Anubis, my son’s giant black cat, has had a cold. Even though he only touches the kittens when batting them away, he has passed it on.
Thoth (my little black cat) is sneezing quite a lot.
This is unfortunate, since he frequently sleeps on or near my face.
Thoth, asleep, with my chin in his mouth.
This morning, he woke me up by sneezing directly into my mouth.
So that was the start of the day, followed by an awareness of pain on the left side of my back, which isn’t unusual–it’s been acting up.
I checked the clock, discovering it was one minute after I was supposed to be at my allergy shot appointment.
(I’m not usually the type to sleep in, so I hadn’t thought to set the alarm.)
I ran into the bathroom, to pee and change.
My back went out in between the two.
So I ended up at my appointment, limping, twenty minutes late, and still in my pajamas.
While my shot nurse was injecting me (it’s four vials every two weeks–it takes a while), we discussed my problem. Then she called my GP’s PA, upstairs.
Luckily, I’m around there so often that everyone knows my name and the things my body gets up to.
My GP said he would fit me in in an hour.
I went home so the boy could drive me back (I’m not allowed to drive after a back pain shot).
On the way, we discussed the morning and the unliklihood of my getting a cold from the a cat.
“But this is how bird flus and swine flus start.”
I decided that we should definitely call it the Anubis plague if it does happen.
The boy said I should ask the doctor about it, but we had other things to discuss.
Doc: How did you throw it out?
Me: Trying to change into big girl pants.
Doc: Yeah. Each time I throw my back out, I try not to repeat that motion.
Me: I have to change into big girl pants again someday, Paul.
Doc: That’s true. One time, I was in the closet and I [starts bending down] . . . I should not act this out.
Me: Probably not.
Doc: I thought about just letting [the shot nurse] give you the meds cause I was busy, but then I thought that was irresponsible, but now that I’m with you, saying it out loud, I realize I should have just let her give you the shot.
Me: Probably.
So now I’m home, on my back.
A little sick black kitten is cuddled up with me, sleeping on my neck.
And sneezing on my face.
