life in the hipster capital: Tom Cat

why hello there. it's almost been a month since my last post...in fact, it's been exactly a month since my dad visited. how does time go by so fast?
anywho, some new updates on our lives here in the rose city:
i don't know if any of you remember me taking a poll on whether or not i should adopt a cat from the portland humane society bc it would only cost $12 (everything included: neutering, shots, free vet visit and a microchip) but once i talked with jarrod, it was obvious that wasn't going to happen no matter how much i wanted it to, so we passed up those cats. (i'm still slightly sad about that...haha) the topic came up at work though, bc of my facebook status and wouldn't you know it, one of the managers (monica) had a cat that she was looking to give away for free and with an automatic litter box. i texted jarrod that night (bc i was at work with monica) and he said he wouldn't mind that since we were getting him from someone we knew and they know his personality so he was less likely to be psycho (was that the truth? i'm still unsure....) so 2 weeks ago, i brought Thomas (Tom) home and boy was iris happy! yeah.

the first day we got him, he just hid under the bed all night and the next day he finally got up the courage to come out and explore. when i got home from work on the 9th, tom was hiding under the couch. i left him alone and sat down on the couch to watch tv. while watching tv, tom came out, crying and he came right up to me to be pet. he was rubbing up on my hand when out of no where, he bit the hell out of it (excuse my language, but it's true). i think the reason was bc he had just the previous week been neutered and i was rubbing near his tail and he probably still wasn't very comfortable with people touching back there. anywho, he bit me so hard i was in shock for probably a good 5 minutes before i could actually move. the blood seeped out of my hand so quickly i'm surprised it didn't drop on the floor. i managed to grab a tissue to apply pressure while staring at tom in shock. finally i went upstairs to wash the bite out. actually looking at it made me dizzy- he bit so deep! once i was done washing it, i applied gauze and texted jarrod telling him tom had bit me and my hand was hurting really bad and wondering when he would get home bc there was no way i'd be able to drive myself to the er (bc yes, i was considering that at the time). jarrod got home probably an hour and a half later but i decided i could make it through the night without going to the er. we both decided if the bite looked worse the next day we'd go to urgent care. i woke up friday morning and yep, the bite was worse so we headed to urgent care. the bite was infected and swollen and there was a line of infection in my veins up to my elbow the docs didn't seem too worried, but told me that if i started running a fever or the bite looked worse by saturday that i would definitely need to go to the er and be put on iv meds. they gave me a tetanus shot and x-rayed my hand to make sure there were not tooth fragments left and then i was on my way. i got put on doxycycline antibiotics to help fight the infection- i'll get to the complications of those awesome meds in a bit.
pics of my hand!:

so you would probably think that i would have given up tom after that, but i played his craziness off to stress and kept him...and yes, we still have him. he's gotten much better; likes to lie down on my chest all of the time. i'm still terrified of being bitten though, so i'm very careful around him though i probably don't need to be anymore. i would like to never go through this again though. haha. but you know what's funny? this is probably the worst thing, medically speaking, that has ever happened to me and it took 22 years- that's pretty good! so i'm thankful for that and grateful that it wasn't something worse. :) i'm one lucky person! hahah.
i'll tell you a little bit more about tom and iris before i get to my meds... tom likes to follow iris around and it really aggravates her. she chases him off all the time and still he comes back. he's definitely not the brightest crayon in the box. i think it's hilarious that iris always wins the stand offs though, bc tom is quite a large cat. she doesn't care- she's one tough kitty!!! they still don't really get along, but as long as they're not too close to each other, they stay calm and composed. haha.
alright so onto my medication: a warning to those who may take doxycycline in the future: always take it with food, even though it says not to AND most importantly DO NOT lie down until at least 30 minutes after taking it. sunday night i was falling asleep when i realized i hadn't taken my second dose of my meds for the day, so i took it then went right to sleep again. 2 hours later i woke up with chest pain and the feeling of of a pill stuck in my throat. nothing helped make the feeling go away- i drank lots of water, ate some bread, drank some tea. eventually the chest pain went away and if i didn't swallow, nothing felt wrong, so i was able to fall asleep for another few hours....4 hours of sleep total that night then right to working at the theater at 9am on senior monday/presidents day. terrible. anyway, once i woke up i could still feel the pill in my throat so i called urgent care to see what i should do. i was told to come in after work, so i did and they did nothing for me. they had no equipment to look down my throat or anything, so i left, still having to take the meds. ugh. i was told to go to the er bc they would have the equipment i need. i decided to pass that up bc i was feeling much better since sunday night so i figured it would go away on its own. whelp, i'm still stuck with a pain in my chest when i eat and it's radiating to my back...but i finish the meds tomorrow (thank god) so hopefully everything will clear up in a few days. i really don't want to go to the er or a doctor so let's hope this is gone by next friday, yes?
alright...that's about the most exciting thing that's happened in a while. OH except i have another job (only part-time. the island won't give me up yet and i really hate that...)- i work at a public accounts office doing general office duties. today was my second day. it was pretty cool. i wish i had gotten the full time position (that's what i originally applied for. in the end, it came down to me and another girl and she had more experience, so she got it, BUT he was so impressed with me that he wanted to help me out by getting me some office experience! so that's pretty awesome!!!! :D)
so there you go....all caught up.
only about 2 weeks till JENNY BATES gets her booty out here so we can have the time of our lives! :D
oh, i'm coming home may 30-june 6th, in case you still hadn't heard. i am WAY EXCITED!!!!!! :D haha
that is all.
-sarah-