Surgery Part I

Louie sporting his new Doggles

Louie gets some cool blind guy glasses after his surgery. Doggles to be exact. Goggles for dogs of course.  He had injections in both eyes to stop the production of fluid that causes incredible pain. It was a tough recovery, and he had to go through it twice, but he got to keep his eyeballs and he is now almost totally free of pain! He started surgery in March 2010 and by summer time he was free and clear! Todd at Fountain Vet took great care of Louie and I'm sure Louie misses visiting Todd so often.

By the time I really started to consider surgery, we had been doing eye drops three times a day for three years. He had slowly lost almost all of his vision. What he could see would scare him. Louie would be fine until something caught his eye and he'd be really scared and worried. He couldn't figure out what this was he could see. It seemed as if he was just trying to ignore his sight at that point.

The medication only helped so much, and it was expensive to say the least. Around $100 for a bottle that would you last about three weeks or so, and I had three different kinds of medication! I was recommended to try a Canadian pharmacy online to save money on prescriptions. I'm very thankful for that, it really helped. They were about half the price even after shipping.

So, we're spending loads of money on something that is only half helping, he's in pain and he can't even see anymore. Just doesn't seem right. In the beginning, I had written off the idea of any kind of surgery. There was an option to have laser surgery where his lens would be removed and they could be a stint in to drain the...
I work at an auto body shop, I can relate this better to cars. You'd have to disassemble the car only to put a bunch of aftermarket parts in there that might not even fit and they're a ton of money. This eye is a total beater too, it's no Porsche. See what I mean? It's just not fair to Louie to make him suffer through surgery when it might not help at all.

Louie on a very bad eye day.

Now, we know the drops are no longer working, he's mostly blind and still in pain. I refer back to a website with a good page on Glaucoma. There again, I see it and I'm reminded, bold letters read:

A PERFECT SOLUTION FOR GLAUCOMA DOES NOT EXIST!
AND . . . GLAUCOMA IS AN EXPENSIVE LIFETIME DISEASE TO TREAT,
ESPECIALLY GENETIC GLAUCOMA IN DOGS.

 Then, I came across something else:

"Note: If the eye is blind, controlling glaucoma with long-term medical and CAM treatment is usually not the best choice, because eventually it fails, requiring surgery to relieve chronic discomfort. Medical treatment delays the inevitable, in most cases. Why commit to lifetime medical treatment for an eye that will never see again? Also, the cost of glaucoma medications and ophthalmic examinations is not cheap–usually this is a far greater expense than the cost of removing the blind eye. Do not be fooled into thinking that your pet's blind, enlarged, glaucomatous eye is not bothering them. It is. Besides surgical eye removal, there are other surgical choices depending on the desired cosmetic outcome, cost, and the patient's general health. For example if the pet is not in good general health, then a prolonged surgery under general anesthesia might not be possible. However, there is a very brief procedure (for dogs only) called intravitreal injection (or "chemical ablation", or "pharmacologic ablation") in which a drug that lowers the IOP is injected into the eye while the dog is briefly anesthetized or deeply sedated."

"For permanently blind eyes, the choices are: the eye can be removed (enucleated) with the option of placing a sterile prosthetic ball implant in the eye socket prior to skin closure; an implant can be placed inside the eye giving the pet a partially artificial eye; or an injection of a drug into the eye can be performed, that kills the fluid-producing cells and reduces the pressure."

This is A LOT of information to take in, especially since I don't fully understand everything that is being said here. All I can see in this is "surgical eye removal... the eye can be removed (enucleated)... prosthetic ball implant..." what?! Really, this is it? Louie's eyes just have to go?

My husband and I talked it over again and again. We both agreed that we need to do what's best for Louie even if it freaks us out to think about it. We made an appointment for Louie to have a double enucleation, both eyes removed.

Next Installment: Surgery Part II