Friday 11 March 2016

The consultant doctor in rehabilitation

is Indian. She is very nice and very kind - which is just as well because the Senior Cat has great difficulty in understanding what she is saying. 
She has an accent and she speaks rather quickly.
It is just as well Middle Cat and I prowled in at the same time as
she arrived to "assess" the Senior Cat. Rather than be worried about "failing" in front of two of his children the Senior Cat was more relaxed. We were there if he didn't understand what she was saying.  Even so it was stressful.
I have seen these tests done before. So has Middle Cat. Up until banging his head the Senior Cat has  sailed through them and, although a little slower yesterday, he still managed to do all but one of them - oh and he had no idea what the date was but then he almost never knows because it is something he doesn't bother with. I wasn't too concerned about that. He knew the day, the month, the year and plenty more beside. He can spell "world" backwards... probably faster than I can.
But it was still stressful. Middle Cat explained how she, in the nicest possible way, calls the Senior Cat a "motor moron". He is, to put it simply, uncoordinated - although not as uncoordinated as I am.
I could see he was getting rather stressed at the end of the session. The consultant could too. She said they would do some more the following day. 
I looked at the consultant again, judged she might be willing to "waste" a minute or so and passed over one of the two packs of playing cards the Senior Cat  had asked me to bring.
     "Why don't you show her you can do something she can't do? "
He gave me a wicked little smile,  took the cards, went into his "magician" mode. The "patter" came out. He manipulated the cards with no problems. He had her participate. He fooled her with a lovely piece of "misdirection" and she looked genuinely startled by the result.  Then she looked at me and Middle Cat as if to say...
"Well if he can still do that he's not doing badly."
He has a way to go yet because he has actually got a small crack in his skull. There was a little more damage than all of us first thought but he's recovering. 
Hopefully he will be getting under my paws again soon. 

5 comments:

southern gal said...

So relieved to read this! Thinking of you dealing with all of this. Good wishes that his recovery continues onward!
,

catdownunder said...

thanks very much - it's so nice having people care enough to comment

jeanfromcornwall said...

Oh, roll on the day when he is once more cluttering up the home!
The fact that he gave you a wicked little smile tells the true story.

Allison said...

What wonderful news! We're all looking forward to having our Senior Cat home again.

catdownunder said...

I hope it does Jean - although he is still a bit slow off the mark. Allison I want him back under my paw!