My dog's tale of woe, continued...

[wraithfodder]

You know those TV shows, where someone rushes into the emergency room, carrying small child in arm. Everybody at the desk, staff and patients, all stop and stare and then someone yells "Triage needed!"

That was me, on Halloween night, with the dog.

He'd been at the vet the day before, and it was determined that his left eye was blind. That I probably had a better chance of winning powerball than he had of regaining any visiion. There were things to worry about, still, as the cause of the hemorrhage was still really unknown. A trauma? High blood pressure? a combination of both? We had to worry about secy-thingthing, where parts of eyes got stuck inside and caused pain. Well, that was Saturday.

On Sunday, the dog was just miserable. He was back on doxy for his anaplasmosis treatment, and we thought that was the problem. I noticed a slight discharge from eye, so applied warm compresses, which seemed to help. In between setting up for Halloween, I'd check on him. After all the Halloween stuff was set up, and I'd handed out candy to two batches of kids, I was back to warm compresses and then his eye began to bleed, like he was crying blood. So I called the emergency vet clinic, told them I was coming, stuck candy outside with sign 'help yourself' and left.

By the time I got down to vet clinic, the dog changed. I did not see it as it was night, and it was only when I came into clinic carrying the dog, whose eye was full of blood all over fur, that everybody saw it was all swollen in area too. The vet rushed out, asked what happened. I didn't know.  They took him in back. I gave them what history I had but then the vet who had seen with the original bleed came out and then took over. After a long while, they came out with their side of story. They had given him some heavy duty painkillers as his eye was killing him. I hadn't known as he'd never made one sound :(  They was tissue/something blocked around the eye. It could be a puncture or rupture, but the pressure was up so that could have been part of it. I was was able take him home. His eye looked better as they'd had to clean up a bit to examine, but still... went off to drugstore where I shelled out $$$ for one bottle of glaucoma drops. God, I don't know how people without insurance can survive! 

The next day I was able to get him into the optha... the eye doctor vet. He squeezed me in as this was sort of an emergency. After a careful exam, the prognosis was bad. He left eye was blind. There would be no more vision. Nada. He had a rupture. Yes, part of that blood from inside the eye. The choices were I could risk a surgery to fix the rupture, but with the pressure problems and other things, it would be an going and expensive battle, plus it would be painful for the dog. The best option was enculeation. This the technical term for removal, and in this case, of the entire eye.

As I type this, he's resting at the vet's, doped up on the good meds, after having his eye removed this afternoon. We also had a benign tumor on his removed at the same time. It was something that wasn't bothering him, but I also did not want to subject him to going under unless he had to. 

So when I got to visit him briefly after work. His head is all bandaged up and the vet folk said he was a very good patient and that surgery went very well. I did get a glimpse of the now eyeless eye and in all honestly of what i did see did not look bad at all. I must admit to being very squicky about eye injuries (I close my eyes when people get eyes poked out in movies, just eeeeuuuuu). Once all the fur grows back, it will look like he's squinting/blinking. Apparently this surgery is more common than I thought, as some co-workers had had dogs that had had it done, a friend had a horse who had had it done, etc.

This is the last good photo of him, a day before his eyeball ruptured and sent me fleeing to the vet in middle of night. 



He's already adjusted to the most part to loss of vision (although he still bumps into some things due to depth perception issues). It's gonna be a while before he can sit outside again and wait for the deer to arrive so they can stare at each other....

I know we had the right decision in the long run, even though it was difficult. Having an eye that couldn't see, that would require constant maintenance and cause pain, would not be right to inflict on the little guy. Sucks that I'm sitting here with probably $200 worth of drugs (eye drops, pills) that are now useless for the dog. Wonder if animal shelters accept them?

The worst part may be when he comes home, as he has to wear "the collar" (what i call the cone of silence) as he had it on at the vet very briefly and HATED it. Well, he's gonna have to learn to deal with it until the A-okay is given to not use it anymore. Meanwhile, I'll probably sleep on the floor next to him in the sleeping bag as that makes him a bit more comfortable. Ah, the things we do for our furry family. 

Comments

[gyri.livejournal.com]

I think you made the right decision, too. He's so lucky to have a "Mom," like you, getting the very best TLC.

[kodiak-bear.livejournal.com]

Awwww, poor baby and poor momma! That must've been very scary. :(

I hear you on the costs. We've shelled out a small fortune this year and it's still ongoing. I'm at the vet 2-3 times a month and it's been one medication after another. Right now Loki has 3 meds, Zoe 2 and Frodo 2. The meds the others are on are courtesy of Miss Zoe, spreading her belly parasites to the others. Grrrrrrrrrr! But God bless, nothing as traumatic as an eye injury.

I think the worst thing is they couldn't say what caused it. All that and no clue what set it off, what a nightmare! Sending get well wishes and good luck with the cone.

[tringasolitaria.livejournal.com]

Aww. :( I'm sorry - poor thing. But it sounds like you did the right thing, and I'm sure he'll be happier in the long run. But wow - sounds like you really had a traumatic Halloween. :S

[timespirt.livejournal.com]

Sorry hon. It sucks when your pet is in pain. Hope all goes well.

[suekay-87.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad everything went as well as it could, and I hope he adjusts well...I've seen dogs with one eye before, and they do seem to get on well...They're much tougher than we are!

And as long a the medication's unopened, I think animal shelters would be able to take them.

*big hugs*

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Awww, poor boo :( But you did the right thing. He won't be in pain, and animals do just fine with one eye. Heck, they do fine even when blind (had both - a one eyed cat then later a blind cat).

