Since I had to take Snowball into the vet clinic yesterday, I decided to take little Creighton with me so our vet, Dr. Brenda Culver, could look at his eyes. I had planned to take him to see Brenda on Thursday, but she was kind enough to fit us in between her other appointments. Having a bouncy, happy puppy on my hands helped me cope with losing Snowball yesterday ... trying to keep a blind 4-month old under control kind of keeps you focused on something besides heartache, if you know what I mean.
Brenda was as amazed at Creighton's eyes as we were. Because of the bulging appearance, she first measured his intraocular pressures, or IOP, to test for glaucoma. That's what she's doing in the photo above, and vet tech Heather A. is holding our boy. Yet she got low to normal readings, similar to what I had seen when I measured his eye pressures Friday evening. That, of course, seems contradictory, given how his eyes look and how painful they are.
Brenda surmised that the drainage angles in his eyes may have been closed off from birth because of a genetic defect, so he was born with glaucoma. The fluid in the eye would have continued to build up and up and up, causing the pressures to skyrocket. Brenda said she could only imagine how much pain he had been in. She thinks that we're seeing low pressures now because the resulting damage throughout his eyes may have finally caused the fluid production to shut down altogether. So even though the pressures are low, the eyes remain buphthlamic (fancy medical term for "bulging") because they have been stretched out from the elevated pressures, and it takes time for the eyes to start shrinking back down.
In this next photo, Brenda is using the slit lamp to look inside his eyes:
What she found is that the iris has adhered to the cornea in both of his eyes. This is a problem because we had hoped to "save" his eyes by putting the prosthetics in, like we had with Briggs the blind Beagle. To do that, Brenda needs to take the contents of the inner eye out, then put the prosthesis (a silicone ball) inside the globe, and leave the cornea in place to hold the prosthesis in. But if the cornea is attached to the iris and thus perhaps to other structures, she may not be able to do that. Brenda was going to ultrasound his eyes today to see if she could get a better read on this, and I haven't heard yet what else she found.
If we can't do the prosthetic implants, then we'll have to remove his eyes. But either way, we will finally be able to give him relief from the pain ... and that's the only thing that will matter to him. His surgery is scheduled for Thursday, so I left Creighton at the clinic yesterday.
Here's another photo I took of him in the exam room ... what a cutie, huh?
And finally, Brenda thought we should have a close-up of the Tono-Pen:
Our family including our chocolate lab kokanee are wishing Creighton the best with his surgery and we can't wait to read the next update on this amazing puppy. We have all taken a special shining on Creighton and it makes us feel so good to know that he is getting great care.
Posted by: Darren A-Z | April 11, 2008 at 03:52 PM
Thoughts and prayers from myself and my "granddog" Friday will be with Creighton all throughout his treatments. He is a real sweetie pie. All the staff at RDR are earning their wings here on earth for all they do for our animal friends.
Posted by: Foustein Davenport | April 09, 2008 at 07:13 PM
For the life of me, I can't imagine someone discarding such a sweet boy - what's up with that? He is a great addition to RDR. Hope he's figuring out how to navigate around all the growling doxies.
Posted by: Carol | April 03, 2008 at 04:41 PM
Thinking good thoughts and sending requests out to the Cosmos for your bouncing baby boy, Creighton, to come through surgery well. Give him some extra kisses from all his well-wishers.
Posted by: Mircat | April 03, 2008 at 02:33 PM
As someone who has glaucoma, i will be praying for Creighton. Thank God for the good people of this world that someone with a great hear found him.
Posted by: LaVerne J. Cunningham | April 03, 2008 at 01:17 PM
He doesn't care if he has eyeballs or not! And I don't either, he will be beautiful no matter what.
Nancy
Posted by: Nancy | April 03, 2008 at 01:08 PM
This is a PRECIOUS Puppy! I'm so HAPPY that he has found such a GREAT home and such LOVING people!
Sending my love and prayers for Creighton to have a LONG HAPPY LIFE!
AFK
Posted by: AFK | April 03, 2008 at 11:16 AM
Such a handsome boy!! Glad you took him in,
Posted by: gayle | April 03, 2008 at 09:43 AM
What a sweetheart! He is full of life and I can't wait to hear his surgery went well and he is free of pain...ready for happy puppy times at the fabulous RDR!
Posted by: Brenda G | April 03, 2008 at 09:08 AM
I think people will be lining up to love him up and no mistake! :)
Posted by: Andrew, NZ | April 03, 2008 at 04:52 AM
Good luck Creighton, you're on the way to everything good at the RDR! When will we see videos of the New Boys on the Block?
Posted by: Lalla and Sasha | April 03, 2008 at 04:51 AM
Creighton is too cute and he looks so soft! When he's grown, will he be your biggest dog? I think you should pair him up with my other love, Baron, because he's fearless and not too much older than Creighton. Baron can introduce Creighton to the various adventures and cuddle techniques at the Ranch. My wish for Creighton is that he lives a long, happy and pain-free life with his new family!
Posted by: Amy | April 03, 2008 at 03:13 AM
My heart just melts looking at such a cutie-pie!:-)
I look forward to hearing that Creighton has passed his surgery with flying colours and is no longer in any pain.
In the meantime, I'll keep him (and you) in my thoughts and prayers.
Posted by: Carla Polastro-Nigro | April 03, 2008 at 03:11 AM
Just looking at those pictures of cutie-pie Creighton lifts my spirits! He sure has mastered "the face", hasn't he? - and i'm sure no one will be able to resist him, with or without eyeballs in his sockets!
Wishing Creighton a long, happy, bouncy, HEALTHY life!!!
Posted by: maggie | April 03, 2008 at 02:21 AM
How terribly sad that his previous owner let his eyes go so long without care. Poor baby. NO puppy should have to endure such pain. But we all know thats hes in the right place now and will get the love & care he needs to have a Great life. Welcome, Creighton. You are loved already. I will pray for a successful surgery and a quick and gentle recovery.
Posted by: Barbara Arenal | April 03, 2008 at 01:15 AM
Creighton is so incredibly cute. I'm glad he's going to get relief from the pain. He'll be in my thoughts tomorrow.
Posted by: yoonamaniac | April 02, 2008 at 10:16 PM
Another cutie-pie at the ranch! I want to reach in and hug him!
Posted by: Shirley & James, Portland, OR | April 02, 2008 at 09:25 PM