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This was a Scrapworks feature I did for RMH. Most everything is Scrapworks except the hinges which are Daisy D's and the Black Bazzill cardstock.


Journaling is hidden:


November 30th, 2002 started out as any typical day. Baxter had gone outside which was not unusual. What was unusual was that he did not come home that night. It was a cold night and he hated being outside over night when it was cold. He also didn’t have any food outside so he would always come home to eat. I called for him a few times before I went to bed and a few more times throughout the night. When he wasn’t at the door in the morning, I KNEW something was very wrong. I called for him again and looked around the backyard. I remembered that he sometimes would sleep in the dog house when it was chilly to keep warm so I decided to take a look. I was horrified to discover my Baxter kitty covered in blood lying in the dog house. As soon as he saw me, he began meowing. (It turned out he was temporarily deaf so he was not able to hear my calls. I have no idea how long he had been in there.) He was not a pretty sight! I scooped him up and placed him in his cat carrier right away.
Since I work in a veterinary hospital, I called my boss at home. His phone was busy, so I decided to try calling the hospital just to see if he was possibly there. As luck would have it he was! (It was a Sunday so I got very lucky! If he had not been reachable I would have had to take Baxter to an emergency hospital and the bill would have been too large for us to afford. Our only option would have been euthanasia.) I informed him that I suspected Baxter had been hit by a car and that I was on my way in. I honestly didn’t think that I would ever be bringing my kitty home again. I had Rick say goodbye just in case I had to make the decision to euthanize him.
When I arrived at the hospital my boss took one look at Baxter and said he was really messed up. I was aware of this since I couldn’t see half of his jaw, or one of his eyes. Amazingly I was holding it together quite well. We took a couple of quick x-rays to make sure there were no internal injuries we needed to be worried about. Thankfully there were none! All of his damage was to his face. His beautiful, sweet face!! We proceeded to place an IV catheter and then we put him under anesthesia to clean him up and figure out the extent of his injuries.
His jaw was broken in a couple of different places, and several of his teeth needed to be pulled. He only has a couple of teeth remaining on the right side of his mouth, and due to the shift in his jaw his mouth does not quite close all the way now. He also had some other broken bones in his face that had to just heal on their own. His left eye was severely damaged but did not have to be removed. He can no longer see out of that eye and his pupil is always fully dilated. It also weeps pretty much all the time. His right ear was torn away from his scalp so it droops a little and he can no longer hear out of that ear. I finally broke down in tears about half way through his surgery to repair his jaw. At that point I was pretty sure he would make it through everything so I felt very relieved.
His recovery was long and hard for both of us! He ended up having three separate surgeries to repair his jaw. He really looked horrible for A LONG time! Due to his facial injuries, he was temporarily not able to smell. Between not being able to smell and his jaw injury he had absolutely no interest in food. He refused to eat no matter what, so we ended up shaving his neck and placing a feeding tube in him. He received all his medications and his meals through this tube. After nearly a month he started eating on his own. It was a happy and emotional day for me. If I did not work at a veterinary hospital, Baxter would not even be around today! There is no way we could have afforded to keep him in the hospital for as long as it took for him to get better. He finally came home on Christmas Eve. It was a Christmas I will never forget! It was so nice to have our family all back together again!
For some time after he came home he would scratch himself raw around his neck and ears due to the nerve damage he sustained. However, as you can see now besides a few cosmetic flaws he looks pretty good. He has gained back all the weight he lost and all of his hair has grown back. If anything he is even sweeter now than he was before the accident. He is no longer as shy about strangers that come to visit as he used to be. He is always by my side or in my lap. He is my kitty boy and I love him very much! Most people see him and think he looks horrible, some have even said we should put him out of his misery. However, I can tell you that he is not in any pain and is a very happy, normal kitty. I think his differences make him even more adorable, and you just can’t help but fall in love with his sweet and loving personality. He is a one of a kind, and I feel lucky that he is mine!


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