
It seems like 2020 has turned out to be quite the challenging year.We all apologize for not being on our blog for so long, But I have a good reason. It all started on April 11th. I was outside raking and trying to clean up things in the yard. I was frequently taking rests but it didn’t seem to help. I finally decided to stop and I had a sharp pain that went all the way through my chest to my back. I took some aspirin right away and convinced myself that I had twisted some muscles with all the raking and weed pulling.The next day I rested and felt a little better. On Monday I went to work (actually I walked over to the computer since I was working from home) and then went to an eye appointment. I noticed that I was kind of spinning out of control so when I got home I sent a note to my doctor. I told her what had happened and how I felt. She called me back quickly and told me to go to Emergency.
My brother took me over to the hospital on April 13th and since Covid was making it hard to do anything, he had to just leave me there. I was hooked up to all kinds of machines and poked with all sorts of needles. The docs told me that I did have a heart attack on Saturday and it was a major one. They had determined that I wasn’t still having a heart attack, but my heart was very ticked and was kind of bouncing all over the place.
I got moved to a room and was hooked up to a monitor. During the first couple of days, one of my medical team members tested positive for Covid. They gave me the test, but mine was negative. However, I had to be put in quarantine.
On April 20th, I had open heart surgery and had a single bypass. I went through all of this without anyone I could hug. I ended up staying in ICU for several extra days because of the quarantine. I had yet another Covid test and it was negative. Once I finally got to a regular room, I started doing exercises and seemed to be improving. When it came time for me to go home, one of the nurses had noticed I was having trouble breathing. They ordered a chest x-ray and discovered fluid on my lungs. They tapped both of them and then I was finally able to go home, after spending 20 days in the hospital.
I started physical and occupational therapy at home and then I noticed I was having trouble breathing again. Back to the hospital for another chest x-ray and then back again so I could be tapped. (I’m on blood thinners now and they have to kind of wean me off them for procedures.) Oh, and another Covid test.
I wasdoing really good until I noticed that I couldn’t even cross the room without huffing and puffing. My therapy sessions were pure torture ‘cuz I couldn’t breathe. My cardiologist set up an echocardiogram for me. That didn’t show what they expected it to show so we were back to square one. I became my own advocate and told them I couldn’t live like that.
You guessed it…………back to Emergency and yet another Covid test (which was still negative). Last weekend I was in the hospital. By the way, my birthday was on June 11th and I actually had a good day, even though I couldn’t do much. They diagnosed me with congestive heart failure and while in the hospital I lost 17 pounds of fluid. The change was amazing. I could breathe and I didn’t have all the pressure on my chest.
It’s now been two months since my open heart surgery. I am finally on the road to recovery. The boys have helped so much. Just their purring and paw pats mean so much.
We are hoping to get back to blogging, but it’s been kind of hard. This is the first time I’ve really felt good so maybe the three of us can get some things posted soon.
Thanks for reading through this long explanation. If you have any friends or relatives in the hospital during Covid, do all you can to encourage them. I was lucky because my niece is a nurse at the hospital so I was able to have a “visitor”.
Hemingway!! Come here. Quick. You have to help me. It’s very important.
Steinbeck…………hold down the noise. Can’t you see I’m helping Mom? Remember she has to work from home now so I have to help her with her stuff so she doesn’t work too many hours. If I didn’t help her, she’d be working for elebenty billion hours. Now what is it you want?
I want you to come here! Right now!!
Ok………fine………I’m coming.
So why am I here? What am I supposed to be looking for? What are you so excited about?
Tell me if you see any corn or iris.
Why on earth are you asking me to do that?
“Cuz I keep hearing on that TV all about the corn and iris and how dangerous they are. I wanted to check the freezer to see if Mom had any corn in there, but she wouldn’t let me. I figured I better check our yard. I don’t want any corn or iris around here.
Steinbeck, you’ve got it all wrong. It’s not corn and iris. It’s coronavirus.
Smarty pants……..how do you know?
Mom told me about it when I asked her why she was working at home now. You must have been sleeping as usual. She said it’s a serious sickness and humans have to be really careful so they don’t get it. Mom is staying in the house as much as she can so she doesn’t run into any of those germs.
I’m so glad you’re my big brother and can teach me things.
Steinbeck, there’s also this rule about social distancing.
Mom let us go out on the deck over the weekend and I talked to Mr. Outdoor Cat. Then I walked around and checked out the property. Of course I could only walk on the deck ‘cuz there was still some of that white stuff and some wet stuff around. I wasn’t about to get my feet wet!! But, guess what…………Hemingway walked off the deck and into that white stuff. He obviously lost his mind. I got rather angry with him ‘cuz I just knew he was going to bring those wet cold feet into the house.
Well, getting angry was a BIG mistake. Mom was standing on the deck looking at Hemingway and I just had to tell her how angry I was. I looked at her and hissed and spitted. She just looked at me and told me to knock it off. You mean I shouldn’t be mad about what Hemingway was doing?
I don’t get it. Now she’s calling me Mr. Crabby Apple Pants again. I don’t think that’s a proper name for me.
Nope, I haven’t been outside since. Mom says I can’t get angry. Oh well……….
Mom said I could “fancy up” my selfie today. I was so excited. We all got to go outside. I decided it was the perfect time to use my body to clean off the deck. There were little twigs and old leaves and little bits of this and that. I managed to get them on my fur. MOL!!! That’s why Mom said I should “fancy up” my selfie. I hope everyone had a very good weekend and is ready to start another week.
