Kimchi, not for me

I'm sure I thought about it, but only tonight when I started to tell Bethany this story on the phone did it really occur to me. I said, "So I took Claude to get declawed.....wait a minute...." and then got off track while I thought about the irony of it all.

Anyway, Claude is no longer so (clawed, that is) and he also got neutered today (on an aside, I'll never understand why so many men, as in male humans, take that so personally). It's been quite the day for him. It was chilly and raining this morning, and the poor cat nearly has panic attacks when he's outside of my apartment. So being in a kennel thrown about in the rain wasn't all that great for him. He was making that yowling noise he does so well, which nearly got me thrown out of the cab (I didn't wait to make sure the cat could come cause I know most Koreans don't like cats, I just threw the kennel in, got in, and confidently gave him directions as if I had no doubt he would follow them...the act worked). When I got to the vet I became quite sad because of his pathetic (and futile) grabbing at the air through the kennel door trying to keep me close to him. I told the doctor to take good care of him, and his parting words to me were, "Well, it's a very dangerous and painful surgery!" (Maybe he's a vet cause he didn't have the bedside manner to be a human doc?) Well that worried me slightly. He said he would call me after the surgery, but when I got to work I realized the battery in my cell was dead, so I had a Korean teacher call and tell him I'd call. When I did call in between classes, I heard him answer the phone in Korean, followed by a very loud yowl. I identified myself and asked how Claude was. The doctor said, "Claude is recovering. He's..... (long pause here)......very angry." Then he told me to come visit at 8:00 - I ended up bringing him home tonight (much to the relief of the vet, I think) and he's been lolling about mostly unconscious since then. Banfield used surgical glue instead of stitches on spays, neuters, and declaws, but they do stitches here. He's just having a rough go of it. He's in an e-collar (lampshade collar), or at least he's supposed to be. I've got it off of him right now, so long as he's in my lap and I'm watching him close. He's yet to really regain control of his bladder, but I'm keeping him wrapped up in either towels or old sheets, so it's not a problem.

And Haley, this part is mostly for you, but I realized when I called the vet's office today that I've become that girl. The girl you dread seeing coming in the door. The girl who is quite convinced that her pets are angelic (and may very well be at home, as mine mostly are) but are absolute devils once in a veterinary hospital. When Daive had her fractured nail removed, they put a muzzle on her (they made me do that part, actually) and then put an e-collar on her to make sure she wouldn't bite them, though she's not a biter at all. And Claude...the vet was a little too pleased to see him go. Whatever...it's kinda a relief to be on this side of the that girl issue.

And could sleeping with my window open at night be at all responsible for me not only not getting better, but getting sicker and sicker? The window is right over my head...and it's cool here at night. I'm just sick of being sick, and can't make up my mind. Given that it's Seoul air, it can't be altogether healthy...but it's so much nicer than sleeping with the A/C on...but could it be a contributing factor to the not-getting-better-edness? Your thoughts, please.

PS - When picking Claude up from the vet tonight, the doctor said something in a characteristically Korean way that made me laugh. I pointed out that Claude had just urinated on the exam table, and the doc was quite adamant about him not getting his front paws wet. I held his front half up while the doctor wiped up the mess and cleaned him up. He then said, "He's had a stressful day, you know." I'm sorry if this is considered crude here, but having the top joints of your hand (hand-equivalent, anyway) cut off and your testicles surgically removed - that's got to qualify as way worse than simply a stressful day. That's far worse than a papercut, worse even than when lunch at work is rice with octopus in it. That's a significantly and genuinely horrid day. And so pee away, my furry friend...you've earned it.