I had to lighten this picture a whole bunch, since Hazel is notoriously hard to photograph.  She chose to help me sort through some jewelry I inherited.  I appreciated her help because there was a lot of it.  Plenty of the jewelry made it into an auction to benefit the Springer rescue I work with.  Hazel was happy to lend a hand to a good cause.

She had one of her eyes removed in June, and there were complications.  Our friends at VCA in Gaithersburg MD helped her on the road to healing.  I couldn’t ask for a better vet/ER hospital.  She had another surgery today, and hopefully that will be the end of this issue.  Ten more days in a cone, and then she can get back to being a happy, healthy kitty.

Hazel has been through so much already in her life, from being a stray trying to fight off raccoons, to her body rejecting her teeth, to the eye problem and subsequent complication.  I feel absolutely awful for putting her through weeks of “wait and see” and another surgery, but this issue is one she can fully recover from, so I think I did the right thing.  It’s never easy.  Plus the wound has been pretty hard to look at, and I’m all out of Xanax.  So it hasn’t been a joyride for me either.

Tonight Hazel is in a great mood, playful, feisty, and exploring her living space more than she has in a very long time.  She’s doing really well for a kitty who just had surgery.  Maybe I can sleep peacefully tonight knowing she is feeling better.