Everyone knows my name is Hemingway. No, I don’t have six toes. Mom chose that name ‘cuz she liked the author. Then she got another kitty and she named him Shakespeare. He wasn’t with us that many years and then she brought another ginger kitty home and named him Steinbeck, after another one of her favorite authors. She had decided she wanted us to have a blog and wanted us to have literary names. She also didn’t want us to have names that everyone else had. She’s strange that way.
Enough of the background information. My question to all you readers is: if I have the name Hemingway, why does Mom insist on calling me other names? Do the rest of you have the problem? I call Mom, Mom. That’s all I call her. I call my little brother, Steinbeck…….well, maybe sometimes I call him Brat……but that’s another story for another day.
Here’s a recent picture that Mom took of me.
One of Mom’s friends likes to call me Mr. Regal ‘cuz I’m always dressed in my finest tuxedo, ready for a party. When Mom took this picture, she decided it really did show me as Mr. Regal. I think I look quite like a king in that picture.
She also has another crazy name for me. Would you believe she calls me, Inaway? She said she came up with that name ‘cuz I’m always in the way. Can I help it if she wants to walk wherever I stretch out on the floor? I say it’s her fault. I say that I get a vote on this and I’ll go for Mr. Regal instead of Inaway.
I don’t know if I have any stories ready to tell you. Aren’t you sleepy enough?
Not really. My mind has been going in lots and lots of circles.
Why?
I’ve been thinking about the weather and I’m getting tired of all the snow and cold. Did you watch all those flakes falling down Monday night? I’m glad Mom got home before it got bad.
I know Mom is not real happy with winter. Even though this has been a really mild winter for this area, all the gray days make us feel sad. At least now when the sun shines it bounces off all that fresh white snow and that makes us happy.
Yeah………as long as we’re on the inside looking out!
I guess so. What else is on your mind?
Ya’ know when Mom was talking about those Halloween Goblins in her blood?
You have nothing to worry about ‘cuz she said they are still doing good.
Yes, but she said now she doesn’t have enough iron. I’ve been looking for nails for her to chew on and I can’t find any.
Steinbeck…..nobody mailed us nails! You have to learn to relax a little. You don’t need to worry so much about all of us. You and I are taking good care of Mom and she knows it.
But what about what happened at work last week?
Well, we couldn’t do anything to protect her from that but she’s fine now.
**Mom inserts here: The boys are talking about when I was ready to leave work on Friday and start my weekend. The elevator had just arrived when all the alarms started going off and we were told to exit the building and not use the elevators. I knew this wasn’t a drill but I really did want to take the elevator. I didn’t. I walked (or hobbled) down eight flights of stairs and out into the cold night. Turns out a pipe burst in the lobby area of our building and there was water everywhere. It made quite a mess and they are still working on getting it cleaned up. As for me, I spent a very painful weekend dealing with my knees and ankle. Both knees are fake and usually don’t bother me. My ankle has a triple fusion and needs to be replaced so it bothers me all the time. It was much worse after all those stairs. However, I have recovered.
I guess you’re right. Do you think Mom has left some treats out for us? Oh………….and what about my story?????
A very strange thing happened over the weekend. It happened briefly on Saturday but happened again almost all day on Sunday.
We had a bright light in the sky!!!
We haven’t seen that bright light in days and days and days………… Well, you get it.
Still, I knew exactly what to do! I plopped myself down in the biggest sun puddle I could find and I flashed my sparkly green eyes at Mom to let her know that I was very happy. Mom said that she liked how my black whiskers showed up in the photo. However, she didn’t like my messy bib so I did get a brushing later.
I was busy telling the Cookie Jar Kitties that they should get in the sun puddles, but they weren’t moving. Oh, and I also got a brushing even though my bib wasn’t messy.
Mom is actually the one who needed instructions on what to do when the sun shines.
She said she needed to take a class on how to put on sunglasses.
We haven’t done this for a long time so we’re kind of rusty.
Hey…….you’re black and white. I’m rusty!!!
Sigh……I always get interrupted. At any rate, here is our Caturday Art entry for the day. We hope you like it.
Here’s the original:
As you can see, I was sort of yelling. I was trying to tell Mom that Steinbeck was going to wash my face again. I already washed it so I didn’t need his help/
But I saw a spot on your face that you missed!
Check out the other art that our friends did today. Just click on the box.
Long ago and far away we had a human who listened to us and wrote down what we were saying……….and/or thinking.
What do you mean? Mom’s still here.
Yes, but she sure has gotten lazy in her old age.
Well, it’s true that she doesn’t spend as much time playing with us as we would like…….and sometimes our supper is late ‘cuz she’s stuck at that work place.
That’s it! The work place thing. It’s taking all of her energy!!!
Wonder if we could do anything to help.
Mom doesn’t mumble things about us getting jobs whenever she has to go buy our foodies.
I don’t want to get a job. It’s cold outside and I don’t want to go there. Besides, I know she wouldn’t let us drive her car.
Of course not……..we can’t even see over the dashboard and I’m not real sure which pedal is which and how long you have to hold them down.
Could we get one of those jobs where you do things at home on the computer?
She’s not going to leave the computer on for us. She doesn’t now and I don’t see her changing her tune about that at all.
She’s singing??? I know she keeps practicing to sing.
Sigh…………
If I could figure out how to back into this box, I would be a cute model!
And if I could figure out how to sleep in this bed, I would be a good model.
Give it up Hemingway. I make a better model in the bed.
TwoCatsViews 