Looks Like Tummy Rubs Are Back On The Menu!
Good news at last! However, before the good news, a bit of history. As you may know I’ve had several surgeries. I would say that with absolutely every single open abdominal surgery (and even a few of the laparoscopic surgeries, there have been varying degrees of numbness across my tummy from the abdominal incisions. This hasn’t really been a problem though, and all of it has healed in varying degrees of time.
The first time I ever experienced numbness was with my ileostomy, and it was something the size of a quarter near the surgical site. It didn’t really affect me in my day-to-day though, and I didn’t care. About six months after the surgery it was gone and I had no numbness at all.
But after some of my other open abdominal surgeries, the numbness continued to varying degrees and even though it always went away, it would also always seem to return with the next surgery. The worst numbness I experienced was after this terrible surgery here. The numbness on the right side of my abdomen was so severe, I didn’t even enjoy tummy rubs anymore, and tummy rubs are a big deal if you’re a kitty like me! I would kind of shy away from Master’s hand when he went to rub me there. I wanted to like it but the feel of a hand on that numb patch (and especially because it was such a large patch of numbness, bigger than his huge hands!) was so disconcerting that I always would pull away. I didn’t like it at all.
Still, I reminded myself that I’ve always healed before, so I probably would again. Maybe this would just take longer since it was such a big area? And I put it out of my mind for the time being. Well, the other night I was getting out of the tubbie, and Master Pravus was toweling me off when he rubbed my tummy (to dry it) and I yelped out loud! It didn’t hurt, but it was soooo sensitive I could’t help myself! And that’s always been my experience as a sign that the nerves are solving themselves. When they’re repairing they tend to be very, very, very sensitive at first. But either way, it used to be entirely numb for well over a year! This is such a good sign! I’m so certain that the nerves will calm down at some point and I will be able to relax sooner than later. Tummy rubs, here I come!