UPDATE:
The Most Beautiful Sight I Ever Saw
Eyes (mostly) open ... wet and shiny ... and both there!!!
That whole eyes open thing is a really big deal - it's been a week since Tyler would voluntarily open his eyes ... and while that may not sound like long, it's an eternity to have watched him suffer and wonder if he'd ever open them again.
ORIGINAL POST:
Last night Tyler finally slept through the night. Well, except for one brief waking-up and a little very quiet whining, after which he promptly went back to sleep till morning. I'm pretty sure that he had finally worked the anesthesia out of his system and was possibly out of pain enough to be just completely exhausted, as the last time we placed him in the crate, his butt had barely cleared the door before he literally just fell over, and fell asleep.
Which also means that I, too, finally got a whole night's sleep. While I still feel like death warmed over, I suppose it's nothing compared to how I'd have felt if I hadn't gotten the whole night's sleep, after the last two.
This morning was even more encouraging. His eyes looked very good when he first woke up.
One of the problems that has to be watched is that until the medication he's being given to help him start producing tears on his own starts working, he'll still have the 'dry eye' condition that started this whole thing -and that's deadly to the healing of his eyes right now. So his eyes need to stay moist both for the healing of the surgery, and for the healing of that smaller lesion that started forming in his left eye.
Wednesday morning when I said his right eye was stuck shut, when I took him back up to the clinic, they got it open (with warm compresses and gently working it apart), and told me that was something that is to be expected for a few days, but which I had to watch. When the eyes are too dry, they cause the production of that slimy gunk that was gathering in Tyler's eyes before. Then, overnight when his eyes are shut for long periods, that gunk dries and sticks his eyes shut. They told me that if he's waking up with his eyes stuck together, it means they're still too dry, and that will hinder the healing of both the surgery, and the smaller lesion in his left eye that was still fixable without surgery.
The 'fix' for that gunky stickiness is two things - the medication he's being given which will stimulate him to start producing his own tears again, and until that starts working, frequent application of artificial tears. We've been doing that.
Fortunately, this morning when he woke up, neither eye was stuck shut - although he didn't voluntarily open them, when I gently pulled up on the skin above his eyes to see if they would open, each opened easily. There was only a little gunk on the outer edges of the lids of the right (surgery) eye, but it was easily removed by a warm rag, wasn't 'stuck' or dried or anything, and there was none inside his eye. Very, very good news.
Later in the day, when Greg tried to put some more artificial tears in, he said Tyler's eye basically watered up and washed them back out - a very good sign.
Tyler ate a good breakfast and lunch - since he's lost a lot of weight recently, I'm going to feed him 3 or 4 meals a day, as much as he'll eat, until he regains that weight. He's been drinking a lot of water, and apparently today while Greg was home with him, even got adventurous and started roaming around the house a little.
Best news of all - when I came home, he greeted me with wide open eyes. That's a sight I haven't seen in quite awhile - and another excellent sign. If he's keeping his eyes open, that means he's getting his tears back, the eyes aren't dry and painful, and he's interested in what's going on again.
All around, very good news. My cold is whipping my butt - I frequently have lightheaded, dizzy spells, and feel both hot and cold at the same time - but I can manage knowing Tyler's on the mend.
The Most Beautiful Sight I Ever Saw
Eyes (mostly) open ... wet and shiny ... and both there!!!
That whole eyes open thing is a really big deal - it's been a week since Tyler would voluntarily open his eyes ... and while that may not sound like long, it's an eternity to have watched him suffer and wonder if he'd ever open them again.
ORIGINAL POST:
Last night Tyler finally slept through the night. Well, except for one brief waking-up and a little very quiet whining, after which he promptly went back to sleep till morning. I'm pretty sure that he had finally worked the anesthesia out of his system and was possibly out of pain enough to be just completely exhausted, as the last time we placed him in the crate, his butt had barely cleared the door before he literally just fell over, and fell asleep.
Which also means that I, too, finally got a whole night's sleep. While I still feel like death warmed over, I suppose it's nothing compared to how I'd have felt if I hadn't gotten the whole night's sleep, after the last two.
This morning was even more encouraging. His eyes looked very good when he first woke up.
One of the problems that has to be watched is that until the medication he's being given to help him start producing tears on his own starts working, he'll still have the 'dry eye' condition that started this whole thing -and that's deadly to the healing of his eyes right now. So his eyes need to stay moist both for the healing of the surgery, and for the healing of that smaller lesion that started forming in his left eye.
Wednesday morning when I said his right eye was stuck shut, when I took him back up to the clinic, they got it open (with warm compresses and gently working it apart), and told me that was something that is to be expected for a few days, but which I had to watch. When the eyes are too dry, they cause the production of that slimy gunk that was gathering in Tyler's eyes before. Then, overnight when his eyes are shut for long periods, that gunk dries and sticks his eyes shut. They told me that if he's waking up with his eyes stuck together, it means they're still too dry, and that will hinder the healing of both the surgery, and the smaller lesion in his left eye that was still fixable without surgery.
The 'fix' for that gunky stickiness is two things - the medication he's being given which will stimulate him to start producing his own tears again, and until that starts working, frequent application of artificial tears. We've been doing that.
Fortunately, this morning when he woke up, neither eye was stuck shut - although he didn't voluntarily open them, when I gently pulled up on the skin above his eyes to see if they would open, each opened easily. There was only a little gunk on the outer edges of the lids of the right (surgery) eye, but it was easily removed by a warm rag, wasn't 'stuck' or dried or anything, and there was none inside his eye. Very, very good news.
Later in the day, when Greg tried to put some more artificial tears in, he said Tyler's eye basically watered up and washed them back out - a very good sign.
Tyler ate a good breakfast and lunch - since he's lost a lot of weight recently, I'm going to feed him 3 or 4 meals a day, as much as he'll eat, until he regains that weight. He's been drinking a lot of water, and apparently today while Greg was home with him, even got adventurous and started roaming around the house a little.
Best news of all - when I came home, he greeted me with wide open eyes. That's a sight I haven't seen in quite awhile - and another excellent sign. If he's keeping his eyes open, that means he's getting his tears back, the eyes aren't dry and painful, and he's interested in what's going on again.
All around, very good news. My cold is whipping my butt - I frequently have lightheaded, dizzy spells, and feel both hot and cold at the same time - but I can manage knowing Tyler's on the mend.
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