Complications – Roscoff, Normandy

It’s been a bit quiet on the blog front for a couple of weeks whilst we concentrated on Lizzy’s recuperation from her cataract surgery on the shores of Arcachon Bay. The weather was kind and the first week went smoothly with little walks round the marina and watching the kite surfers on the beach (beach’s not permitted for Lizzy for now). Plus a cycle ride to Arcachon.

Unfortunately exactly a week after the operation Lizzy had a cloudy right eye first thing in the morning suggesting an issue. We rushed her to the vets in Bordeaux and sure enough she had a glaucoma. The operation is 90% successful but Lizzy was unluckily in the 10%, increased interocular pressure being the main risk in dogs.

She responded well to medication but was kept in overnight on morphine, as the usual pressure of 10-20MmHg had reached 70mmHg, which is extremely painful. The only reason she kept her sight was due to our quick response in getting her there.

Sadly though, this was to become the first of several glaucomas that week. Each involving a frantic drive to the vets and several overnight stays for Lizzy. We were up to every 6 hours on strong medication when she was home to try to control the pressure, setting alarms through the night. However, by the end of the second week, the pressure was no longer responding to medication and was remaining very high, requiring a temporary procedure to reduce the pressure via a needle. It then became a much easier decision to remove her right eye to put an end to her pain, this being the only option remaining.

We picked her up yesterday after 3 days at the vets, anxious to see our precious little dog. She burst into the room and howled in happiness to see us with her remaining good left eye ❤️ The vet and I had to raise our voices to be heard over Lizzy enthusiastic singing, whilst the vet explained the after-care regime.

Lizzy skipped and danced to the van, we have literally never seen her so happy, to be back with us and out of pain. It was a joy to see after what has been a truly awful week. She certainly does not seem to be perturbed to have only one eye and considering she was blind in both prior to the op, she can get along better than before.

We had had to cancel our trip home next week for my Mum’s birthday at one point, as Lizzy was not going more than 24 hours without needing to be rushed to the vets. However, as her left eye continues to recover well, we decided to head north as soon as we picked her up.

We will take the Roscoff – Plymouth ferry on Sunday to check out things at home after an absence of 7 months. However we are back on the road at the end of May with family and friends to visit Normandy, so it is only a flying visit.