taking a break

wednesday update: they insist Trout has glaucoma. they say we have caught it very early and i should treat her with the drops at least once a day in each eye. most dogs with glaucoma eventually lose their eyesight but since we have started treatment early it could be a while before that happens. of course i am brokenhearted. all i can do now is make sure she has the best life a dog can. that means lots of hiking in the cohuttas, fishin trips and good food. i feel like throwing up. thanks to all, much love, chickory

********************************************************************



UPDATE: on saturday afternoon i was dismayed when i would throw a stick for Trout, she didnt see where it landed and had to find the stick by scent. That night, she seemed to be looking around the cabin as if something was flying around inside. there wasnt anything. she would just stare hard at things -like this one painting of mine - for the longest time. of course i freaked out because the behavior was so weird. and also because the vet told me that the eye damage happens very rapidly if its not caught in time and in my case it had been almost 24 hours -too long.

she had at that point been on the medications 24 hours. By Sunday afternoon, she seemed to see better and the bulging in her eyes had gone down. my theory is that because of the bulging, her vision was impaired. I saw the eye specialist today. She couldnt find anything wrong, and because Trout has been on meds now 3 full days the eye pressure readings were normal. SO, we dont know anything more at this point. What we are going to do is wean her off the meds and take an eye pressure reading every two days. if it goes back up, its glaucoma. if not, something else has happened although the doc was mystified as to what that might be. The eye specialist said Trouts eyes looked normal. they arent though. they are bigger and darker. they are slightly too big for the socket.

im not as scared as i was saturday, but the doc said not to get too jacked up until we get new pressure readings off meds. so thats where i am with this.
THANK YOU all so much for your kind words. I pray Trout gets to continue her life as the sighted country dog streaking across fields and fording streams.

******************

posted on saturday evening:

my dog trout is going blind before my eyes. it has happened so fast i dont know if it can be arrested. The diagnosis is glaucoma. i started the drops but it may be too late already. i will see a specialist monday but watching her today, i was not encouraged. she is only 3 and a half years old. forgive me if i dont visit your blogs for a while. thanks for all the kind words on the previous post.

-chickory