Rethinking.....

This morning when I went to PetSmart for Sophie's prescription food I saw her groomer who is the manager of the salon. She asked about Sophie and I told her that I still hoped to see about her sight. She pointed out that at least this wasn't life threatening and told me of one of the other groomers who has spent around $7,000 on her dog in the last 6 weeks and it's survival chances are around 20%. So. I need to look at the facts: with the insulin adjusted she seems healthy, she has adjusted well to the blindness, hope this continues, be very grateful and move on. I am very grateful.

Dog update

Ellie's back is back to normal :-) and she is doing well.

A's visit was much fun and we did lots of things including geocaching.

We took Sophie yesterday afternoon to have her blood sugar checked. It was in the acceptable range and that's one month down off of the six we have to wait with stable blood sugar before we can take her to a vet regarding cataract surgery. He will check to see if she has any sight behind the cataracts and maybe do surgery on only one eye. Her eyes are still reacting when they shine a light to check, so there is just the smallest, tiny little possibility that something can be done to give her just a little bit of sight. That would be the most wonderful thing and is what I am praying will happen for her. I guess there is nothing to do but give shots, feed her the proper diet and wait.

This morning when I went out with Sophie and Zippy to walk around the yard she apparently smelled a squirrel or something and went blazing out like she could see. First off she fell on the steps and ran into about 5 trees (which is unusual, except she was going so fast) in the first 30 seconds while I was trying to put on my shoes and yelling, stop, wait, careful... Sometimes it makes me look at all three of them like they can't see and I'm wanting to say to Zippy, wait, stop when he comes close to something. Oy!

We bought a new camera over the weekend and I tried it out. I looked at the pics on the tv but haven't downloaded them yet. We tried 2 on the internal memory first and downloaded them straight to my pictures just using the USB cord and not putting crazy software on the computer. Yay!

I pulled up some small bushes and little sweet gum trees with the quad yesterday and hauled that out back. I have a bundle of branches started and I need to tie it up for garbage pick up. I also need to spray the season long (ha!) weedkiller by the stepping stones, etc. It's a beautiful day and the temperature is just perfect for doing things like this. I just have to get up and get going and this isn't getting it done.

A new month begins

Today was a beautiful day to begin November and back to regular time. It was sunny but cool enough to work outside without sweating. We've had a lot of rain lately and the ground is pretty saturated with standing water in many places outside the fenced yard. I drove through this with the quad going out back to dump a load of fallen branches and pine cones. Usually this time of the year is dryer and it begins to rain more in January and that's when we've had the stinkhorn mushrooms over the last few years. Well, we've already had three of them---and they totally live up to their name. They STINK!!!

DH is working to organize his shop in the garage. We've been trying to clean out more of the residue of "stuff". We also bundled for garbage pick up some of the huge weeds that we pulled out of the front ditch with the quad 2 weeks ago. They had dried out and were much lighter to handle.

We've been letting Sophie roam more on her own in the yard when we are out there. She is totally blind but does pretty well. On Tuesday the vet checked her blood sugar and it was 182 so she does not go back for a month. I also got him to look at her eyes again and only one of them responds to light now, so the tiny hope of the slim possibility that she could be seen by a specialist for her cataracts if her blood sugar stays stable for 6 months grows dimmer. :-(


I worked on the background for a page in one of my altered books. Do something, do anything to make a start, and I have. I'm going to try to do something, no matter what, each day. I've taken a photo of what I've done tonight.


I've been crocheting while I watch tv at night. Right now I'm working on an afghan or a lap throw out of scrap yarn that we had at the church craft group. Three skeins of black came in last week and I'm using them to tie it together. I'm thinking that it will be something to be donated to someone in a nursing home or similar. It is looking okay so far. I'm going to check and see what other yarn we have when I go to crafts tomorrow.

Sophie....again

Today Sophie spent at the vet for the tests to check to correct her insulin dosage which was raised. Her eye was much better this morning and they continued the drops during the day. The blood work for that was good and we are to put them in for the next week. She got a shot for a UTI. She weighs 15.8 again but seems to feel much better and seems more hungry than before. N. took her out in the yard and she was wanting to go all over the place at 10 p.m. It was dark and hot and she can't see and was trying to go all up in the bushes. I just wish that she could get just the smallest bit of her sight back. Bless her heart. She is such a good girl and we love her so much. She's a sweetie girl.

