Jim Hamm has a stupendous gash in his scalp, courtesy of the big cat that pounced on him a few weeks back. His wife had to repeatedly hit the cat with a stick before it would let go.

Today, after extensive reconstructive surgery and a recovery that his doctor described as “incredible,” Hamm, 70, is heading home to the small city of Fortuna in Humboldt County.

“We just want to get our lives back in order,” Nell Hamm said Tuesday at California Pacific Medical Center. “We won’t be hiking for a while, but knowing Jim, I don’t think it will be that long before he’s out walking around the neighborhood.”

Hamm’s head and scalp were seriously injured in the attack. After first receiving treatment at a hospital in Arcata, a life-threatening infection took hold and he was airlifted to San Francisco for further treatment. He underwent six hours of reconstructive surgery on his scalp on Jan. 31. A team of doctors, led by microvascular surgeon Dr. Rudy Buntic, took muscle tissue from his back to patch his head, then covered it with skin taken from his leg. The patched area is about 6 by 8 inches, Buntic said Tuesday.

Nell, his wife, was declared Woman of the Year by one California politico. I think there’s a blues song waiting to be written with lyrics along the lines of “treat your woman right, she fights the lion.”