July 21 & 23, 2009

July 21, 2009
　
Yesterday morning we both went to see a doctor at the Keremeos Clinic. Our doctor is on vacation, so we saw the locum doctor that is filling in for him. Joanne reviewed with the doctor all except one of the test results of the multitude of annual cancer screening tests that she gets each summer. All is fine, with one test result still to be received.
　
I had the stitches removed from my thumb. That hurt ! ! ! When the stitches were removed, my thumb swelled up again, and was sore and tender for the rest of the day. And the stitches, or rather the remaining stitch wounds / stitch marks, look like the stitching was done by, well ... a retarded eight year old. HA HA HA ! I guess the bleeding at the time was so profuse that Dr. Partridge was essentially stitching blindly. Either that, or it's time for him to get new bifocals ! Come to think of it ... I don't think he wears glasses. Today ( the next day ) the swelling has subsided somewhat, and my thumb doesn't look quite so gruesome. But ... I basically sliced the knuckle off from the nail bed to the base of the knuckle, so the wound, along with the stitch marks, leaves the back of my thumb looking somewhat like something from a low budget horror film. I can bend the thumb a little, so obviously the extensor tendon wasn't cut all the way through, and hopefully, with more healing, the thumb eventually will bend more or less normally.
　
And ... ( big sigh ) ... overnight, Teddy seems to have had a stroke. His left eye lid is drooping. And the pupil in his left eye is completely dilated ... and unresponsive. It seems as if he has gone completely blind in the left eye. Poor Baby Teddy Cat ! His vision in both eyes was already diminished significantly due to cataracts. This morning he seemed to have slight mobility impairment on one side, but by supper time that had disappeared. This evening he was ... disoriented.
　
July 23, 2009
　
Well, Teddy lives to eat toasted bagel crumbs another day.
　
This morning we took Teddy to the veterinarian in Penticton. We were worried that we might be returning home without him. Our primary concern was what we suspected was a bacterial nasal infection. A couple of weeks ago he developed a foul odour coming out of his nose. A week ago he started to choke and gag from post nasal drip. Yesterday a discharge started coming out of one nostril. It looked similar to the discharge in his ear when he had a bacterial infection in his ear a few months ago. Our diagnosis was correct. A week of antibiotics and he should be fine. In the meantime, his breathing gurgles, and he sounds like he's drowning.
　
And our diagnosis on the eye problem was also correct. He's now blind in one eye. It was either caused by a stroke or head trauma. Well ... DUH ... he didn't hurt his head, and he's over 17 years old, so ... you do the math !
　
The problem that we did miss, and which the vet was quite concerned about, was dehydration. Teddy's been having what we thought were intermittent bouts of dehydration ever since last November in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. But the vet thinks his dehydration is chronic, and severe. She injected 200 ml. of saline solution subcutaneously, teaching us how to do it in the process. YIKES ... that looks like enough fluid to choke a horse ! We have to do the same, at home, every couple of days until his nose infection is cured, then twice a week thereafter. And admittedly, after receiving that much fluid, Teddy quickly looked a bit better. By the time we got him to Penticton, and waited to see the vet, then he got poked and prodded, he was looking pretty much like death warmed over. By the time we left the vet's office, and were driving back to Keremeos, he was already looking and feeling better.
　
Well, except for that cloudy, blind eye with the droopy eyelid. He now looks qualified for a job at the Post Office. HA HA HA ( SNORT ) HA HA ... sorry ... old "inside joke" at Canada Post.
　
DSK