Rolling Dog Farm

Complications

It's not as bad as it looks, and now we think we know what's going on. Darla had begun bleeding from her eyes during the process of administering the course of topical medications. At first we couldn't tell where the blood was coming from, because it would just starting running down from the corners of her eyes. Her eyeballs seemed fine, and we eventually determined the bleeding was from the eyelids themselves. But why?

I emailed that photo and others to the ophthalmologist in Burlington, Dr. Vivian Jamieson, and her vet tech Rachel, early yesterday morning. (They were off Monday.) An hour later Rachel called and put Dr. Jamieson on the line. In her 30 years of practice, she said she'd never seen anything like this before. I said, "Well, we always like to give our veterinarians something new and different." She was worried that the bleeding was from the corneal suture sites, but I assured her that the eyeballs looked fine, we saw no bleeding from those locations, and that Darla wasn't squinting and tearing (which are signs of pain and discomfort with the eye). Indeed, once the bleeding stopped -- and it always did, usually about 30 minutes after giving her the drops -- she looked quite normal, and she held her eyes open. They were bright and clear.

After some discussion, she concluded it was probably the glaucoma medications that were causing a reaction of some sort with her eyelid tissue. Now, this is a problem because in the post-op phase there is always the risk of pressure spikes, which is why glaucoma meds are on the roster. And in one test on Darla last week, Dr. Jamieson found that the drainage angles in her eyes were constricted, which meant she was already at somewhat higher risk for glaucoma in the future. Darla isn't pre-ordained to develop glaucoma later, but it does mean this is something that needs careful and sustained monitoring, and that Darla might need to stay on glaucoma meds as a preventative measure long-term if her pressures begin climbing.

In the meantime, we have bleeding eyes to deal with. So Dr. Jamieson decided to have us hold off on administering the glaucoma medications and see if the bleeding stops. The key to being able to do this was our ability to check her eye pressures, which we can do because we have the diagnostic tool, the Tono-Pen. Dr. Jamieson asked me to start checking her pressures within six hours of her last glaucoma medications, and to report our results to her. Alayne took this photo of me testing Darla's eye pressures yesterday evening:

The great news:  Normal pressures!  I tested her eyes again this morning and we still had normal pressures. So this was a real relief. Rachel told me today they were very happy to hear it and that we should continue to withhold the glaucoma meds and monitor her eye pressures daily. 

(Speaking of troublesome eyes, yes, those are glasses I'm wearing ... just for reading. I call them my "granny glasses," and I need them for this kind of work now. <Sigh>.)

I emailed Dr. Jamieson last night high-resolution images of Darla's eyes showing the corneal suture sites, so she could see for herself how clean and intact they appeared. I also sent her a photo of Darla as she normally looks, with her eyes wide-open and comfortable.

It appears that Darla is simply having an extremely odd and rare reaction to some eye drops. If she does develop glaucoma in the future, we may be in a pickle, but for now, Darla says, "hold the pickle, just give me a cookie."

I Can See You Now. So Hand It Over.

This girl who came to us a few months ago completely blind can now see again! Yes, Darla's cataract surgery was a success and her vision is restored. I took that photo of her at lunch on Sunday, where she was giving me the (new) stare-down over what she thought I should be sharing with her. (Share I did.)

It used to be that when I was finished eating and would have a treat or two left for her, I'd put it on a fork, bring it over to her, and say "gentle ... gentle" as I guided it towards her mouth. She would carefully open her mouth and gently take the morsel. I learned on Saturday, as she suddenly leaped up to grab the morsel off the fork, that I need to update the technique.

I went back to Burlington on Friday to pick her up at the eye clinic. I was in the exam room, going over the discharge instructions with the vet tech, Rachel, when the ophthalmologist, Dr. Jamieson, brought Darla down the hall and opened the door. I looked at Darla and called her name. "Darla, honey, it's me!"  She looked up and her tail started wagging. I crouched down, and she walked right over to me and pressed her head into my lap. She stood there, tail wagging, leaning into me. I don't know what was going through her head, but my emotions were getting the better of me and my eyes started welling up. I just couldn't believe we were able to give this beautiful girl her eyesight back.

Rachel could tell I was teary, so to lighten things up, I said to Darla, "Well, am I as handsome as you thought?" No response from Darla. Rachel laughed.

A short while later, Darla and I were in the van and headed back to New Hampshire.

After we returned to the farm and I let her out in the front yard, she went over to the water bucket and started drinking. Blind Sophie came over to check her out. Darla looked down at this long-haired, low-slung Dachshund, cocked her head, and stared at Sophie with this puzzled looked. You could tell she was thinking, "Oh, so that's what you look like!  Who knew?"

You may notice Darla is not wearing a cone in the photo. The clinic staff found that Darla completely freaks out when you try and put a cone on her. (We'd never needed to do it before.) She gets so stressed and upset that the doctor decided to leave it off. Fortunately, Darla has not pawed at her eyes or rubbed them, so we have (so far) been able to leave her cone-free.

