Sorry for not posting a picture today – I was up and gone before dawn wearing fourteen items of clothing (many layers), catching horses, trailering halfway up the mountain and then riding the rest of the way up to gather a mountain pasture in morning’s light and trail the cows home. Ten hours a’horseback. Very tiring and very, very beautiful.
Whenever I trail cows, I am filled with a renewed understanding for why, in old Westerns, when the cowboys arrive in a town, they will gladly spend their last coin on a shot of whiskey and a bath. I rarely drink but every time I trail cows (up the mountain in early summer and down in early winter), the same scene replays. After brushing the horses and turning them out, I beeline for a steaming hot bath and one shot of whiskey to drink in the tub.
So, about a month ago one evening I noticed Chloe was keeping her left eye shut and when I examined it, the pupil was a cloudy white. I took her to the vet the next day and then for a follow-up appointment the next week. He prescribed drops and ointment, but did not know for sure what was going on and referred me to a specialist who we finally got to see today.
Yes, she has a cataract, one he presumed was caused by blunt trauma (ie, running into a tree or branch while being chased by the torpedo that is Charlie). Normally, this would cause blindness and often lead to glaucoma because of the severe inflammation caused by the body trying to heal the trauma. BUT! Because she is so young, the vet said it is common for the pup’s body to not be as aggressive with the “healing swarm” which brings on inflammation (inflammation is a natural part of the healing process but can bring on additional issues…) He said since there were absolutely NO signs of serious inflammation or glaucoma, that it was unlikely to occur at all – it usually becomes apparent within two weeks of the trauma.
Also, he said, since she is so young, it is quite possible that the cataract tissue will dissipate slowly over time and be reabsorbed into the body – that she will heal herself. He said if she were even 3 or 4 years old this would be extremely unlikely and it would take surgery to give her sight, but because of her young age, her health, and what he saw taking place in the eye already, the prospects of her regaining sight in that eye – completely on her own – were quite high, to the point that he advised against surgery at this point. Hooray!
Not only am I thrilled for Chloe and relieved for myself, I love the metaphor she is living: that even when things are at their darkest, we have inside of us all that it takes to turn the situation around, back to light, back to sight. (..and hopefully, we can also retain the depths of the other dimensions of perception that were required of us during our darkness)…… xo S.
