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| best little MonkeyBoy in the world |
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| in Maine |
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| travelin' boy |
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bath boy |
It has been a crazy, exhausting few days.
We feared the worst, but it is...workable.
I'll spare the details, but Monday morning we thought Simon had had a stroke, or a brain tumor or worse. Turns out it was acute onset glaucoma. We were extremely fortunate that our vet quickly saw what was going on and got us immediately into an emergency vet hospital in Gaithersberg. Timing was critical because glaucoma is increasing fluid pressure inside the eyeball = very painful and, as it progresses, increases the chance of blindness. We needed to get this under control quickly. Humans describe glaucoma as the worst headache imaginable. I can sympathize!
Simon is amazingly relaxed with vets which made a long day much less stressful. He responded very positively to the medicines: his interocular pressure went down to happily acceptable levels while we were at the hospital. That ruled out having to do an emergency surgery to relieve the pressure (basically, a needle in the eye!) Instead, we were sent home with a pain killer, three different eye drops to be administered every 8 hours and an appointment for a recheck this afternoon. At the recheck today, we were all very happy that the meds seem to have stabilized the pressure to normal levels.
So...he is doing well. So far. No surgery. For now. We check back with the Doc in two weeks.
The long term outlook is a guess. Glaucoma doesn't get better, it isn't cured. At best, it can be managed and vision preserved for a while. We take it one day at a time. One day divided into precise eight hour intervals, punctuated by application of eyedrops, at a time.
But our Simon is comfortable. And silly. And feisty. And he loves his long naps. And dances the hustle for treats. And when I look at him he looks back at me with the sweetest big brown eyes.
