A Good Ending to a Bad Day

Yesterday evening, Justin and I took Lexie up to his parents' house without her sisters.  We thought maybe the little solo adventure might raise her spirits.  However, as usual, when she got into the back seat of the car, she just laid down and didn't even bother sticking her head out the window. 

When we got to his parents' house, she did really well navigating through the unfamiliar environment, and was even kind of lovey with Justin's folks, which kind of surprised me since she's only been around them maybe twice before.  We had brought some of her canned food with us because we were hoping that the excitement might spark her appetite a little, but she wasn't interested in the dog food at all.  As we were eating the delicious chicken enchiladas that Justin's mother had made for dinner, however, Lexie seemed to perk up a bit.  She seemed interested in the smell of our dinner, so finally Justin said he was going to give her his leftovers to see if she'd eat.  Boy, did she ever!  In fact, she seemed to enjoy the enchiladas so much that Justin's mother told him to go fix her another plate, which Lexie also eagerly gobbled up!  I cannot tell you how happy this made me.  :)

After we ate dinner, we went out to the back yard for a little impromptu photo session.  (Disclaimer:  Justin did not want to be a photo because he is several months past due for a haircut, but we all insisted he be in at least one.)

After taking photos, we went back inside to visit for a bit, and Lexie made herself right at home.  I don't know how she knew that Justin's mother had laid out a big comforter on the living room floor for her, but Lexie walked right over to it and plopped down.  In fact, when it was time to go, I had a hard time getting her off the comforter to put on her harness.  I don't think she wanted to leave!

The best part of the evening, though, was the ride home.  Once again, we rolled down the windows for Lexie, but expected her to just lay down in the back seat.  Instead, I turned around to find her doing this:

She was smiling with her head out the back window!!!  Justin and I were beaming!  In fact, we circled the block three more times just because we didn't want her to stop smiling.  I tried to grab a photo of her with my Nikon, but by the time I had it set up she had relaxed a little and wasn't as smiley.  She still looks very happy and peaceful, though:

Needless to say, Lexie was pretty worn out after such an exciting evening.  She barely even noticed when our friends came over to watch HBO shows.  However, she did let out a few of her signature moans and groans to let people know that she would like to be rubbed and pet, which also made me smile.  At one point, Sam laid down near Lexie on the floor, and Lexie kept moaning and wiggling closer and closer to Sam.  She wanted to cuddle with her so badly!  Finally, she made her way over to Sam's paws and laid her chin on them, and that seemed to be enough to satisfy her cuddle needs:

I went to bed a very happy momma last night.  This morning, Lexie still didn't want to eat very much, but I managed to get her to take her antibiotics and one Tramadol.  I asked Justin to see if he could get her to eat some more, and I told him I was going to leave it up to him whether or not to give her another Tramadol (her usual dose is two every 8-12 hours, but we really would like to start weening her, as I'm curious if the pain medication is contributing to her decreased appetite and general shakiness/weakness). 

She seemed pretty alert this morning, though.  While I had her outside on her leash, I noticed a girl walking towards us in the distance.  I didn't want to make eye contact with the girl when she walked by us, though, because I was afraid she may stop to talk to us and then Lexie would bark at her.  So, I just kept talking to Lou as the girl approached, and I noticed that Lexie was sort of "watching" her as she walked by.  I thought, "Wow!  That's pretty amazing.  She didn't even try to bark!"  So, I glanced up at the walker, and it turned out to be Kristy, who was standing there looking kind of offended that I was ignoring her.  I laughed and apologized, explaining that I didn't recognize her from a distance and also explaining why I was trying not to make eye contact.  As Kristy and I were speaking, Lexie started walking towards her.  When she reached Kristy's legs, she gave her a little "Dobe hug" to her shins, which kind of melted me a little.  Lexie really does love Kristy.  (Please check out Kristy's blog, which is full of nutrition, fitness, and even financial tips, as well as some funny little stories about her day-to-day happenings.)

Anyway, what I'm learning is that there are probably going to be "good days" and "bad days" for quite a while until all this dust finally settles.  I was expecting more of a steady progression from "bad" to "good" days during Lexie's recovery process, but it just doesn't seem to be working out that way.  If only all of her bad days could end as well as yesterday.  Here's hoping they will from now on.  :)

Making Momma Worry

Yeah, I'm worrying a little about my Lou.  She's not eating, she's losing weight, but she's also drinking a TON of water and peeing inside the house.  I thought her increased thirst and decreased appetite might be side effects to her Tramadol (pain medication).  We tried cutting back her pain medication for about a day, but then the following night I noticed she was trembling.  So, we decided we might be trying to ween her off the pain medication too soon and resumed giving her two Tramadol in the morning and two more at night.

