Gwydion’s Eyes

This photo turned out more interesting than I expected (clicking on the small pic will cause a larger version to open in a new window). I tried to take it at about the same time and with about the same light as the last eye pic, mostly to verify to myself that the “brownness” is going away. If you compare it to the pic on January 15th, I think I’m right. (If the picture isn’t showing up, the post title link will take you to the page where it will.)

There are 2 other interesting things about this pic. If you look at the “brown” eye, you will see a little fleck on the lower edge. This rarely shows up in pics, but it’s been there for years. At some point in his life, he must have scratched the cornea, and this little bit of pigment is the scar it left. It has never seemed to bother him, so I’ve never done anything about it (considering his reaction to eye surgery, I’m glad I didn’t, as I doubt we could have done this twice!)

The other interesting thing is the “eyeshine” in the blue eye. I’ve noticed that his eyeshine looks different after the lens implant. I see the red reflection more often than before (it was always there, just didn’t see it all the time), it’s more “sparkly” than it was before, and the “highlight” is more sharply defined. I think you can see that in this photo (at least a little bit).

I am really hoping that we are told to start tapering off the cone on our next eye visit. Gwydion hates it, Gwen hates it, I hate it, it’s just miserable. All the humans are getting bashed in the back of the knees a lot, and since Gwydion is not normally such a klutz, I’m beginning to think it’s deliberate <G>

Not too bad, actually. I ended up leaving him at home. Yesterday (Wednesday), I crated Gwydion before I left. Have I mentioned that he is insulted by crating? He’s OK being crated away from home, and he sleeps in his crate (with the door open), but he hasn’t been locked in his crate at home in years. The first thing he does is to bump the door with his forehead. If that doesn’t work, he bangs on it with his paw. Then he barks.

“Excuse me! Did you realize that this door was locked? Surely that is an error on your part, as this door in never locked. What’s the big idea? Come back and open this door for me. Right now. Come on, you know this isn’t right, why am I locked in????”

I came home to give him his drops during my lunch break. Mark had been running errands and in and out, and must have taken pity on him, because Gwydion was babygated in the living room by himself. That seemed to work OK, so I left him that way when I went back to work.

Today (Thursday) was a bit more complicated, as Jess needed my car for school, and Mark needed his car, so I got a ride to to work and was then stuck there. I showed Mark how to put the drops in, and he did the mid afternoon shift. That seemed to work well, although I spent the day worrying about them both (gotta stop that).

In different lights, it seems that Gwydion’s “red” eye is looking slightly better. It looks “green” instead of “brown” much of the time, and there is less of the cloudy dark stuff at the bottom. I’ll have to see if I can get another picture.

It went pretty well. We were almost late because of an accident on the freeway (happens when it’s an hour drive), but we got there just fine. Gwydion got to have his cone off while we were in the exam room, so I rubbed his neck and shoulders and ears really good while it was off.

Gwydion’s “brown” eye looked all weird again when we got there. When I talked to the tech, she said that it’s kinda like a snow globe. Especially overnight, the floating “bits” tend to settle toward the lower part of the eye. If he bounces around a lot (which he does in the car), they get all loosened up and covering his eye again. (I should have offered to e-mail them a copy of the pic!)

So, first things first. Eye pressure is OK. A bit less than normal on his “good” eye (but up from last Tuesday), and lower for the other eye. We’re changing drops again. We have to finish the neo-poly-dex stuff (not much of it) and go to a plain steroid (pred), but not as often (4 times a day instead of every 2 hours). This will probably affect his BGs (joy). He is also to get something called mydriacyl in just the right eye. The doctor is concerned that his eye isn’t dilating and contracting as much as it normally would because of the blood in the eye, which might cause it to get “stuck” contracted (something to do with the healing process – again, see Google if you want to gory details). Anyway, these drops will dilate his pupil (keep it moving), so he is to get them twice a day in just the one eye, but be sure to leave some time between this drop and the other.

We finished the oral antibiotics today, no refill on those. He’s to keep getting the rimadyl (one pill to toss in his food instead of two – yea!) They keep asking how he is eating – he eats like a Lab <G> The day that he doesn’t eat is a great cause for concern, and all my vets will hear about it. No other changes though.

