Cat scratches often cause infections, but not so much tetanus. While it can enter the body through a scratch, tetanus is an anaerobic bacteria, so it's happiest in a puncture wound or dead tissue.

I keep my tetanus shots up to date because of my uneasy relationship with gravity and inanimate objects.

The non-latex use an adhesive that jacks my skin up worse than latex usually. Good times.

Cass, yes, that seems to be my skin also. Good times.

WS, having it uncovered for a few hours has been enough to stop the painful itching. I'll probably take a Benadryl when I finally go to bed. I'll ask for T-DAP, thanks for the info.

Zen, I was going to apologizing for bringing up Corpse Bride so soon after you were worried about your arm becoming all zombiefied and rotting

I didn't mind! It seemed an appropriate segue.

aurelia, I want to Like your post about the young essayist.

What is bartonella, if not a case of Hawkeye?

Ginger knows more about tetanus than I do, which is comforting. All I know is that the first time I got a really deep scratch from a cat, the doctor told me to get a tetanus shot.

What is bartonella, if not a case of Hawkeye?

Cat scratch fever. Which is a real thing.

I just figured that because we are discussing an actual cat scratch and those really do lead to nasty infections sometimes, we should focus on what is likely.

But staying up-to-date on tetanus is really a good idea anyway.

The last time a doctor told me to get a tetanus shot, it was because of cat related injuries, but those were bites, not just scratches.

I have band-aid-itis.

Cat scratch fever.

My dad got this when I was little. His hand swelled up to the size of a football. I was just old enough to learn how to cut my own food and I got to get extra practice cutting his for a while.

Went to sports bar! Did not kill anyone! Ate fish tacos. Ears still kinda ringing. Assholes who come into packed sports bar halfway through second period and don't seem to notice they're blocking your view of a play probably deserve some kind of dire punishment.

But hey, HAWKS WIN.

Ugh, I hate that the wind up to a vacation in our house is always massive anxiety. I've been stressed to the gills for days just because everyone else is stressed out, throwing tantrums, etc. And doing kooky things.

I hear you, Burrell.

We are halfway through our trip. We spent the AM of the day at the beach during low tide looking at cool stuff. Then the friends with whom we are staying had a BBQ tonight. Grace helped set up the sprinklers and had so much fun playing: [link]

It's so fun to see her run through water and enjoy it.

Cat scratch fever. Which is a real thing.

It is! Which can sometimes be a co-illness with Lyme disease, and then you get the fun of taking handfuls of antibiotics for months.

Pete is coming home from the Magic: the Gathering event in Vegas that he was at. As in, coming home tonight, didn't go to his signing slot today, because he was down with a migraine and food poisoning. He sounded utterly miserable on the phone when he called and told me he was coming home.