This beautiful, brave boy’s physical health is improving, though it’s slow going. The wound is still open, and the abscess oozes off and on. It’s testing my abilities (or lack thereof) as a caretaker – I almost get sick when treating him.
But oh my – what a difference in his emotional health! Since I wrote this last post, he has lost the last of his fear of me (or has forgiven me for this laundry list of indignities he’s had to tolerate in the last month) and has become quite the lover boy. Two days ago, as I lay down on the cushion in the bathroom, he got up on wobbly legs and came over to me, circled, and lay down in the crook of my arm! I was stunned. But I shouldn’t be. Mike is showing himself to be the ultimate survivor, and despite his shyness, has the heart of a lion.
Dr. Sue has come twice since I brought him home, to change his bandage and drain his abscess. When she manhandles him (albeit with patience and kindness), he just goes limp, as if knowing she has the upper hand. It’s kind of hilarious and poignant to see.
This last time, she had to put a collar on him because he would lick his wounds so incessantly that he would remove bandaging, stitching and even a catheter. Despite his ongoing medical ordeal – and perhaps because of his new superhero cape – he’s starting to look less ragged and more like the aristocrat he was born to be. 😉
His face is still a little lopsided, and when he meows, his face twitches a little. (Not sure what that’s from – hopefully not pain.) But he is blossoming into better form, as his wounds continue to heal. Every day he is a lesson to me in perseverance and open-heartedness – two qualities I’m just now learning, even at this antique age. Thanks, Saint Francis, for this opportunity.