After being sad about Lucy's state yesterday, I decided to start making it better. What were things to cease the "shut down"?, I wondered. We went through the Chic-Fil-A drive thru. Lucy picked her head up and ate some chicken nuggets. We rode around in a shopping cart, just like "old times". I bought her a new harness and a little coat at Petco. When we got back home, I put the harness on her, and made her go for a walk. She was terrified and hated it. I pulled her along, one teeny step at a time. We made it to the stop sign near our house and then returned home. What was once was a five minute walk, took over twenty. But we did it. We have practiced walking about inside, from the front door to her dog bed. We keep practicing walking. She is made to walk herself to the food bowl, where she will now eat. She can't remember any of the routes that we have practiced. But the good new is that she has ceased the shut down.
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Lucy has had her second eye sewn shut, so she is in facto totally blind for now. She will have both eyes unsewn in three weeks. There is a little hope for her right eye to retain some vision, but we are proceeding as if her blindness is permanent. Yesterday, I took Lucy to her regular vet. I updated her on Lucy's double melting eye ulcers. I told her that I had worries about Lucy's anxiety meds. That a loss of appetite, foggy mild, wobbly walk, mental shutdown with lethargy might be a side effect of medication. Also, I was worried about the bigger problem. Lucy can't fight infection. She's had a chest cold as long as we've had her. Two eye infections was just not normal either. The vet thought that all of this was caused by one thing, and is indeed one problem. When she was infested with fleas earlier this year, she may have contracted Bartonella. We are doing a blood test for the Bartonella bacteria, and will know more on Monday.
Lucy had totally shut down. No eating, no drinking, she wouldn't even pick her head up. She refused to walk; instead she just curled up and quivered (also a Bartonella symptom). Lucy's behavior this week has been upsetting. She has intense fear. She won’t walk, eat, drink or go to the bathroom without extensive encouragement. I took this video to show our vet at our upcoming vet visit. If you look closely, you can see her shaking, probably from fear. Shortly after taking this video, I figured out what's wrong. Lucy has gone totally blind. We rushed her back to the Eye surgeon. She has a melting ulcer in both eyes now. She has, emotionally, reacted poorly-like we all would, I suppose. We are treating both eyes, giving her the best of care. During this time we also determined that she has very low hearing and does not respond to verbal cues. We are devestated, and expect her blindness to be permanent.
Doctor Blair examined Lucy and decided to leave her eye sewn shut for one more week. He said it looked a little puffy, but the eyelid was in good shape and that perhaps with one more week of healing, the infection may decrease further. Since she was tolerating having her inner eyelid sewn shut well, we should just leave things alone. Had her stitches not held, or if the eyelid sagged, we would have removed the stitches. Her next appointment is Monday, Nov 2nd.
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Home Manicures About a week ago, Ray received a gift for "Boss's Day". Ray's coworkers also presented him with a gift for Lucy, too. It was a bag of dog biscuits, and a sweet "Get Well Soon" card. It was signed not only with the names of Ray's coworkers, but with the names of their pets, too. What a sweet gesture.
Tomorrow, Lucy returns to the eye doctor. The stitches from her inner eyelid will be removed. Hopefully the infected melting ulcer on her cornea has improved. If not, her eye will need to be removed. We have been diligent in giving her the best care. If we lose the eye, we know we have done our best. There is nothing new to report, so we we just wanted to check in and say hello. An uneventful week is actually pretty great.
We packed up the dogs and the box of eye medicine, and we attended a historic house tour. It was organized as a fund raiser for a local school. It was nice to get out, and to be a Looky-Lou inside some of the pretty houses that we pass on our way home every day. We bought a couple of boxed lunches and had a little picnic.
Thankfully, today is my day off from work. I am giving Lucy some TLC. She has the shakes and is agitated, both probably from pain. Molly really wants to help, and I need to keep them apart or supervised. Molly will lick Lucy's eye, trying to make her feel better. Lucy's stitches will be removed in 10 days and we will know then if this procedure preserved her eye.
I slept on the couch and put an antiseptic eye drop in Lucy's eye once an hour throughout the night. It looks much worse. Ray has taken her back to the doctor this morning. We have given up hope of her ever being able to see with that eye again. my hope is now that she doesn't lose the eye. Update: Dr Blair said her cornea is "melting" from infection. She is getting a new procedure. Her inner eyelid will be pulled up and sewn shut. This should help the cornea heal. |
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