Brindy went in for her weekly checkup today. All looks fine so far, but we really won’t know until the stiches come out in a week and a half or so.

Brindy continues to adjust to the cone she has to wear. She still catches it on things, but not to the extent that she did at first. It does make it difficult for her to tell where sounds are coming from, and she often goes trotting off in the opposite direction from which I’m calling her. And mom is still accumulating bruises on her legs from when Brindy walks into her with the cone.

But she has found one advantage. The dates she is so determined to find when we are out walking are no longer just sitting around to be easily grabbed. This is what lead her to poking around in the bushes in the first place, which is how I’m sure she hurt her eye. She has now figured out that if she buries the cone in the gravel and gives it a little flick, the gravel goes flying and new dates are uncovered. Sometimes she’s just too clever!

Brindy came through her surgery with no problems yesterday. Here’s a description of the procedure:

Pets have an extra eyelid that lies inside the other two lids and is attached to the inside corner of the eye – known as the third eyelid. A third eyelid flap is performed by pulling this structure over the eyeball, and then holding it in place with a suture through the third eyelid and out through the skin lateral to the eye. 

At the end of three weeks, the stitches come out and the eye gets reevaluated. I have an appointment with an eye specialist if there is still a problem.

She is still on antibiotic pills and drops, pain meds, and some other pills and ointments. Fortunately, they are all on a 12-hour schedule, so I don’t have nearly as much to keep track of.

Meantime, she is definitely not a happy camper!

I don’t take sunset pictures as often as sunrise, but tonight’s was certainly worth it.

Another stunning morning here in the Las Vegas area:

This morning’s walk was very different because Brindy was not with me. She’s off at the vet having her left eye sown up. Unfortunately, the barrage of pills, drops, and salves only kept the ulceration at bay, it was not getting any better. Next step is to sew her eye closed and see if it heals up in a few weeks. If not, we have an appointment with an eye specialist in mid-February. Worst case scenario is that the eye has to go. That wouldn’t be great, of course, but better than having her continue to be in pain (which seemed to be getting worse yesterday).

Until this last week, the medication schedule here in our household was quite simple. Mom has a pill at 6am and a pill and a vitamin at 6pm. She also gets some eye drops and a nasal spray. I have a pill or an eye vitamin at 6am, 9am, and 9:30pm.

Brindy’s eye medications have made things a bit more interesting. Here’s the current schedule:

• 6am: pills for me and mom, drops for Brindy
• 7am: breakfast and antibiotic for Brindy
• 9am: salve for Brindy and pills for me
• 12pm: drops for Brindy
• 3pm: lunch and antibiotic for Brindy
• 6pm: pill, vitamin, eye drops, and nasal spray for mom and drops for Brindy
• 9pm: salve for Brindy and pills for me
• 11pm; small dinner and antibiotic for Brindy
• 11:45pm: drops for Brindy

Of course, since the drops are Brindy’s most frequent drug, they are the ones she absolutely hates. Probably doesn’t help that they have to be kept cold. She goes crazy trying to get the cone off for 10 minutes or so and then settles down.

Brindy poked herself in the eye the other day while snuffling in some bushes for the dried dates she loves to eat. She had to go to the vet as her eye was not getting better and it turns out she has an ulcerated eye. This means she’s currently on a regimen of drops, salve, antibiotics, and pain pills. But worst of all, from her “point of view” is the cone she has to wear 24/7. She is not happy.

She has had it on a few days but is still running into things; she can’t use her doggie door; and she hasn’t consistently figured out how to get at her food and water dishes.

This has not stopped her from continuing to try to scrounge for dates when we’re out on our walks:

Beautiful sunrise this morning. Unlike a great deal of the country, it was actually fairly warm here, around 50°F.

I did a lot of cooking this past week, some of it more successful than others.

First, I made Chex mix. I can practically make this in my sleep, so, of course, I forgot an important ingredient: the oil. Realized it about an hour late and added it. Certainly edible, but not something I’m going to give out to the neighbors. I’ll have to try again tomorrow. I know many people buy Chex mix or make it in the microwave, but that is no substitute for the baking time in my recipe:

For Christmas dinner, we had a repeat of Thanksgiving. Baked potatoes, mushroom and leek stuffing, peas, and an apple puffed pastry for dessert. Delicious.