Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The Gastrocnemius Muscle and the Cat


All I do is eat and sleep. Eat and sleep. Eat and sleep. There must be more to a cat's life than that. But I hope not.
-Garfield


In early September, I walked into the bedroom just as the cat was leaving. I spotted a black item on the bedspread. This was upsetting to me. Our cat, who, by and large, is a well behaved, litter box-trained, somewhat autistic creature, has occasionally shown her displeasure with us by depositing evil things on the bed. It apparently had happened again.

I walked back to the family room looking for the perpetrator. There she was, looking innocent and resting (as always). "Bad kitty!" I announced. "Why do you do that?!" She regarded me coolly, refusing to make eye contact.

I bristled at her insubordination. I made a loud noise and moved toward her. She decided that I was a crazy person and took off toward the living room. I took a couple of quick steps after her in pursuit.

Suddenly, I felt a "pop" in the back of my right leg, as though something had hit me from behind. Then I felt the pain. Then I went to the floor.

I knew something was torn. I lay on the floor trying to self-diagnose the injury. One way or another, I knew I was going to be limping for a while. Kathi looked at me like the pitiable fool I can be and helped me into a chair. Ice, elevation, ibuprofen, rest. We knew the routine. This was not the first time I had done something stupid to my leg.

After I explained why I had been so upset with the cat, Kathi went to clean up the mess. She was back in a moment.

"Bruce?"

"Yes?"

"The mess on the bed?"

"Yes?"

"The thing on the bed was your pager. The cat didn't do anything."

"Really?"

Oh.


I eventually forgave the cat but she, of course, did not care. I did notice that during my period of immobility, especially in September and early October, I had more time to write posts for this blog because, especially during those first six weeks, walking was uncomfortable and running was impossible. Now, ten weeks after the injury, I am just now using the treadmill in the bedroom.

Sometimes, when I am running, the cat comes to watch. I occasionally catch her looking smugly at the bedspread. I am certain that she is gloating.

6 comments:

Øystein said...

Haha. Funny story! Hope your leg is doing fine.

Bruce said...

Thanks! I'm on the mend.

Sarah said...

haha, Dad. You let that silly cat win again...

Bruce said...

Oh, so true...

Medblog Addict said...

The first time I saw this, I was at work reading it in my Google reader. I laughed out loud when I read about the pager. It still cracks me up. Glad you are on the mend. Hope you and your family have a great holiday season!

~MA

Bruce said...

My leg is healed but I haven't gotten back into my exercise routine. Happy holidays to you, as well!