Tegaderm bandages are actually IV dressings. I guess some people also use them to cover up newly received tattoos. In theory they work well for covering a wound. The problem though is that they are sticky and costly. The vet was charging me 80 cents for each one and in the early days of Esmé's return it would take at least 3-4 tegaderm's to cover his wounds. And that's assuming they were applied quickly and correctly. Often, while trying to apply one, they would get messed up and had to be discarded. Sometimes Esmé would try to reach that area with his mouth and the edge of the victorian collar would dislodge the bandages.

Ideally at least two people would be involved with the applying of the tegaderms. But I had no roommates and I didn't want to burden people with coming over every single day to help hold a cat (or I would ask someone to come over and they'd never appear). Sometime I'd get help, but for the most part I tried applying them on my own. This would often make me nuts. If Esmé was a child perhaps I could have explained what I was doing. But he was a cat and just knew that someone was messing with his wound. One time I became so frustrated with getting the bandages on correctly that I kicked in a small portion of my wall. It's the only time I've kicked in a wall.

For the first month back home he was required to take five pills a day and I initially dreaded this as well. If I was going to do the typical procedure of holding the cat's head back with one hand and tossing the pill into the mouth with the other hand, then I would need to remove the lampshade collar. And removing the collar means that you have to try to get it back on him later. Amazingly enough though, I discovered that I could surround a pill with a piece of a Pounce treat, toss him about 5 of the treats, and watch his nibble it all up without spitting out the pill. It took a very long time before he seemed to catch on to this trick.

There was also an allergy problem. I think I have always been slightly allergic to some cats. But after being around the cat for awhile, I'll get used to their dander and the allergy will disappear. When Esmé was re-introduced to my apartment after being away for a month, I found myself sneezing again. And the recovering Esmé tended to sleep against my face whenver I was in bed, which caused me to have irritated eyes for weeks.

Another small amount of frustration came about from me being envious of the cat. He'd hop on my chest while I would be in bed and he'd lean against my head and start purring away. I knew he was probably much happier sitting there instead of being in a vet cage. But it made me want to have the opportunity to hop onto a chest and curl up. And that wasn't going to happen for a long time.

In mid-February (a little over a month after Esmé returned from his vet stay), I had to deal with two more cat situations. Kenny and Cubie were two cats I grew up with from when I was about 12 to when I left my parents' house at age 18. (Kenny, despite having a male name, was the mother of Cubie.) Both cats were put to sleep a few weeks apart from each other that February. One had a tumor in her jaw, the other had cancer in her face. I learned all of the details via the telephone - since I had been taking care of Esmé I didn't get to visit Kenny and Cubie during their last few months.

So anyhow, for awhile Esmé was a calmer cat - sitting on the bed and computer monitor, not lashing out when touched. During the first week back he was constantly bumping into stuff since he had the lampshade collar on. But as time went on though he went back to his former self.

The skin of cats heals quickly and after about a month of being back his hole had shrunk to less than half of its maximum size. And after a little over two months it was slightly larger than a quarter. I probably should have taken more photos of the wound's progress as it became smaller and smaller but for some reason I didn't.

About three months after being released from the vets he was pretty normal again. No hole, no funny collar. I didn't let him outside though (or much, anyways). Although in another six months he would be outside all the time.

Next: The Farm

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