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5 Days Post Surgery- Compress, Compress, Compress


Stella's left eye seems to be giving her more trouble in these few days following the procedure. She would attempt to rub it against the cone and it was the one she resisted us getting near whenever we tried to get a good look at it. I called the Doggie Hospital over the weekend to have them reaffirm that we're correctly doing what we're supposed to, especially the compress instructions. Pictures that we took of Stella on Friday to show her Surgeon were kicked back to us,  and we just needed reassurance. We were exhausted. (A schedule of no sleep with  pills, drops and compress at 6AM, 12PM,2PM, 6PM and 10PM) We were cooped up.(Stella hadn't attempted to play and neither did we). We weren't sure what we should or shouldn't be picking off of her eyelids.(everything looked like a scab and everything didn't in the three second intervals we could get Stella to still so we could look at her eyes). And  we still had a week (which seemed like an eternity) before her checkup. If ever we were in the trenches, unable to see light, this was it.


My conversation with the vet on duty over the weekend didn't make me feel any better. She simply said the same thing the directions did, " wipe away crusty discharge from the eyes." She told us to warm a washcloth or gauze pad and wipe. Easy enough, sure. We were able to apply the gauze pad for about a minute for each eye but we still felt burdened when it came to the discharge. Do her scabs look like human scabs? Is that a stitch or a scab? Where should I be picking? How gentle should I do this? Where are these scabs that are just supposedly supposed to be brushed away?

I'm not a vet. We're not experts. We didn't feel confident and resolved to make the hour drive (cone head and all) and have the office squeeze us in the following work day. Stella's prednisone dose (for Addison's) was dropping, we were close to the halfway point, and still, we just didn't feel like she was healing well. I figured the Surgeon would tell us we were doing well and this was just normal. Have us pay for the visit and send us on our way.

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