She's on a lengthy regimen of eye drops and other meds. Here's the daily checklist for the next few weeks (click to enlarge):

Darla had a pressure spike in her right eye after the surgery, which is why she's on glaucoma medications as well. Those meds have kept her pressure normal, but she may need to stay on them. I am fortunately able to monitor her eye pressure daily with our Tono-Pen, so we'll know if things start getting out of whack.

We're still getting used to Darla being able to see. The one time she ventured up the stairs when she was blind, she was too terrified to come down them. I had to carry her down. But last night, when I carried blind Widget up the stairs to her room, I heard footsteps coming up behind me. I looked down and there was Darla, happily following me. I thought, "Uh oh, how will she do with the stairs going down?" After putting Widget in her crate, I went back down the stairs, nervously looking over my shoulder. No need to worry: here came Darla, trotting right along behind me. 

This morning, when I came upstairs to my office to write this post, Darla came with me. I don't think she was actually following me, however, but the oatmeal cookie I was holding. Satisfied that I had nothing left to share, she retreated down the stairs to her chair.

As I've said before, we don't often get the chance to restore vision, but when we do, it's a life-changer for these wonderful dogs. It's thanks to all of you, because it's your donations that make this kind of miracle possible. On behalf of Darla and the rest of us here, thank you!

No News

I won't have any blog posts for the rest of this week because a) I am fresh out of material at the moment and b) I will be on the road to Burlington tomorrow and Friday to take Darla to the ophthalmologist. Yes, she is finally having her cataract surgery to restore her vision! So I will have an update on her posted for Monday. See you then!

When Close Isn't Close Enough

Alayne got this shot of Widget late last week, during the worst of the heat wave. Yes, like the previous post with Aurora, the fan was definitely on but the camera managed to "freeze" the blade. Just before Alayne picked up the camera, Widget's ears were flying out further, but then she dropped her head a bit and lost the lift. Widget's view is that while sticking your entire body immediately in front of the fan is okay, central air conditioning would be a lot better. (Not going to happen, Widge.)

Okay, So It's Not The Beach, But...

I took this photo yesterday afternoon of Aurora cooling off upside down in her basket bed in front of the fan. The fan was indeed on, it's just that this digital SLR camera shoots at such high speed it makes the fan blades look like they're not moving. Believe me, as hot as yesterday was, that fan was going nonstop -- and a certain one-eyed girl was enjoying the breeze! Aurora's comfort was in stark contrast to that of her two humans, who were subsequently outside in the 90° (32° C) heat hilling up potato plants in the field. Oh, well. Someone has to be comfortable, eh?

Camping Out

Widget is the last to eat dinner, always dining alone in the living room. She likes it that way. While she's eating, we're finishing putting the rest of the dogs up for the night. Then, after she's done, Widget heads out into the front yard on these summer evenings, wanders a bit, and ends up camping out at the base of the spruce tree.

We call this her "taking of the night airs," because she loves to sit there, nose up, sniffing around to see what's in the air. Widget knows all the other dogs are inside and she has the yard to herself, which she prefers. If Alayne and I are in good shape on evening chores, we may sit on the front porch for a while, watching the Widge enjoying the fresh air. We imagine that for a blind dog like her, the air is an even more important source of "information" than it is for a sighted dog.

Left to her own devices, on many evenings she'll stay out there long after it gets dark. For Widget, who's been sleeping all the day, the night is still young and the scents so promising. For her personal attendants, who've been working all day, it's time for bed. So one of her attendants will have to get a flashlight to go look for her under the tree. With a "Sorry to interrupt, Widge," we scoop her up and bring her back to the house. 

Contortion

This one belongs in the ever-expanding "odd and awkward sleeping positions" file. That's Dexter, who has recently been sleeping more often like this with his head turned completely backwards. We can't figure out how that could possibly be comfortable, or how he doesn't wake up with his neck stiff as a board, but sleep like this he does. As we say around here when seeing these sorts of inexplicable things, "If it works for them, it works for them." So far we haven't seen anyone else duplicate this particular position. Under the blanket next to Dexter is Wilbur the Chihuahua, who prefers more conventional sleeping positions.

Zach's Eyes

When I took Darla in for her eye exam a few weeks ago, I also took Zach for his exam. We knew he was completely blind when he arrived, and based on our own cursory exam and our long experience in observing blind dogs, I didn't think there was much chance of restoring his vision. That turned out to be the case.

In the photo above, our relief ophthalmologist, Dr. Vivian Jamieson, is using the slit lamp while vet tech Patty holds Zach. Dr. Jamieson concluded that Zach had gone blind from Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome, or SARDS. In her write-up on her findings, she wrote:  "Unfortunately this is a a permanent retinal condition with no treatment to reverse the blindness. Despite multiple research projects on this condition, our profession has come up with more questions than answers to this condition and we still do not know what the underlying cause is."

The good news is that his eyes are comfortable and, barring the development of any other disease, should stay that way. He is one happy boy who has adjusted well to blindness. What he hasn't adjusted to his new diet, however, and he continues to question why he needs to be on one. Hmm.

Blog Break

We're going to take a blog break this week in light of the holiday. We hope all of you have a wonderful Independence Day on July 4th, and to our friends up north, Happy Canada Day today!