Happy Endings: The Return of Frank

Warning: This post be long, as I gave my Inner Crazy Cat Lady full rein. If you don't want to read it all, that's okay. The salient point here is that Frank is home. A little wounded and traumatized, but more or less safe and sound. Thanks to everyone who posted their prayers & sympathies!

I cried every day for two weeks. I reported Frank missing via every agency I could think of. I put up posters. I searched the woods and walked streets in our neighborhood. And I cried some more.

The first week I ended up working from home. I had tried going into the office, but I just couldn't handle being there - I was in danger of bursting into tears at any moment. I feel more grateful that ever for the ability to work from home when I need to.

This week, the second week, I managed to make it through the days at the office, but I still cried in the evenings after work. Yesterday, Thursday, was a hard day and I felt like I barely made it through. I have been veering back and forth between devastation at the realization that Frank was gone and panic at the thought that he was still out there somewhere and he needed me to find him.

I hit my limit and left work around 4:30. Being honest, I was crying in the car on the way home.

For the past two weeks, every time I arrived home I have scanned the hill and looked at the front step, hoping to see Frank. Two weeks people!

Yesterday, I pulled in and there was a big grey tabby on the front step. We fixed the cat fence on Monday, so I knew Zappa should not have been sitting on the front step, but I was afraid to believe it could be Frank, so my first reaction was to tell myself it must be Zappa. But it wasn't. I almost couldn't believe my eyes.

When I pulled the car in the driveway, Frank ran from the step to the tree by the corner of the cat fence. I jumped out of the car and went to get him. I had been quietly crying in the car driving home, but carrying Frank into the house I was out-of-control sobbing. Poor Husband. He's been living with my crying because Frank was gone for two weeks, now I come in carrying my poor mess of cat and I'm still crying. I was just overwhelmed.

A little later when I went out to bring the car in, and went down to grab the mail while I was at it, I was laughing uncontrollably. Anyone who saw me would have thought me deranged, I'm sure.

Frank was quite a mess. Wet, of course, because it had been raining for the past two days. His fur was all matted with twigs, branches and leaves stuck to it. He ticks on him. I could tell he was thinner. I wondered how I'd ever get him cleaned up, he's not one to sit through being groomed.

We watched him wandering around the house. He couldn't seem to settle. Poor Zappa was seeming quite freaked out. Then we started noticing some little smudges of blood on the floor as he walked around, so we immediately called the vet. They were pretty booked, but said if I brought Frank over they'd fit me in. I have never been so patient, sitting and waiting in a vet's office; I was just so relieved to be there with Frank.

The vet we saw was one we'd not met before, but she was wonderful. We removed a bunch of ticks. She weighed Frank and he is down to 14.3 lb from 17 lb on his last visit (I can tell both looking at him, and when I pick him up). The vet found a wound on his side, she had to shave that area to treat it and ended up shaving off a whole lot of fur on his belly and chest because it was so matted.

The vet says it looks like he got hurt in a fight, and the wound turned into an abscess. She says he would have been sick and feverish. The abscess burst, which she said is the best thing that could have happened. It looks to be healing well. She cleaned it up and gave him a shot of antibiotics plus a dose of Revolution for fleas and ticks. She thinks the wound will heal up fine, but if it's not looking better by Monday we should go back and they'll sedate him and close it up.

Back home again, Frank seems fine, though he still seems to have trouble settling. He'll curl up to sleep for 10 - 20 minutes, but then he's up looking for attention. It seems like he needs a lot of reassurance at the moment. It would appear he's been through an ordeal, so that is understandable. He kept waking us up all night long for cuddles. I think he really wants to be sure he's not alone.

Poor Zappa keeps hiding. He's been walking around for the past two weeks, meowing like he lost something, and been even more of an attention hog that usual (and that's saying something). Now Frank is home he doesn't know what to make of it. So I feel bad for him and a little worried. They've lived here together for almost 11 years, so I assume they will adjust.

I am a little apprehensive. I am so glad that Frank is home. I love these cats. But I feel like I never want to let him outside again. Husband keeps saying that we can't let him out to roam any more. So far he hasn't wanted to go out, but I don't expect that will last. If he would be content with the enclosure, that would be great, but I'm afraid he won't because he wasn't before which led to cats peeing all over the house; the only way we solved it was to let the cats have some free roaming time. Granted, they've had more that we would normally allow because of the damage to our fence over the past winter. But any free roaming at all seems like too much to me right now. We will cross that bridge when we come to it I guess.

For now I'm just grateful. I feel like I've been given my very own miracle.

Week 15: Frank Still Missing

It has not been a good week. If I start writing about it, I will write a whole bunch of sad stuff, so I won't. I'm  heartbroken.  I want my cat back. That about covers it.

Just in case someone out there is googling, and missed the ads on kijiji and Facebook:

Missing in Millidgeville, Saint John, NB

Light / silver grey / gray tabby - Maine Coon Mix - approx. 17 lbs

His name is Frank, he is usually a little wary of strangers but is a gentle, good natured cat

Please email candace@dragonrun.com

Week 14: Frank is Missing

Frank has been missing since Friday morning. Needless to say, it has not been a good weekend. Mostly I have been bawling, tramping through the woods, and watching a lot of TV because it keeps me distracted.