As for her desire to eat, it's hard to tell if she's just being picky or if she's genuinely not hungry.  Justin and I ate dinner at restaurants almost every night this past week so that the girls wouldn't smell our food and think that they had any food options other than their own dog food.  Despite our brilliant plan, Lexie never seemed interested in eating her own food.  I got her to nibble some dog food a few nights ago, but it wasn't much, and I didn't see her eat again for two whole days afterwards.  Obviously, this started to worry us, so Justin and I decided last night to give into Lexie's "hunger strike," if that's what it was, to see if she'd eat some people food.  If she turned her nose up at the people food, then we'd know there was a more serious problem happening.

Well, after Lexie anxiously gobbled up an entire package of faux crab meat and two slices of American cheese last night, we've determined that she does still have an appetite after all.  Now, the question is how do we get her to start eating dog food again?!?!  We've thought about buying some canned food and mixing it in with her dry food, but you have to remember that Jocie and Sam are going to want to eat the canned food, too, and canned food is more expensive than dry food.  Therefore, we're kind of afraid to "spoil" them on canned food, as well.  Lexie HAS to eat, though!  She's lost so much weight that I noticed her harness is actually falling off of her now.  She also seems kind of weak on her feet.  

Then, there's the issue of Lexie using the dining room rug as her new toilet.  This is infuriating me, but I have no idea what to do!  The couple of times that I've actually caught her peeing on the rug, I've told her "no," rushed her outside, and then praised her like crazy when she finished peeing in the grass.  I just feel bad yelling at her too much because she drinks a TON of water, so I know she must have to pee a lot, and we're not there at all hours of the day to let her out every time she needs to go.  I'm just worried that maybe this amount of thirst, especially coupled with a decreased appetite, could possibly be a sign that something isn't right.  On the other hand, I'm also worried that she might get into the habit of peeing in the dining room whenever she has to go instead of trying to hold it until I can take her outside.

UUUuuuuuuugggghhhhh!!!!!!  

On a better note, her incisions are looking fantastic.  The swelling over her right eye is looking better and better every day.  Here is a comparison of how she looked Monday compared to how she looked yesterday:

You can see how much the swelling has gone down, and also how her eyes are kind of "sinking in" now.  I just wish I could be happier about the healing progress, but for the time being I'm just too worried about everything else.  She does have an appointment to have her stitches removed this coming Wednesday, though, so I plan to talk about all these concerns with Dr. Ellis.  

Switching to Weekly Updates (Plus, a Funny Little Story)

I meant to mention this in my post yesterday, but since there haven't been any major developments or emergencies with Lexie over the past week (thank GOD!), I probably will not be giving daily updates from this point on, unless something out of the ordinary happens, of course.  Instead, I will probably start posting weekly updates about Lou's recovery and adjustment to her new life as a blind Dobe.  This way, I won't wear you out with boring posts like, "Lexie ate, drank, slept, and used the bathroom a couple times today.  Tune in tomorrow to see what exciting things she does next!" 

I will tell you that the swelling above her right eye is now showing definite signs of improvement, which is quite a relief.  Her left eye must have had a tad bit of swelling, too, which I didn't really notice until yesterday.  It's not that I noticed her left eye was swollen, though, it's more like I've noticed that the swelling must be going away because now her left eye is actually starting to look a little "sunken in."  It's a little weird, I'm not going to lie, but at least her incision in that eye looks really, really good. 

Another weird thing I've noticed is that, even though Lexie no longer has any eyes in her sockets, the muscles around her eyes still move sometimes, as though she's looking around.  In fact, when I first noticed this the other night, it was actually quite a funny moment.  (I'm a little embarrassed to share this, but it's too funny to keep to myself.) 

Now, admittedly, I was a bit tipsy when this happened.  Justin and I were having a nice, relaxing evening at home, and I had probably had two or three glasses of wine by this point.  I decided to use the flashlight app on my iPhone to check Lexie's incisions, and when I held the flashlight up to her face, I noticed her eye muscles move.  Obviously, her eye muscles were probably just reacting to the sensation of something being held close to her face all of a sudden, but in my tipsy state I actually thought that she had reacted to the light.  So, I said to Justin, "Hey, are we sure that Lexie can't see anything?"  (Mind you, her eyeballs have been surgically removed.)  Justin immediately burst into laughter, then quickly regained his composure and said, in a very calm and reassuring manner, "I am absolutely, 100% positive."