Sophie

Last night we could tell that Sophie is totally blind. Apparently she had just the tiniest indication of light earlier in the day, but not now. This morning I took her out on a leash so I could keep her from running into trees and bushes. Then I noticed that her left eye was totally closed and was running. I put warm, wet compresses on it, N. called the vet and we took her in. They checked to see if she had a scratch on her eye, but no. It is probably some kind of infection, could have been caused from ever having a tick on her and then with her resistance low it could take hold. The vet said she was keeping it closed because it probably hurt. They did blood work and she will go in tomorrow instead of Mon. for the insulin test and they will decided which antib. to give her for the eye problem. We are doing eye drops every 2-3 hrs. That seems to have helped and she is keeping her eye open. She weighed 16.4 -- lost .4 from Tues. She doesn't seem uncomfortable and I am working to try to make things a little more cushioned around the house such as wrapping the bar stool metal bases with towels. N. & I hit our elbows on the top of them and we can see.
:-(

Sophie is blind now.........

My heart breaks and I cry for little Sophie. We took her back to the vet yesterday and they said that yes she is blind and it is irreversible. Her blood count is still high and she goes back Monday for them to test and readjust the insulin. The vet mentioned more things watch for and "quality of life". She did gain back a pound and he said that is a positive thing.

She seems to be dealing with it better than I am. In the house it is familiar and she gets around okay and in the yard we walk with her to warn her about trees, and whatever she might walk into. I'm so sad to know I'll never see her sitting in the window looking out at the world and waiting to bark at something there or looking into my eyes and seeing me or running after squirrels in the yard. (I saw her running around last Thurs or Fri. and now this) This morning she was on the porch and heard something and instinctively started to run and bumped into the corner of the porch before I could do anything.

:-( I cry and cry.......

Hot weather---ack!

I just looked at weather.com and it's 90 here and feels like 99. I am SO over this and ready for fall and cooler weather. In addition to that the mosquitoes are bad. They are supposed to come around and spray tonight. Yay!

Little Sophie is doing okay but is losing her eyesight. :-( N. read on line that this is very common and that the dogs take it in stride and deal much better than their owners.

My back is sore from mopping the floors on Saturday. The mop handle is too short and causes me to have to bend over and by the time I finished my back was hurting. I KNEW that housework was bad for your health! ;-) Then I had to leave and go get my hair trimmed instead of just staying home and resting my back. Oh well.....

Today I went to craft group at church. On the way home I met N. at Taco Bell for lunch. Then on to the now really dreaded Walmart. They no longer carry Cape Cod potato chips and a brand of frozen shrimp that we paid $5 a bag for a couple of weeks ago is now $8. I am shopping there less and less and being aggravated more and more.


I did buy a pumpkin to put on the back steps for a little autumn atmosphere alone with some pretty silk leaves on a vine

Sophie.....again

Yesterday Sophie spent the day at the vet's office so that they could test her before and after food and insulin. We picked her up around 4:45. It turns out that she will have to have insulin twice a day and this is something that will not change. She is taking the same amount as before, just two times per day. She goes back in two weeks for another all day stay to see how the new dosage works. That turns out to be on my birthday and they offered to make the appointment for the next day. I may call back and do that. She has lost another pound and weighs 15.8 now, but the vet says that is not uncommon when dealing with diabetes. I wonder how this will all turn out....... :-(

It's 81 degrees, feels like 88 and with 82 percent humidity and 75 degree dew point, it feels like we have a hot, steamy blanket thrown over everywhere. ACK! The ground is soaked from yet another downpour yesterday afternoon. The sun came out after that and again today, so we are really humid and miserable.

The mosquito truck came to spray last night. This time however, he drove all the way in and then only sprayed on the way out so we got half as much and it was too wet to open the other gates to let them use the other drive too. Last time we had the other gates open and he didn't go that way, so go figure. Maybe it was a new driver then?

Little Sophie.......

Friday we took Sophie to the vet to get her check up and regular shots, etc. We knew from blood work in the spring that she probably had precursor to Cushings disease. She did not get any shots or any meds for Cushings as the vet found that she is diabetic. Possibly the 2 are tied together some how. She is now on insulin injections daily and will probably be from now on. He started her on a low dosage and we will take her back to be checked before and after food and insulin on Friday or Monday so that he can get the amount adjusted correctly for her. N. is doing the shots and has done 3 so far and it has gone fine. I think she is drinking less water and the vet said she will feel better in about a week. She didn't really seem to be feeling too bad, but hopefully she will feel even better. After looking this up on line N. discovered that diabetic dogs are common and her breed is one of the top 5 for it. If we need to board her it will be at the vet's so they can give her the insulin. She is now eating all light food, nothing greasy, etc. Hopefully this will get on an even keel and be okay. Bless her heart.

Sophie's flowers

Yesterday I made a braided clover headband and here it is on Sophie. She seemed to prefer a profile shot. ;-)