It's Just me, V

Almost two years ago, our sweet Zoe lost her left eye to glaucoma. She handled it way better than we did, bouncing back like nothing had ever happened. It was sudden and we had no clue that it was coming.

Just before July 4th, I came home from work just wiped out, I fell asleep on the sofa, and slept through the alarm to give Zoe her evening eye drop. I missed the time by only about 90 minutes. I woke up to her falling off the sofa, and bumping into my legs and chairs. She tried to jump back on the sofa and missed, falling to the floor, scared. Crying, I called the ER that her ophthalmologist works out of, and got her an appointment for the following Monday, mind you it’s July 2nd and with the holiday, I was prepared for it to be a long weekend. Thankfully, after giving her drop and sleeping her vision came back the next morning.

I took her to work with me the next day and her intra ocular pressure was a high normal, so we were ready to ride out the weekend. Fast forward to Monday, my vet hospital was hopping with appointments (remember, long holiday weekend). I wasn’t going to be able to make it to take Zoe in to her ophthalmology appointment, and was frantically working to find a solution. Thankfully, T was available to take Zoe in and call me for a phone conference with her doctor.

When the call came in, I was able to take a break and discuss my puppy girl’s exam. Dr. A, whom I adore, explained that as we had thought, Zoe’s right eye is deteriorating, and her lens is luxating (falling forward) . She now has 2 different kinds of eye drops to be instilled twice a day to try to keep her eye for as long as possible. My wonder pup will eventually not only lose vision, but we will have to take her eye in about 6-8 months.

Besides giving two different eye drops twice daily… what do we do now? Well, we have begun teaching her things by sound (she was already voice trained for many things). I have purchased accessories for her harness and leash to warn people of her disability in preparation. I have been trying to research as much as possible about blindness in our fuzzy babies. I just keep circling over and over, how much she will miss out on seeing. And then – I worry that she won’t remember what I look like. So completely selfish of me. Will she be ok for car rides? Or what will our walks be like since we can’t run any more.

At this time, we are embracing all the things Zoe can do. She loves fetch, playing with her toys, walking with us, sniffing all the things and being my sidekick.

I am choosing to celebrate my darling doggy every chance we get, taking her out with me whenever possible (like I wasn’t always trying to before) and when that fateful day comes, when my girl is fully in the dark, I’ll be here for her, I’ll be her eyes, just loving her through this transition into darkness.