Starting all over again.....

Since I wrote last the company stopped making the insulin that we were using for Sophie. That caused us to have to start all over again using human insulin (it was Vetcillin before). So, Sophie had to go spend another day at the vets for multiple blood checks through the day and we began at 3 units again. It has been a few weeks and a few rechecks, she is now up to 8 units and goes back Tues. afternoon. The dose that regulated her on the other insulin was 11 units. I don't think we will have to go that high on this one, however we'll just have to wait and see. She had gone back to drinking a lot of water with the lower dosage, but that is getting better as we increase the insulin. Hope to get her stable again and that this drug company will keep making this particular insulin.

Zippy went to the groomer last Monday and is rocking his new haircut and looking cute! (Not that I'm biased in any way, no sir!)

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.

Miss Sophie's eyesight

After a couple of phone calls to the eye specialist's office regarding cost (around $5,000 plus and multiple trips to N.O.), I'm guessing that Sophie's cataracts might stay. :-( I was so hoping to do something for her to get her at least some sight in even one eye. However, I haven't given up hope yet. I still can picture her seeing again. Maybe my picture is skewed, out of focus and wrong, but I can see it. I want that for her! It breaks my heart when she walks into the door casings or gets so excited about eating and is running into things in her hurry to get to her food even with us trying to slow her down and protect her. There is lots of bubble wrap in use here on door frames, bottom of table legs, bar stools, etc., etc.

Otherwise though, she is doing well and her weight is good. It seems that the dosage of insulin is now correct for her and with her prescription diet food she is stable. I'm now giving her the morning shot of insulin and doing okay with that. She went to the groomer on Saturday and looks cute, shiny and rocks her new haircut. She is dealing with all this very well--probably a lot better than I am. She is a good-natured sweetie.

Here she is on the back porch with Ellie and Zippy

New Christmas Cactus

Added this new Christmas cactus to my collection a few weeks ago. Now some of my plants with rose pink flowers are blooming.

It's FREE.....

Saw this sign today when we stopped for coffee. It just struck me as funny.

Blooming over the holidays

This one was actually a "Christmas" cactus this year. Most of my other plants have buds now and a flower or two open. They bloom at different times each year. I guess it has something to do with the amount of light maybe. They are generally in the same location, so who knows.

Happy New Year

We took Sophie to the vet on Tues. to check her blood sugar and again it was good and she is maintaining her weight. After the holidays the vet said he would give us the name of a specialist vet to see about Sophie's cataracts. He would check her eyes to see if there was even any possibility of surgery on one eye. The healing would be the thing. One of the other vets in the practice pointed out that diabetic people have cataract surgery all of the time. It would so wonderful if she could get even just a small bit of sight back. It's sad to see her bumping into things. We have yards of bubble wrap around the door casings, bar stools, the table legs as she sometimes gets turned around and then runs into things. She goes all around the 2+ acre fenced part of the property though and does well.

We cooked the traditional blackeyed peas and cabbage yesterday for New Years dinner. Some good luck and a little $$$ is always good.