[monkey5s.livejournal.com]

You don't know me, but I friended your LJ so I could keep up on the Stargate stuff. The fact that you have one of the loveliest Shelties I've ever seen turned out to be a terrific bonus.

We had a cat who became completely blind from glaucoma. He was fine (so long as furniture wasn't moved around). he just went by other senses. I expect your dog will be fine as he adjusts.

As for the major medical expenses for NOTHING, I am also unable to keep from trying such things. I have a cat now, who developed injection-based sarcoma, which is the most violently fast tumor growth the vet has ever seen. I've gotten her four surgeries to remove them, and the last time we tried an experimental treatment of chemotherapy after the surgery. That was four weeks ago, and right on schedule, there are two new tumors growing. The worst part? I know that, if my credit cards weren't maxed out from the other surgeries, I would probably have her in again. She's always so happy and bright, once the tumors are removed.

[hollow-echos.livejournal.com]

With pets myself, I know how hard it can be when they get sick or hurt. It's scary and nerve wracking...at the end of the day it's one of your family members in pain.

I'm sad to hear that he lost the eye, but on the other hand I'm extremely relieved that he's doing ok. You (and your puppy of course!) will be in my thoughts. I hope he has a quick recovery from the surgery.

[kosmikdawg.livejournal.com]

Oh, poor little guy. I hope he's feeling better and fully healed quickly. *hugs*

[aelfgyfu_mead]

I'm so sorry. I'm sure you did the right thing for him, but poor thing! And poor you!

[stella-pegasi.livejournal.com]

Sorry sorry for the little guy, but once he heals from the surgery, he'll be feeling so much better, as will you. The fear of not knowing what is happening to them is sometimes harder than dealing with the problem.

But you're right, we have take care them, they are family, and he's very lucky to have such a good mommy.

Hope you both feel better soon.

[luveskane.livejournal.com]

He's a lucky pooch to have a mom who cares so much for him. I am sure he will adjust quickly and be a happy pup once again.
sounds like you made the right decision for the long haul.
*hugs you* I imagine your stress level has been through the roof hon.

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. I'm so glad they finally got an answer for you. {{{hugs}}}

[ga-unicorn.livejournal.com]

You're a good doggie-mama and he'll probably be back to his old self very soon. I've known a lot of dogs who've gone through this surgery and I've never known one to go into a slump over it. The "cone of shame" on the other hand...

Good luck re-homing the drugs. The government run shelters won't be able to take them (at least they can't in my state); I'd start with the local rescue societies.

[ladyniko.livejournal.com]

Wow, poor pup!

Once he heals, he should be able to get along just fine. I've known of animals that have adjusted much better than humans to the loss of an eye. :)

I understand the frustration, the vet trips, the expenditures... all that. I did that for six months with my old cat Lovecraft before we threw in the towel at the end of June and said goodbye. The initial diagnosis of kidney disease was so wrong and knowing now that it was stomach cancer and the causes of it (corn and grain rich pet foods), I'm so very careful in what I feed my new brats.

[abracah.livejournal.com]

Poor little baby!! Poor little mama! What a scary thing to go through.

I do think that you made the right choice. This way you know it is taken care of and won't cause him pain after all the healing is done. It is amazing to see how resilient animals are. I have many videos of animals overcoming physical disabilities that we humans would moan and groan over.

Good luck in the upcoming weeks.

[l-jade.livejournal.com]

Poor baby :( hope he gets better soon!

[syble4.livejournal.com]

Animal are wonderful adapters. The important part is you took away his pain. You are a good doggie mommy.

[admiralandrea.livejournal.com]

My mum and dad's late cat had to have an eye removed earlier this year due to an ulcer which burst and she adapted just fine. Her eventual demise was due to other problems.

It's still horrible and scary, though. And they're left paying off a huge vet bill. That's her in my icon.

:hugs:

[cimmerdeux.livejournal.com]

Oh the poor little guy. You did the right thing. Animals are pretty amazing at adjusting and they're so darn stoic about pain that it's scary. He knows you did what's best for him, they always do. You're a good soul.

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

My sister's dog has a blood filled eye but the vet has said he has either walked into something or been hit in the head and has a concussion.

Hope Puppy improves.

[crashbarrier.livejournal.com]

I think you made the right decision. A gammy eye would run teh risk of infection and nastiness in the long term. which is never good:(. I am glad he's generally okay, Dogs tend to cope quite well with blindness (my aunts dog lost total sight due to old age was fine as long as you din't move anything in the house).

Are you okay? bleeding from the eye can be quite shocking and upsetting..

[squonk79.livejournal.com]

BLess the poor thing, and bless you too.

It sounds like you've done the best thing for him, and dogs are so resiliant, he'll adapt quickly.

*massive hugs*

[gavet97.livejournal.com]

Well, let the veterinarian put her 2 cents in!

You made the right decision. I know some people are freaked out by the idea of a "one-eyed dog", but if the eye was blind and causing trouble, it needs to be addressed. They get used to their new condition very quickly. I do this surgery frequently (lots of trauma, glaucoma, tumors, etc.) and the animals usually come through with flying colors, and do much better than we whiny humans would under the same circumstances!

I like the above idea of donating any meds to a shelter. Obviously a vet cannot take them back, but they should help some animal if possible.

Lastly, I'm glad you read the drug information, but please don't think all drugs are the Devil. If you read the drug information on penicillin you would think it was a bioterror weapon. They have to say what *could* happen, but by no means does it mean it *will* happen. Heck, I could kill some people with penicillin, y'know? Doesn't mean it shouldn't be used.

I am so happy your family member is recovering. I hope you feel that you and your pet were treated with respect every step of the way. All the best recovery vibes from your geek veterinary buddy. =)