tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post8751518312047574746..comments2023-10-21T11:44:45.588+01:00Comments on ResidentAlien: Cat ScratchMary Witzlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06458299046574564155noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-10414893028270299362009-11-13T20:00:13.131+00:002009-11-13T20:00:13.131+00:00Hello Mary, just stopping by to thank your for you...Hello Mary, just stopping by to thank your for your support at Verla Kay. It's a spotted turtle with an antennae. Doing some field work with species at risk in Ontario. I do love frogs too!TerryLynnJohnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08380207155608982319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-77889817187626719042009-11-13T19:50:17.132+00:002009-11-13T19:50:17.132+00:00It reminded me of that scene in Beetle Juice, when...It reminded me of that scene in Beetle Juice, when he's in the waiting room. What a hodge podge of people. Bet you were glad to get home.Kappa no Hehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00909580462578058631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-85700117623782408162009-11-13T19:14:53.450+00:002009-11-13T19:14:53.450+00:00Laura -- I had a friend who had cat scratch diseas...Laura -- I had a friend who had cat scratch disease once. I know it's easier to get from kittens than cats, and especially kittens with fleas. But in the long run, I'd rather take the risk of cat scratch disease to living without cats, but you are right: NOTHING could be as scary as waiting to hear whether your child has lymphoma. I'm so glad your son was okay!<br /><br />Helen -- If you're good enough to come and read the bits of trivia I keep posting here, I'll be more than happy to write them. <br /><br />As for that man's hand, I was desperate to know how that had happened to him. What could he have touched that might have made his hand do that? I'm guessing a spider or a wasp.<br /><br />Charlie -- I've got to say that given how many truly deserving people were inn the waiting room, I got seen very quickly. I've spent whole days in Japanese and American emergency rooms, and an unpleasant hour in a Mexican emergency room once. And can you imagine an American doctor serving as his own receptionist? That was the most amazing thing.<br /><br />Debra -- I'm glad so many people have reassured me about cat scratches: I felt like such an idiot getting seen for something so trifling.<br /><br />The emergency room wasn't spotlessly white, but the good thing was that the needle was clean. That was VERY reassuring.Mary Witzlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06458299046574564155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-25714305329239023622009-11-13T03:35:25.434+00:002009-11-13T03:35:25.434+00:00The imagery of the less than immaculate emergency ...The imagery of the less than immaculate emergency room is perfect, Mary. And the others are right, cat scratches can be extremely dangerous.<br />So glad it all worked out :-)debrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17676300309029588465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-13632867995113150882009-11-12T18:10:38.219+00:002009-11-12T18:10:38.219+00:00Not quite like the American hospital I've &quo...Not quite like the American hospital I've "visited." Triage is done fairly quickly upon walking (or crawling) in, and then you wait for 94 hours to see a doctor--who may or may not speak Turkish.Charliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00722567671925063706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-4800983204828433612009-11-12T04:59:42.865+00:002009-11-12T04:59:42.865+00:00Aah Mary - you had me sniggering (I was embarassed...Aah Mary - you had me sniggering (I was embarassed for you) and snorting in horror. A veritable mess of animal noises - thankyou very much. I HAVE to know what was wrong with that man's hand! I can picture it puffed up like an over-ripe watermelon!! Could you please continue to have accidents (just small ones) so that you can keep visiting the emergency clinic, and keep writing about it. That would be very decent of you.....Helenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00693689301853592917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-37213251842773042732009-11-12T02:07:47.753+00:002009-11-12T02:07:47.753+00:00I'm so not a good sport about hospital stories...I'm so not a good sport about hospital stories and yours almost had me putting my head between my knees! <br />Deep cat scratches are not to be messed with! You could have ended up like the guy with the gross hand. My son had cat scratch disease but until they figured out what it was (there is no test, just process of elimination) he had to be tested for lymphoma. That was one of the scariest things I've ever gone through.laurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17174697892947430149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-75971990213123038762009-11-11T19:10:43.072+00:002009-11-11T19:10:43.072+00:00Charles -- That is a good point (and a funny one t...Charles -- That is a good point (and a funny one too!). It is entirely possible that the man with the swollen hand spotted his favorite stray tomcat on his way to work and decided to stop and have a chat and play session. And I wouldn't have wanted my hand to look like that man's... though come to think of it, it would have been an interesting talking point in class. <br /><br />Bish -- Now I'm really embarrassed: you absolutely could have done it! The worst part about going in there with a tiny cat scratch was seeing how much better I had it than most of the others. I was better dressed (and my favorite boutique is Goodwill); I had better dental hygiene, better nutrition, and (probably) better education (I knew to get a tetanus shot for a cat scratch). And everyone else there LOOKED more miserable. But the medical care I got was just fine.Mary Witzlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06458299046574564155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-85492870227668292122009-11-11T18:39:18.059+00:002009-11-11T18:39:18.059+00:00What a story. How horrifying to "see" th...What a story. How horrifying to "see" the conditions in that clinic, to feel your embarrassment. You were brave on several levels. I don't know if I could have done it.Bish Denhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13359927719391990534noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-64064495046164252692009-11-11T15:21:20.227+00:002009-11-11T15:21:20.227+00:00I suppose that experience would bring a few though...I suppose that experience would bring a few thoughts home to one. Your hand needed tending though. And if left untended you could have had a serious problem. Perhaps the guy with the swollen hand started with something that could have been easily dealt with at first but he let it get out of hand (so to speak)Charles Gramlichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02052592247572253641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-55411994257760817622009-11-11T14:26:17.657+00:002009-11-11T14:26:17.657+00:00Kristopher & Crew -- Thank you for visiting an...Kristopher & Crew -- Thank you for visiting and commenting! <br /><br />Falling into razor wire sounds a whole lot more painful to me than getting a tetanus shot, though I hope I never have to find out which hurts more. Maybe the guy getting his hand seen to in the treatment room fell onto some razor wire. Or maybe he had a close encounter with a cactus.