Nursing with Norma – October 2020

Hello again Friends!

Apologies for the late blog…. I have had some technical difficulties and my family have found it challenging to coordinate a time to sit down and type for me…. Apparently, this is my fault as I spend “too much time sleeping!”. How Rude!!

I have seen quite a few interesting cases over the past month- Springtime always throws us a very mixed bag!

As well as the usual Paralysis Tick, Bee sting and Snake bite patients (they are certainly out-and-about), we have also seen an increase of native animals coming through our doors. We were lucky to have a gorgeous young Kingfisher bird, a Jacky Lizard and a Kookaburra in this week! We have also had lots of Blue-tongue Lizards, Kangaroos, Long-neck Turtles and some bizarre looking Plover babies. Unfortunately, because cats do not have particularly good colour vision, I don’t really get to appreciate the vibrancy of our wildlife- but I do really like watching them and listening to their unusual squawks, chirps, hissing and scurrying (and I especially love that the Turtles always look like they are smiling!!

I also understand that not all our native animals can be totally trusted, so I do keep a safe distance……most of the time!! Haha! I am happy to report they will be re-release back into the area (after a bit of rest and recovery time) soon!

In other exciting news, Dr Hamish has upgraded the Endoscope unit! Our old one was on its last legs (as they are extremely fragile and finding replacement parts on an older unit was proving to be impossible)! We even got to have a training session via “ZOOM”…… which initially I though meant that the staff would be learning whilst running frantically around the building… but it was a presentation on a computer screen coming to us from Melbourne!! HAHAHA.

The Endoscope has loads of cool functions and means that we can take a really close look at the internal organs, take biopsies and sometimes even retrieve objects that have been eaten!!! The team have been making good use of this new toy and the nurses found the Kangaroo scope quite interesting to watch!

Speaking of things that were fun to watch, the nurses are insisting that I tell you about the most embarrassing thing that has ever, EVER happened to me……(well, other than the time I was playing in my cat tunnel and it rolled off the table with me still inside !). And it is at moments like this that I would like to point out just how unfair it is that I am not COMPLETELY in control of this computer keyboard….

I had been playing with a collection of brand new cat toys all day (under careful supervision) and was enjoying making a big mess- insisting on removing each toy from the bag…knocking it onto the floor… “losing” them under the desk…. And impatiently waiting for one of my humans to pick them all up again (apparently it is dangerous to leave 10 rubber balls on the floor in the hallway).

Seeing as there is no one to contradict my version of events, I’m going to tell you that the bag of toys simply jumped off the table of its own accord and attempted to SWALLOW ME WHOLE!!!!

Because I am an excellent example of a cat, my ninja skills kicked in……and I took off like a rocket-trying desperately to escape the clutches of the evil toy bag.

Dear readers, it was the most sprinting I have ever done!! I raced up the hallway… losing the coloured ribbons on the first bend…. I sent the feathers and glitter flying all the way through the kitchen and the meeting room. I lost every one of the rubber balls as I took a flying leap down the stairs, but I was still trapped!!! I navigated- at full speed- through the hospital despite my eyes still being covered!! The last of the stuffed toys fell out as I hurdled over the pathology desk!!!

I finally tore out of the bag as I skidded round the corner in the laundry and dramatically dived into the scrub top cupboard to safety!!! Phew!!

As I sat in the cupboard, snuggled up to Dr Hamish’s overalls for comfort, I heard a chorus of laughter coming from the staff who had witnessed my terrifying (yet extremely athletic) narrow escape. They were apparently also very worried that I might have hurt myself and the whole team followed to check on me. They enticed me out of the cupboard with hot roast chicken and I did receive loads of cuddles afterwards. So, with no injuries to report…other than my pride taking a huge hit…. I have decided that exercise isn’t that bad after all.

Well, that’s probably enough from me for now, it’s time for my mid-morning sleep but someone has put all of my toys into the “in-tray” I usually nap on…. Obviously, I’ll have to knock them onto the floor first.

Until next time,

Norma xx