CARter 54, Where Are You?

Hi.  I'm Selina.  Remember me?  The One-Eyed Thang?

Yes, it's been THAT long.  And there's been a lot of water under the bridge, too.

I will start by asking how all of you are & saying that I've missed telling you what I'm doing in North Carolina these days.  Summer has gone and fall is upon us.  Mom&DadKatt are looking forward to "sweater weather"; we kitties, meanwhile, are just glad they can still open the windows for us to work on our tans in the warm fall sunshine.  It must be working - see how shiny my coat is?

Everyone here is fine.  Rachel's all up in everyone's business and I have to slap her around sometimes.  Ray's polishing his career as a con artiste extraordinaire.  Morticia thinks they are both crazy and has found a dark spot behind the pawrents' closet door where she hides and snoozes during the mornings.  Peppers and Sasha clamor constantly to be put on the bathroom sink for water ... Boudicca has become a "professional speedbump" (believe me - she left the ranks of "amateur speedbump" some time ago) and busies herself finding places to lie where she's right smack-dab in the path of the pawrents ... and sometimes in the path of other kittehs!  Hee hee.  The funny thing is, once I used to be scared of her.  We've mellowed in our relationship now to the point where I'll go up to her and coyly turn around and brush her with my side, tail in the air, like, "Catch THIS action, honeybun!"  (I do it to Peppers, too ... just to confuse him.)

So, while we kittehs aren't causing too much drama lately, the pawrents have been making up for our slackness in that area.

As many of you know, my DadKatt was in a car accident on Sept. 13.  It was late, about 1:30 AM, and Mom&DadKatt were driving separately from Winston-Salem NC, having had dinner with friends there and just hanging out.  He was ahead of mom who just figured she'd get home a little later than he did.  Later she figured that the accident (which happened only about 8 miles from home) had already happened when she passed the place where it had occurred and she passed there between the accident and when the ambulance/state trooper arrived at the scene.  It was dark, late, she passed 2, maybe 3, cars going the other way on the two-lane road but that was it.

Meanwhile, thinking he was home, she pulled into the driveway - no DadKatt.  Well, he'll be along shortly like he usually is when they caravan like that.  She came in & fed us, scooped our boxes and put her PJs on ... and looked at the clock.  It was 3:30 AM.  45 minutes had gone by since she'd gotten home and ... no DadKatt.

Long story short, she called 911 and got patched in to the trooper that had handled the scene.  He of course could not go into detail other than to say there'd been an accident and that the car was "basically totaled".  He told MomKatt what hospital DadKatt was in and she threw on clothes and took off.  Later she said that was the longest drive from Reidsville to Greensboro she'd ever taken.  Our Aunt MaryLee talked to her nearly the whole way there to keep her calm and DadKatt was in the trauma room, looking quite the mess.

3 broken ribs on the left side.  Partially collapsed lung.  One fractured shoulder blade - also on the left.  A nasty long gash on his right shin.  Eyes so black he looked either like a raccoon or an extra in a "Dracula" remake.  Various cuts, bruises and scrapes.  And very HEAVILY sedated.

The best they can figure, he fell asleep at the wheel, then went left of center, drove on the grass for about 750 feet, then hit the outskirts of a tobacco field, which destabilzed the car.  He rolled the car counterclockwise about 3-4 times, landing upright.  Now, this is a MINI Cooper convertible - and it saved his life.  He was belted in, of course, and when the ambulance got there, they had to cut him out of the car and peel back the cloth top of the car (whose name was Max Headroom).

Max is totaled of course.  Here are a few shots of him that MomKatt took at the wrecker's a few days later.

Driver's side:  the tires are the left front and the right rear, with accompanying struts/suspension parts.

Backseat:
 

Amazing that that bar at the top of the windshild didn't break!  MINIs are tough cars - even the convertibles!
 

Passenger side:
 

Left side, back further.

DadKatt was in the hospital until the 17th.  He's VERY lucky to be alive.  It could have been SO much worse.  MomKatt was afraid she was going to be a widow at age 49 - WAY too young for that to happen yet.  :(  And we were going to be half-orphans!

He's on short-term disability while his ribs, shoulder and body in general heal.  To date, he can lift his left arm, slightly, and he tires easily because of the broken bones and the effects of the partially collapsed lung.  But he put on socks and shoes yesterday without MomKatt's help.  He's been pretty doped up, too, so she's been busy taking care of him.  We have also been helping, lending our support and brushing up on non-injured parts of him.

He wants another MINI!  You can't tell us that MINIs are not safe.  Being a 2006 model, they weren't equipped with side airbags - just the front air bags.  Versions made AFTER 2006 have all-around airbags.  DadKatt's did not deploy because he rolled just right and a front collision didn't happen.

We're also lucky that no one else was involved or hurt, and no property (other than Max) was damaged.

So.  He recuperates.  He's on short-term disability until 10/19.  If he needs more, the doctor will write a note or something.  MomKatt's taking time off from work (advanced leave!) to shuttle him to doctor's appointments, etc. because he can't drive being on Oxycodone (sp?)  She's wearing his wedding ring, and has been since all this happened, because his left hand's been so swollen they had to almost cut it off from his ring finger on his left hand.  The nurse got under it with some lube and a bendy-straw and got it off!  MomKatt said it was the damndest thing she'd ever seen!

I'll close now, only to say THANK YOU to all who read Brian's post about these events (we still haven't seen it yet) for your support and kind words and purrs.  He lived through it, thank Bast.

We're just glad to have him home!

Tomorrow I'll tell about MomKatt's new business venture!

Keep your head low and your powder dry ... 

Purrz!
Selina