• Pirate Pup

    Ruth & Rosie - October 2014; Photo by Julia Kolsrud
    Ruth & Rosie – October 2014; Photo by Julia Kolsrud

    A few weeks ago Rosie’s droopy basset eyes were droopier than usual – so much that the skin above her eyes covered her eyes completely and she seemed to be in pain. We went to the vet and her first concern was that Rosie’s valley fever was back. She drew blood and sent us home with some pain meds. Two days later when Rosie’s eyes weren’t better, the vet called us back in and determined that Rosie didn’t have a recurrence of valley fever. She had glaucoma. Rosie was completely and permanently blind in her right eye and the pressure in that eye was 90. (20 and below is normal; anything above 40 is painful.)

    The vet put her on heavy duty IV medication that started to bring her eye pressure down. She sent us home with five new medications – one for pain, two for her right eye pressure, and two to maintain her sight in her left eye. We went back for a follow-up two days later, and when they checked her right eye pressure, it was back up to 80. At that point, I accepted that Rosie’s right eye served no function and was only causing her pain, so I scheduled surgery to remove it.

    Rosie’s surgery day was pretty uneventful as surgery days go. I dropped her off at the vet early in the morning and headed to my office where I had scheduled myself a full day of meetings to keep my mind occupied. The vet called at 3pm to say the surgery was a success and that I could pick her up in an hour when she was a little less groggy.

    Rosie is so cute when she’s gorked. They had to shave the hair around her right eye and put her in a cone to keep her from scratching at her stitches or bumping things with her sealed eye while it was healing. The cone makes Rosie’s head about three times its usual size. It’s so big she couldn’t jump into a car so I had to lift her 65-pound body into the backseat. She has to wear the cone until the stitches come out.

    Rosie's First Night After Surgery
    Rosie’s First Night After Surgery

    Rosie is adjusting well to navigating the world in her cone. She learned the hard way the first night that when the cone bumps into something, stop walking. Poor thing yelped when she bumped her eye on a door frame. It took a few days for her to learn how to eat and drink with the cone – to drop the front edge low enough that she can reach the bowl with her mouth – and how to lift her head and cone when stepping up onto a curb. With her little legs, she often bumps the cone against the ground and she’s taken to using a scoop motion so she can smell the grass on our walks without getting stuck.

    Thankfully she was allowed to come to work every day during the initial healing stage. She has medications that need to be administered every eight hours. It’s been interesting to watch the skin around her right eye turn dark purple-red with bruising.

    Except for the stitches and the cone, Rosie has mostly returned to her old self. She wags her tail like mad when anyone gives her attention or when we go on our daily walks. She’s super alert and interested in the neighborhood dogs, though I have to keep them away from her face. It’s funny to watch her try to scratch her ear through the cone. (Yes, I scratch it for her.)

    It’s been wonderful to see how concerned and loving everyone’s been during this time – both in real life and online. I was very touched when Rosie and I woke up on Saturday morning and saw that are neighbors had left a get well card and a bag of dog treats on our door. They have an American bulldog/Shar Pei mix that adores Rosie.

    What’s next? The glaucoma will likely take the vision in Rosie’s left eye someday, and she is on medication to delay that. Her stitches will come out and she’ll be out of the cone in the middle of the month and then she’ll be my happy One-eyed Pirate Pup.