Okay, okay, so maybe it wasn't the smartest question I've ever asked, but at least it's given us something to laugh about.  :)

One Week Post-Surgery

Well, we've made it a WHOLE WEEK without having to rush Lexie to the vet!  Hooray!!!  I am also happy to report that, as of this morning, the swelling above Lexie's right eye looks like it may have gone down a tiny bit.  It hasn't improved much, by any means, but some progress is better than no progress.  I'm not worried about it being an abscess, either, because it's not tender, it's not seeping at all, and it doesn't feel warm to the touch.  In fact, her incisions actually look really good!  She's such a good patient, too.  She never protests when I apply a warm compress to her eye, and last night she even let me clean some of the dried scabs off of her cheek and the bridge of her nose without whining or even moving a muscle.  I figure Lexie's been poked and prodded so much at this point that she probably understands that people are actually trying to help her whenever they mess with her face and eyes like that.

As far as adjusting to being blind, Lou is definitely getting around the house a little better than she was a week ago.  She still gets a little lost from time to time, and she still refuses to go out onto the back deck or use the bathroom in the back yard for some unknown reason; however, she does a much better job of finding the water bowl in the kitchen all by herself, and Lexie has even established a preferred route from the kitchen into the living room, which is through the dining room. 

Lexie is also finally becoming more confident about climbing onto the couch, which makes me very happy because that has always been her favorite spot to snuggle and sleep.  For a while, she would only get up on the couch at night, after Justin and I had gone to bed.  We had tried coaxing her onto the sofa with us several times over the last few days, but she would always just lay down by our feet instead.  Then, last night this happened:



I still tear up when I watch that video.  Haha! 

We also decided not to give Lexie any pain medication last night, as she seemed more alert and hasn't really been showing any signs of pain (when we first brought her home, we knew it was time for her pain medication whenever she would kind of start trembling).  Our plan is to cut back on her Tramadol and only give it to her once in the morning because it will help her sleep while we're at work.  If she starts showing any signs of pain, of course, we will give her another dose at night, but I really don't think we'll need to.

So, overall, Lexie's first week of recovery has gone fairly smoothly.  We're still about another week away from being able to have her stitches removed, but in the meantime these are the next signs of progress that I'd like to see:

• I'm hoping that the swelling above Lexie's right eye will greatly improve within the next week.
• I want Lexie to eat better (we're completely cutting out table food for all the girls). 
• I'd love to see Lexie's mood improve.
• We'd eventually like to ween her off the pain medications completely.
• I expect Lexie to become even more familiar with the layout of the house and bump into walls, furniture, etc. much less.

A Little Forward and a Little Backward

I'm definitely considering Lexie's unwillingness to go into the back yard to use the bathroom a step backward for now.  I don't understand it.  She managed to find her way around the back yard before her enucleation (when she first went blind), and even after her enucleation Lexie has gone down the back steps into the yard, used the bathroom, and found her way back up the steps without much difficulty, but only a couple of times.  Since her enucleation surgery, she just does not want to come out onto the back deck, let alone find her way down the steps to the yard.  I just don't get it!

The only way we've been able to get Lexie to use the bathroom since she's come home from MedVet is to put on her harness and walk her out to the grassy median in front of the house.  For some reason, she has no problem manipulating the two sets of steps leading from our front door and down to the walkway, so I'm totally puzzled about why she won't do the same for the steps in the back yard.


Anyway, Justin and I had the best, laziest Saturday with our Lou.  She spent most of the day zonked out due to her pain medication, but during the times she was awake she was all smiles.

All day yesterday, Justin and I tried to get Lexie to get up on the couch with us, which has always been her favorite place to sleep and cuddle.  However, she just seemed too nervous to try.  This morning, however, I came downstairs and found her sound asleep on the couch.  Her E-collars were on the floor, so I checked her stitches immediately and was relieved to find them perfectly intact.  Then, after replacing her hard E-collar, I proceeded to cuddle her like crazy on the couch for the next three hours.

While we were cuddling, the "old Lou" made her first appearance since before her surgeries.  One of the reasons why Lexie earned her reputation as being "our little turd" is because of how demanding she can be when it comes to receiving cuddles and attention.  As you can see in the following video, if I stopped petting her for more than a few seconds, she'd start groaning in protest:



By the way, I realize that some people may find Lexie's incisions a little hard to look at, but, if it makes you feel any better, her incisions look really good, especially compared to after her last surgery.  Here is a side-by-side comparison:

So, I guess that's the update for now.  She's happy and her wounds all look good, but we haven't made a ton of forward progress yet in terms of her adjustment to blindness.  It's only been two days, though.  I can tell you this much:  it's going to be SO HARD for me to leave Lexie and go to work tomorrow.  I'm probably going to worry about her all day, but at least Justin always comes home for lunch and he can check on her for me.