I’m still trying to decide what to do with him when I go back to work. With the change in drops, I could run home during my lunch. And Mark will be home starting on Wednesday (his work schedule is one week on, one off). I don’t think I want to chance Gwydion being loose/unsupervised while wearing the cone (he still bashes into stuff frequently), so he either needs to be crated (which he finds insulting) or hanging out with his dad. So I’ll have to see what Mark’s plans are, and then decide what to do from there. I probably could take him to work too, but I’m not sure if that might not be more stressful (worrying about his BG, where to put him, etc and so on). I’ll have to decide by tomorrow, because I want to call work ahead of time and ask. (Jessica says everyone at work has been asking about him :-)

More or less :-)

I’m sorry for not writing yesterday. We had company, which was good for both of us. I have two dog friends that I get together with regularly. Usually Gwydion and I “go there,” but I didn’t think I wanted to drive him around more than necessary, so they came here instead. It was a nice visit, and Gwydion enjoyed it too.

One of my visiting friends is a vet tech, and has diabetes herself (I’m sure I drove her crazy right after Gwydion was diagnosed), and she thought Gwydion looked good for being less than a week out of surgery. She also encouraged me to be braver about giving him more insulin, as she finds that she usually needs more when she isn’t feeling well. So, we’re doing that.

When I got up this morning and stared at Gwydion’s eyes, I though his right eye looked better, so we have a picture today (clicking on the small pic will cause a larger version to open in a new window) . It is still very brown, but if you look at the pic, you’ll see that it’s lighter on the top than it is at the bottom. I’m taking this as a good sign that the blood is starting to clear and it will soon be blue again. (If the picture isn’t showing up, the post title link will take you to the page where it will.) Our next check-up is tomorrow (Monday) afternoon, so we’ll see what the doctor has to say.

Ear rubbing has been a “big deal” lately. Gwydion really likes to have his ears rubbed and scratched really hard. Shoulders are good too. Might just be because of the harness and cone, but he’s really enjoying it and solicits often.

This is going to sound very odd, but I think Gwydion smells different. I’m not sure if it’s because he’s on antibiotics or if it’s the eye drops or what, but he smells different, and I can’t even explain exactly how. It’s not “bad” necessarily, just not like he normally does.

The other thing I’m noticing is that his eye shine seems different in the eye with the lens implant. It seems brighter or sharper or something. Luckily it only shows when light hits his eye just right, otherwise it looks like his normal wise old eye.

I want to thank everyone for their encouragement. This has been rougher than I expected, and it helps to have people tell you that they are behind and supporting you.

I really thought about not doing an entry today, as I’m afraid it will just turn into a whine. So I’m going to try to just list the positives first.

Gwydion is figuring out how to manipulate the cone. Who’d have thunk my mild mannered guy could turn devious on me?

• He was trying to scratch his ear, and managed to get his rear paw on the “ear side” of the cone.
• He’s figured out how to rub his face on blankets and cushions (and furniture). The only way I can think to prevent it is if were to wear a “bubble.”
• He’s gotten pretty good at following along behind you and knocking it into the back of your knees.

Hmmmm … well, maybe that’s it for the quasi positives.

His BG was higher today, even though I had increased his insulin by half a unit. So I decided to decrease it tonight, and see what that brings. Trying to regulate him has been one of the most frustrating things I’ve ever attempted. I am always so jealous of people who tell newbies that it “might take a while” to regulate their pet, and then go on to say how their dog took “a whole month.” We’ve been doing this for 3 years and 4 months, and we’re no closer than when we started.

I can’t tell if his eyes are bothering him or not. He’s rubbing after the drops again. Not so bad as yesterday, but more than I would like to see. I can’t decide if there is anything else odd looking about his eyes, or if I’m just doing the “worried mom” routine again. It doesn’t help that I’m so squeamish about this sort of thing (I don’t dare go googling for symptoms, I’d end up making myself sick thinking about all the possibilities). I’m also sitting here shaking the bottle and trying to decide how much more is in it, and whether or not I need to worry about getting more in the morning <sigh>

I think I’m whining. I’d better stop. My poor puppy. I feel so horrible for putting him through all this. I hope the results are worth it in the end.