Rediscovery of Max's World

My five year old poodle Max had just come home from cataract surgery on both eyes. The first night he mostly slept. Early the next day he had scheduled check up visit at Blue Pearl Veterinary Partners.

The post op medication regimen began immediately the first night. There were 4 different dugs and 5 different eye drops administered several times a day each on a slightly different schedule.

It was so complicated that I laid out and EXCEL spread sheet to keep track of when each medication was given. I actually got the idea from another patient at Blue Pearl as they were discussing their pet's care.

MAX was doing great, a follow up visit was scheduled for a week later and the cage containment would continue for three more weeks.

For his part Max was ready to explore his newly rediscovered world. We set up the cage so Max could see out the window, and it was amazing  to watch him re catalog all of the things he could see in the neighborhood.

The one week checkup showed a small scratch on one cornea, so the medication regimen changed slightly and a three week visit was set. I had to redo the spread sheet.

At this point Max was allowed down on the floor for a few minutes after each medication and he began to slowly explore the house. The rediscovery process he used was fascinating.

First he would go to an item like a chair, identify it by smell and then step pack and just look at it apparently rebuilding his visual memory with clues from his other senses. He literally worked his way through the entire house and back yard.

Since he had been on the losing end of most of his recent wrestling matches with Harley, he was ready to rumble every time he had a few minutes of floor time.

The major concern was any lunging motion during the first few days which could cause the cornea stitches to tear. So Theresa and I had to play referee.

The small lizards that occupy most of our back yards and the local squirrels had been choice objectives of Max's pursuits. When he realized he could now once again see them the game was back on.  Max had begun rediscovering a world that those with sight take for granted.

EPILOG

Modern veterinarian medicine can do for animals almost all that modern medicine can do for us. It is nothing short of miraculous. We often think there are no miracles anymore, until you experience something like Max's return to vision, or a child healed or something in your own life.

There is, however,  a exploitive side to all of this. In human medicine they exploit our fears, in veterinarian medicine the exploit our love for the helpless creatures with which we have been entrusted. They get away with it because there are enough of us who will pay the bill.

The exploitation begins with those who manufacture drugs and medical equipment and continues through the system to hospitals, doctors  and pharmacies. You hear a lot of talk about the cost of health care, but no one wants to take on the health care industry.

 In recent days my thoughts returned to the lady in the waiting room at the first Vet specialty clinic I visited and I wonder how it all turned out? One thing you can rest assured of,  it was expensive.

A few days ago someone ask me how Max was doing. When I said, "really great", they ask, "how much did all of this cost"?  I had to stop and think. It seemed sort of irrelevant.

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