Recovery

After Louie's operation we had a few pretty rough (ruff?) days. Louie was tired, uncomfortable and all sorts of drugged up. He hadn't ever had pain meds before. As sad as it was to see him hurting, it was also funny to see him a little loopy. He deserved a little mind vacation from the pain.

After those first few days things really starting looking up. Louie gradually came out of the fog he was in and starting acting like his old, wonderful self. I started to notice pretty shortly after that his eyes were shrinking. As you've seen from the earlier photos, Louie has large bulbous, protruding eyes. They are cloudy and seem to be constantly weeping

Louie's swollen eyes started to change quickly.

I almost forgot what his eyes should really look like. They've always been bulgy. Louie is a pit-lab mix. He is not a pug, boxer or other brachycephalic breed who tend to have bulging eyes and commonly have eye problems. He should have eyes like his step (dog) brother Snorp.
Yes, that's right. The dog my husband has had since I met him is named Snorp. I will give him the proper introduction he deserves very soon. Snorp has pretty brown almond shaped eyes, gentle and emotional. He's a lab mix too. Louie's eyes will never be that, but at least they won't be sticking out of his face! I always worried about injury from just bumping into something, even something flat. His eyes were so full I felt like they could just pop at any moment.

Louie, Snorp, Paul and I are a very lucky bunch.

We have wonderful people around us. Our friends and family were very supportive during this difficult time. Everyone who meets Louie falls in love with him. People are just amazed and inspired by him. He just has a great attitude, he's very friendly. I had the idea to send out thank you cards. I had the even better idea to make them myself and have them star Louie himself! How could I go wrong? I got right on it. I ran upstairs and grabbed the following:

• 1 pair of scissors
• 1 old peachy folder
• 1 large permanent marker
• 1 hole punch
• 1shoelace
• my camera

Oh, and who can forget the most important part? I couldn't because 'Mr. Most Important' followed me all the way upstairs and then all the way back downstairs when I was gathering the items for our project. I could never forget about Louie, he's always reminding me he's there by bumping into my legs or stepping on my feet.

There came a time when I just accepted that part of loving a big blind dog
is having bruises on the tops of my feet.

I cut the peachy folder in half and cut off the inner flap that would hold the paper when used for it's original purpose. I wrote 'Thank You!' in bold letters on the white inside with the black marker and punched two holes in the top of the sign I'd created. I tied the shoestring in through one hole, then I asked Louie to sit and adjusted the string to the correct length around his neck before tying the other side.

I had Louie sit outside on the back porch. Louie did as he always did when I told him to sit when we were on the back porch. Louie walked forward until he felt the edge under his front feet, lined straight up with the edge, backed up one step and sat down. I figure this way, he knows where the cliff is so when he gets back up he won't accidentally step off.

'Good sit. Stay.' I said to him. I stepped back from Louie and the porch, standing in my lawn. As I brought my camera up to take a shot, I looked at this beautiful dog. This sincere look in his otherwise vacant eyes. I was so filled with love for him. I couldn't help but think to myself:

"We should have been homeless beggers, we could make so much money.
Look at this guy! We'd be rich by now!"

Thank You!

Thanks to all our friends and family! Extra special thanks to Dr. Todd Perry DVM and everyone at Fountain Veterinary Hospital in Bellingham, WA.

Thanks to my husband Paul, you're the best step-pup pep-pep ever!