It feels like limbo

It feels like limbo.

I’ve been unwell for almost 5 days now. It snuck up on me -that general sense of all not being right followed by stomach cramps.  The sign that really did it was not feeling like a glass of wine. Day one, I just went about my normal business. Day two happened and I spent more time on the couch with my pussy cats. One in particular loves a chance to snuggle in and I rarely fight being cat-trapped.

Lafayette was a stray cat who just turned up one day at my brother’s farm in the Yarra Valley. My nephews and niece begged their parents to keep her and so she was added to the menagerie without much fuss. She was a very self-sufficient cat who more or less lived outside and ate whatever she caught. As they were moving to suburbia and the parents were allergic to cats, she came to live with us at my youngest daughter’s insistence.

We had already rescued a neurotic cat that we re-named Coco, so one more just moved me closer to crazy cat lady status.  My two cats are chalk and cheese. Coco is fine featured with medium grey hair. She does nap during the day so she’s got all her energy to meow at the top of her lungs and prowl the top of my bed-head at night. I’ve tried poking her during the day to keep her awake but she’s adept at hiding in new places where I have trouble locating her. Princess Cocolicious won’t eat just anything. She prefers her raw meat thinly sliced and in top condition. Coco prefers to traverse the room along walls and furniture, so her feet don’t touch the ground. She’s quite athletic, even figuring out how to jump up and open closed doors. She’ll open the offending door only to walk in the room, do a circuit and saunter straight out again.

Lafayette is a large boned tortoiseshell-coloured cat who will eat anything she can get her mouth to. Her preference is for stinky old prawn heads or sardine frames. If I leave any indoor pot plants on the floor, she will use them instead of the kitty litter. You can take the girl out of the country but.. you know the rest. Lafayette will and does snooze anywhere at any time. Lafayette isn’t much of a jumper or a talker. She’s more of a lover not a fighter. She took a liking to the neighbours behind us at our last place. I actually think they were sad to see us move only due to her adoring demeanour.

Day three and things had started to go downhill so I got myself off to the doctor. Many minutes wasted in the waiting room (don’t get me started on that) and I finally got my allotted slot. A few questions, some poking and prodding and it seems I have diverticulitis. Essentially I have inflammation of some bits of my colon which then causes pain and disturbance of the bowel function.  I happen to already know what this is as my partner has experienced this before. So antibiotics dispensed and let me get on the wellness train.

I’m not great at being ill. I doubt many people are but let’s just say that I’m not known for my stoicism. I’m impatient. I’m easily bored. I’m quick to tell people how I feel without them even asking. So today is day five and I’m at that stage where I’m no longer experiencing the cramps and the antibiotics have started to kick in. I’m bored, even with the binge-watching opportunities Netflix provides. As the condition is gastro-intestinal in nature, I have to watch what I eat and there’s no alcohol allowed. As mentioned before, this is how I know I’m ill cause I don’t even feel like any. My abdomen is very tender so every movement elicits a moan at which my partner turns around to check that I’m okay. He is generally a great nurse due to his caring, thoughtful personality but if he is going to wear the skimpy outfit then he really needs to shave his legs.