<br /><br />Angela -- Actually, it wasn't. I once spent three hours in a hospital waiting room in Tokyo with a kid suffering from German measles who had a 104 degree temperature and a bad case of crankiness. I swear, those three hours felt like three days. <br /><br />Vijaya -- I will do ANYTHING to get out of going to the doctor. But my mother used to give graphic descriptions of an uncle who got lockjaw. That's what made me grit my teeth and go.<br /><br />Cat scratch fever? I feel so ignorant: I probably know it, but not by name!<br /><br />Adrienne -- That's what I kept telling myself. Over and over and over. <br /><br />Robert -- The cat who scratched me is boisterous and apt to get a little too excited. It was my fault: I didn't pull my hand away fast enough and he wanted me to pet a different spot. But I have had cat scratches turn bad before, so I didn't want to take any chances. I don't want to miss a single minute of my exciting English classes!<br /><br />Miss Footloose -- You HAVE to write that up! I have a feeling that if you and I met, we could keep talking for a whole day about our experiences in various countries and still be going strong. A leg fractured in three places and a little boy with meningitis trump a cat scratch and a couple of messed up hands any day!<br /><br />My husband had malaria in Africa and the consensus of most people there was that it was more of a nuisance everybody expected to get than a huge health problem. Did you ever find out if the little boy survived? Poor kid!<br /><br />Kara -- The only soothing music playing was the whine of some construction workers' Arabesque outside competing with the screams of the two spotty kids. Both were pretty bad and not relaxing at all.<br /><br />Kim -- Not sure how wonderful it was, but I had fun writing about it! I always have fun writing about stuff, so it's nice when people tell me they like reading it, true or not.<br /><br />Falak -- I never did find out what she was doing there, and I was dying to know. I'm guessing that she was with the man getting his hand treated opposite me. I was pretty curious about him too.Mary Witzlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06458299046574564155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-80726772842608756902009-11-11T12:41:47.603+00:002009-11-11T12:41:47.603+00:00Yeah cat scratches can get infectious.... So you d...Yeah cat scratches can get infectious.... So you did the right thing by going to the doc no matter how inconsequential your wound is compared to others..... By the way did you figure out what the girl with the mobile phone in hand had come for??????? Just curious!Falakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08321524864693512771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-47188896041935330532009-11-11T12:14:05.654+00:002009-11-11T12:14:05.654+00:00Ah, but if you'd left early, we'd never ha...Ah, but if you'd left early, we'd never have had this wonderful story from you, Mary :)Kim Ayreshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02656677501116622953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-43206237374524638302009-11-11T02:18:14.483+00:002009-11-11T02:18:14.483+00:00was there at least some soothing elevator musak pl...was there at least some soothing elevator musak playing? that would've calmed everyone.karahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01690274092026593186noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-75754781646811126792009-11-11T01:19:26.749+00:002009-11-11T01:19:26.749+00:00You still had to be there! But I know how your fe...You still had to be there! But I know how your felt, and it's a great story. I really could see it and feel it.<br /><br />Once in Ghana I had broken my leg in three places and the doc in the hospital emergency room had to leave me because a kid near death was brought in. The parents had thought it was "only" malaria, but it was meningitis and the doc was so upset, yelling that everybody always thinks everything was malaria and now the kid was probably going to die and he had to leave me with my broken leg to tend to him.<br /><br />I quit feeling sorry for myself instantly because well, I only had a broken leg and wasn't going to die.<br /><br />I guess I should write that up as a story for a post . . . ;)Miss Footloosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15601892611652195901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-54208764474376407382009-11-11T01:13:39.482+00:002009-11-11T01:13:39.482+00:00Vijaya is right, cat scratches can inflict serious...Vijaya is right, cat scratches can inflict serious infections. I have needed to get antibiotics when I have been a bit too vigorous roughhousing with the kitty. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.<br /><br />The ER scene you described could be found in any city in the world. Bacteria and nasty bugs know no boarders. It was wise for you to get your hand treated.Robert the Skeptichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10863488312604865183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-42836552410818266432009-11-11T00:03:02.397+00:002009-11-11T00:03:02.397+00:00Better safe(or embarrassed?)than sorry. Too bad ab...Better safe(or embarrassed?)than sorry. Too bad about the uncomfortable wait.Adriennehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05583029102450754497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-16934018675428872042009-11-10T22:18:12.895+00:002009-11-10T22:18:12.895+00:00Oh, man, I'd be deeply embarrassed too. Maybe ...Oh, man, I'd be deeply embarrassed too. Maybe this is why I instinctively try to minimize going to the Dr. <br /><br />And in my head, I'm playing Cat Scratch Fever ... hear the riff, Mary?Vijayahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07876606729146077830noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-1502139296999225632009-11-10T20:59:52.331+00:002009-11-10T20:59:52.331+00:00I bet that was the longest waiting room time in yo...I bet that was the longest waiting room time in your entire life!Angela Ackermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01808259088625142389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965824120120454342.post-37175007166808224172009-11-10T19:38:22.406+00:002009-11-10T19:38:22.406+00:00What a GREAT story! ha! I still remember hitting u...What a GREAT story! ha! I still remember hitting up the emergency room with a pile of cuts from falling into some razor wire. That Tetanus shot hurt so much more than those cuts on my arms.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05925777569861854546noreply@blogger.com