We have checked with the SPCA and reported him missing. I've posted an ad on kijiji which I shared on Facebook.

I know it is not unheard of for cats to go missing for several days and then come home. I just can't help thinking that if he was able to come home, he would have. Still, I can't stop staring out windows, checking the front step and the patio, looking for him to come trotting up the stairs.

Basically my heart is breaking and I'm not doing very well with anything else right now.

Week 13: Not Much

I feel like I have not much to say this week; mostly I feel like I've been off my game.

Food-wise things definitely haven't been so great and I was feeling the effects at the beginning of last week. That made it easier to want to do better, but it's always a bit harder when Husband is home. Some lessons there for both of us I think.

Any-who, that needs to be my focus right now. Eat healthy stuff, watch the portions....doesn't sound like it should be so hard, right? Ha.

Exercise is not fantastic, but not terrible. Getting in the minimum I guess. I think part of the problem is the weather turned cold again, and it's freezing in the office. Logically, I'd want to do some exercise because it would warm me up. The reality is I just want to curl up under a blanket.

I had been going to Zumba twice a week, but one of the classes got changed to Zumba Circuit which I don't enjoy as much. Honestly, I am a home body, and once I get home after working all day, I don't really want to go anywhere. I enjoy Zumba enough that I bestir myself to go. But for the rest, I have weights and lots of DVDs at home and I feel like I can get a pretty good workout on my own (or with Jackie Warner), in less time. I don't have to wait until class time, I can get to it as soon as I get home, which leaves more of my evening free. All sounds pretty good to me.

So, as I was leaving Zumba tonight, the instructor asked if she'd see me for the Circuit class on Wednesday. I said maybe, and commented that I feel like I can do that kind of workout at home just as well. She replied that I wouldn't work as hard as I would in class.

Now, I am not criticizing my instructor because she really is awesome. And I won't say it didn't cross my mind that it would probably be good to go once in a while just because they do incorporate equipment that I don't have at home (TRX, Bosu ball) and it's good to throw in some new moves now and then. But aside from that, I feel like I work pretty hard at home and it fits with schedule (or laziness) better. Granted, I have bad days where I drag myself through a workout and maybe don't put in as much effort...but I don't think being in a class would necessarily make a lot of difference if that's how I'm feeling. Maybe I'm wrong.

So this is my question to you: Do you feel you need to be in a class or have a trainer standing over you to get in a good workout? If you are working out on your own, do you still push yourself? Do you work out just as hard when no one is watching?

Weeks 11 and 12 - Finishing up March

So things have been busy. I know, nothing unusual there.

Husband finally got home - after 5 weeks - on Friday the 29 at 1 am. That weekend kind of got away from me and I never got around to posting. Husband was tired after 30 hours of travel and a 12 hour time difference, and I was tired from working all day Thursday and then staying up to drive to the airport for 1 am.

This past week things were a bit calmer at work than they have been. We're sort of entering a between projects phase at the moment. It won't last long, but I was able to take advantage on it to get back to some tasks on my to do list that got pushed aside for more critical work. It's funny how that almost feels like goofing off somehow, I think because there has been so much going on lately, I kept waiting for someone to come running in a panic, but it didn't happen and I was able to get quite a bit done.

Then Husband and I enjoyed an extra long weekend - 4 days off in a row - I love it! We've been pretty lazy. I have picked away at a few chores around the house, but mostly I've been glued to season 2 & 3 of Downton Abbey. Could not stop watching. Now that I've finished, maybe I'll actually be able to get some things done.

We had some beautiful sunny weather this weekend. The snow is gone. Again. It was gone before but then we had a snow storm on March 20. I was not impressed. But now it's gone again and hopefully that is it for this winter.

I very quickly fell into the midnight to 9 am sleep cycle this weekend. Honestly, that seems to be what my body likes. Unfortunately that doesn't work very well when you have to get up and go to work every day.

Husband and I also ate a lot of junk this weekend. And I feel like I've been eating junk. Ugh. Back to clean(er) eating.

Also, back to the workout routine. Too much sitting around this weekend. This month has not been too bad though - definitely better than it has been. Still taking my iron supplements, and I tracked for a few days in  myfitnesspal and, as I expected, my Vitamin C intake is not a problem at all.

March Workouts
04: Crunch Burn & Firm Pilates
05: Jackie Warner Power Circuit LB + UB
11: Jackie Warner One On One UB + LB
13: Treadmill Walk
18: Yoga @ Yoga Haus
20: Fitness Mag Jillian Michaels Circuit
22: Jackie Warner Pwer Circuit LB + UB
25: Zumba
26: Jackie Warner 30 Day Fast Start
27: Zumba Circuit
29: Ellen Barrett Grace & Gusto

Photos of the week...

There was still a little snow left earlier in the week, but it's gone now and my early crocuses are blooming.

Our fence is down in a couple of places from the storms this winter, and the deer have been coming in and helping themselves to our shrubs.

Pretty bottles that Husband has been bringing home from Japan. They contain whiskey, which is okay by me. The Japanese make some good whiskey. 

Bought new bedding. Zappa approves.