EMERGENCY SURGERY

*PLEASE NOTE - THIS CONTENT INCLUDES GRAPHIC IMAGES.*

In October 2018 Mimi's hand and arm was bitten by her family cat in a totally unprovoked attack.

The cat had to be pulled off of Mimi's arm as it had taken hold and coiled itself around her hand and arm.

The deep puncture wounds were washed out straight away in the hope to clean the effected area and Mimi was taken to hospital.

Mimi was sent to the Royal Berkshire hospital after initially attending her local minor injuries and she was prescribed antibiotics as an infection had already started to set in.

Mimi was told to start the intensive course of antibiotics immediately and she would have to go to the John Radcliffe Hospital the next morning.

Mimi woke up the next morning and the signs of septicaemia had already set in even though she had been on antibiotics since the lunch time the day before.

On arrival at the John Radcliffe Hospital Mimi was assessed and told that she was being prepped for emergency surgery as the infection was spreading.

Within and hour of Mimi arriving she was under general anaesthetic having surgery to remove the affected tissue on her hand from the puncture/bite wounds and the wounds up her arms surgically cleaned.

Mimi spent the next 5 nights at the John Radcliffe hospital with open wounds and on an intravenous antibiotic drip.

Mimi was told that she may be at risk of further surgery if more tissue was seen to be affected but knowing that Mimi was a pole athlete the surgeons had put a camera in to make sure that none of her ligaments had been affected so her recovery would be long but she should be able to pole again.

Mimi's wounds could not be stitched up like regular wounds due to the infection so they had to be packed and bandaged and she spent 4 weeks on antibiotics but luckily no further surgery was needed.

Mimi is a complete animal lover and blamed herself for the attack however it was completely unprovoked as her Mother, Kelly was sat opposite her at the time of the attack and saw everything as it happened.

Due to the attack Mimi had to pull out of Pole Art which she was competing in later that month, however Mimi was asked to judge the competition instead which was an amazing experience.

It took months for Mimi to get the strength back in her hand but with advice from the specialist, some physio and determination, Mimi got back to full strength.