oh zee paine!!

So today at work started out on a bit of a sour note and made me fearful to touch any animal today. Last night, Jessica picked up an adult female fox squirrel, that had fallen out of tree and onto someone on Orcas. When we talked about it this morning; she said this squirrel was about the size of my cat, and she didn't get a chance to examine it without someone there. She informed me that she thought we will most likely have to euthanize it, but didn't want to make that call without it being examined. I got the squirrel out of the carrier (and yes, she was a huge squirrel) after Jessica told me to go a head and get her out. I had on the mammal gloves and was feeling the spinal column as it couldn't move her back legs. She was relatively calm at first, and then she turned into the Devil Squirrel from hell! First she bit my gloved finger and then the hand I was using to examine here. DAMN! it hurt like H-E-double hockey sticks. I was bleeding pretty badly and was fearful of even handling her anymore, even with gloves on b/c she had bitten me right through it. Unfortunately, her spine was fractured and we did have to euthanize and of course I felt guilty about it b/c I felt that it might be viewed as revenge, but it was the just the best decision.

After all was said and done, Jessica told Kate our intern "see these things can happen even if you feel really comfortable about a situation, so you always need to be careful." Glad I could set an example (even if it was in a bad situation). I also got to run into our treatment room and scrub the crap out of my left thumb and right ring finger for 5 minutes with a surgical scrub brush and betadine. OUCH! all over again! So now I have some nice gouges in my fingers, and spent a lot of time today putting new bandaids on and putting "finger condoms" over them to keep them clean. Which lead to lots of laughs at work today.

How glad I am that people can get amusement out of my pain, but hey it was a bit of my own stupidity to not get someone to help hold the over 2 lb squirrel while I examined the spinal column.

I think this is how life tells me that it is time for a vaca.. if only my pocketbook agreed.

On the good side, the puncture wound in my foot has healed up nicely after stepping on a nail last Wednesday when we finished the eagle flight cage. We have hopefully finished off having to do our night time feeds for the year, but we wil see after a few days if the bunnies are doing well.

Okay, I think it is time to make some food.