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.

She's Home!!!

 I don't even know where to begin.  I am so overwhelmed with emotions right now!

First of all, I got the call from Dr. Corbett saying that Lexie could come home around 10:00 a.m., but I had a few reports I needed to get done at work before I could leave.  I was also crossing my fingers that Justin would be able to take off work early, but by 2:00 p.m. he texted to say his chances of leaving early didn't look good, so I decided to go by myself to pick up Lou.  After all, Dr. Corbett had told me that she thought Lexie would be fine riding in the back seat by herself during the trip home.

So, I arrived at MedVet around 6:30 p.m. this evening, and the first thing they wanted to do was settle my bill, the total of which was significantly higher than I had been anticipating (over $3500!).  However, you guys aren't going to believe this:  I learned that not only did Lexie's local vet donate a large sum towards her MedVet bill, in addition to the generous donations I have received through my and Chad Dressen's blogs, an incredibly kind woman from Canada, named Wanda, whom I have never even had the pleasure of meeting before, had also called MedVet and offered to pay the balance!!!!!  

I.  Am.  Speechless.

Stuff like this doesn't happen in real life, does it?!?!?!  It doesn't!  At least, not in MY real life.  I am still in shock.  I just happened to be standing at the front desk when the billing assistant called Miss Wanda to get her credit card information, so I asked if I could speak to her before the billing assistant hung up.  I'm so glad I was able to thank Wanda myself, although she may not have understood me through all the tears.  I am also  hoping that Dr. Ellis is in the office tomorrow so I can thank her, as well.  I mean, seriously?!?!?!  Seeing so much GOOD and kindness in people has truly been the most beautiful, amazing experience of my life.  It has definitely made me want to strive to be a better human being, and I can only hope many other people who have been following our story feel the same way.  You guys have been nothing short of incredible, and I cannot thank you enough.

Speaking of incredible, Lexie is home!!!!!  In fact, she's laying beside me on the floor as I type this blog.  Justin and I are already so impressed with how well she's adjusting, too.  She's actually getting around BETTER than she was right before her bilateral enucleation surgery.  I wonder if maybe she was depending a little too much on being able to distinguish shadows and light, because now it's obvious she's using her senses of hearing and smell a lot more than she was a week ago.  She's also not walking directly into things like she used to.  She ALMOST walks into things, but as soon as her nose gets really close to the wall, chair, door, etc., she kind of pulls back and changes direction.  Since being home, she's already located the food bowls and had some dinner, she drank about a gallon of water after finding her water bowl all by herself, and I even walked into the foyer at one point to find her cleaning Sam's ears!  She is definitely the same ole Lou she was before this whole ordeal began last month, and I can't tell you how happy that makes me.

The one thing that is kind of worrisome is the fact that she's bleeding a lot from her incisions.  The vet tech at MedVet told me that this is normal, and even brought in the ophthalmologist on duty to confirm this for me.  He said that, as long as the fluid coming from Lexie's eyes was just bloody and not actual blood, then it was perfectly fine.  However, since we've gotten home, I swear it looks more like blood and less like bloody fluid coming from her eyes.  She looks just like a crying vampire from True Blood!  I'm applying a cold compress, like the vet at MedVet suggested, but I just really wish her eyes weren't bleeding at all.  It makes me nervous.  In fact, I ended up asking him if they could wrap Lexie's head like it was when I brought her in on Friday, just for the trip home.  Poor little thing.  She looked like I had kidnapped her.

Other than that, though, my Lou is home and is doing so well!!!!!   Yaaaayyy!!!  Her eyes do look a little funny, like Dr. Corbett had warned me, but I can't help but think she looks adorable.  I was afraid she'd look sad all the time without having any eyes, but she really doesn't.  I mean, come on, that smile is pretty undeniable.  :)  She's also been giving the MOST hugs!  In fact, she hasn't really wanted me to leave her side since I picked her up.  During the first few minutes of the drive home, she kept resting her head on the console between the two front seats just so she could be closer to me.  She didn't look comfortable, though, so I pulled over and brought her up front to the passenger seat beside me.  I laid the seat all the way down, then stuffed a big comforter in the floor, just in case she fell forward at some point.  She curled right up into a little ball, though, and slept as I pet her the whole rest of the way home.  

I am just so relieved to have her with me finally.  If her eye incisions keep bleeding like they have been tonight, I'll probably have Dr. Ellis take a look at her ASAP.  So, I'm not 100% comfortable yet, but I definitely feel a LOT better now that she's home.  :)

Missing Lou (Video)

I called MedVet around 9:00 p.m. last night to check on Lexie and to see if they thought she'd be able to come home today.  The nurse I spoke with said that Lexie is doing "awesome," and added, "She's got a pretty big fan club here."  Once again, the BIGGEST smile spread across my face upon hearing that.  I love that so many people appreciate what a little turd my Lou is (I mean that in the best possible way, of course).

Unfortunately, the nurse wasn't sure if Dr. Corbett wants to let Lexie come home today because she said Lou is still a little anemic and they just want to make sure she's 100% stable before they send her home.  I completely understand and appreciate that, but I'm crossing my fingers REALLY HARD that her blood counts have stabilized because I just want my baby home!!!!!  Dr. Corbett is supposed to call me later this morning and give me an update.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share with you guys a little video of Lexie that I shot last summer after she had given me another big scare.  Lexie had developed pyometra, which I learned when I had to rush her to the Animal Care Clinic after finding her in a pool of blood one morning.  (I hadn't spayed her yet because at one time I thought I may want Lexie to have at least one litter.  I had been meaning to have her spayed after deciding years ago that I didn't want to breed her, but for some reason it just kept slipping my mind.  Needless to say, I felt like the WORST dog-mother in the world that day.)  Lexie had to have emergency surgery because she was in serious condition, and I was terrified that I was going to lose her.

Thankfully, she pulled through that surgery, as well.  In fact, the very next day she felt like a million bucks!  I couldn't believe how quickly she recovered and how spunky she was.   The one thing that REALLY got me, though, was the fact that as soon as she got home from the vet, she sought out her stuffed bunny.  She carried that thing around with her everywhere and cuddled it every time she laid down.

So, here is a short video I shot of Lou and her bunny the DAY AFTER her pyometra surgery that saved her life last summer.  (Note, in addition to "Lou," Lexie's other nicknames are "Moo" and "Moomie."  Don't ask me why.  Oh, and Lexie's eyes always glowed bright green in photos and videos, which is why we sometimes referred to her as a goblin.  haha!)





My little "goblin" with my brother, Zach, and his girlfriend/Lexie's BFF, Kristy:

One more of the "goblin" having dinner: