Friday night my friend from Oyama Senmaida, Mai-kun, trotted over to 555 and tried to enter the cat door. I am sure he wanted a snack and cuddles, but Fritter on the inside of the door was having none of it. They were both growling and angry.

I ran outside to send Mai home. He stopped growling and let me pet him, but when I tried to encourage him to leave he bit me hard. Really hard. It was quite traumatic for both of us.

Tod arrived home a few minutes later to my panicked attempts to find Fritter, Beryl and Maura while keeping an eye on Mai-kun now howling in the barn, and texting with the Senmaida crew to see if they could come get Mai safely home. I was in shock and bleeding everywhere I went.

Of course it all happened after Kamogawa Kokuho Municipal Hospital, our local clinic, was closed for the night so Tod helped me disinfect and bundle up the wound. He drove me to Kokuho first thing on Saturday morning and I got everything checked and a prescription for two antibiotics from Dr. Ishii, who had treated my tick bite earlier this year.

But it wasn’t quite enough. By Monday morning, my hand was red and puffed like a strawberry marshmallow. Dr. Komeii told me the tendons were inflamed. If they didn’t resolve, I’d need surgery. No. No. No.

So I’ve been back and forth to the doctor every day for extra antibiotics, bloodwork, wound irrigation, and drains to avoid an abscess and surgery.

It’s getting better. Yesterday I did some work at the computer. Today I drove myself to the hospital. I have to be careful to not overdo it, so after this blog post I will take a break from typing and using the mouse, which stresses the injury.

I have two more days of appointments with Dr. Komeii and Dr. Ishii and then another week of antibiotics. Looks like I am out of danger of surgery. Whew.