Bonnie two days after bilateral enucleation. Every day gets better!
All posts by jah
Post-Op Bonnie
Recovery for Bonnie has started.
Care to Support Bonnie’s Journey to a Pain-Free Life with her GoFund Me?
My beloved rescue dog Bonnie had very little vision and two types of permanent blindness when I fostered and almost immediately adopted her earlier this year. She just turned seven years old and she was probably abused, putting her in this precarious situation. Otherwise, she is healthy. Thinking I had years of drops to give her to keep her little bit of vision, I recently found out that she has none, and the glaucoma and dislocated lenses in both eyes were becoming so high-pressure that the doctor said we were not able to keep up with the pain. I was up to giving her 22 drops a day at three different intervals, plus oral medications just to keep her from being in massive pain, so getting her bilateral enucleation (removal of both eyes) was the only humane thing to do.
Below Snoopy looks out for her in this picture of Bonnie in her new “home” for the next few weeks, which I’ll bring upstairs with me at night so she’s nearby. I probably won’t ever post her direct post-surgical look, but I took pictures to monitor the healing. I’m told she did well and should recover with no issues. It’s emotional for me, particularly after the year I’ve had. I can’t imagine keeping her with the collar on for two whole weeks and separated from her beloved “brother” Snoopy that long, but I will follow all post-op instructions to the letter.
Bilateral Enucleation Day
I’m on pins and needles while my Bonnie gets her surgery today. The doctor just reconfirmed she is blind in both eyes and we are not going to stay ahead of the glaucoma pain, so they are indeed doing a bilateral enucleation and it’s proceeding now.
It pained me to leave her there, but I should be able to pick her up in a few hours. Recovery is going to be psychologically tough for me since I won’t see her eyes again. I made sure to take lots of pictures of them this past week.
The pictures below are of Bonnie and me this morning before I dropped her off, including a growly moment of hers.
Lazybear Week 2024 in Guerneville
Guerneville Off-Leash Time
Snoopy and Bonnie made a doxie friend, Watson, who had flown up from Long Beach with his dads.
Another Guerneville morning with Bonnie and Snoopy. They enjoy their field time and I love that they can safely be off-leash.
Here are pictures of Snoopy and Bonnie from this past week at the resort in Guerneville. I made sure to take a lot of pictures before her surgery, so this is just a sampling.
Shitty Tobacco Enforcement in Guerneville
Despite the laws being on the books for a dozen years that there is to be no smoking at resorts within 25 feet of a window, pool or door, the smoking is rampant again this year. Last year there was an effort at the entrance to every event because I worked with the Sonoma County Department of Health to put the resorts and bars on notice. This year there’s some signage, but I was literally told by the manager of West Sonoma Inn that *I* should talk to the DJ about making an announcement because the shitty temporary signs that they have at the West Sonoma Inn (shown below) which are BARELY visible were not enough to stem the rampant smoking around large groups of gay men, many of which we know to be statistically immuno-compromised. After Covid and MPOX, one would think that this event, Lazybear, which was found specifically to raise money for AIDS and gay men’s health, would be a little more conscious.
These recently extinguished combustible cigarette butts in a dry FIELD say nothing of the plethora of vape devices that were used.
Only the signage of the feckless manager’s office at WSI seems to be permanent, while the signage for the event is so shitty and temporary as to imply that the law is not in effect year-round!
As you can see, there is no enforcement with the recently extinguished cigarette butts in a dry field while wildfires are raging all over northern California.
What could possibly go wrong?
Lazybear 2024 Wednesday Evening
Enucleation Hair Styles
Although I didn’t know it at the time, Bonnie, who came matted, blind, and emaciated at the HSNB shelter I’m on the Board of, also came with this haircut. As you can see the hair grew over her eyes when she was found as a stray and before all of the medical appointments to determine what was going on with her two permanent forms of vision impairment before she went completely blind.
I’m thinking I’ll let her bangs go long like this after her double enucleation so that it will look more sheepdog-ish, even though she’s a lot smaller than a typical sheepdog. The eye doctor said that sewn up prosthetics will prevent the eye sockets from being sunken like they were with my poor Tucker years ago in his one eye.
Lazybear 2024 Root Bear Float
Turtle spotting, duck invading, country-music-playing float with a bunch of queers down the Russian River only to finish off with someone on a paddleboard moving forward with a dog onboard!
Shea commentated on his video with director mode:
Last Days of Managing Bonnie’s Eye Pressure
Bonnie’s surgery for a double enucleation will happen right after this trip to Guerneville, so I’m doubly glad that she is enjoying the travel, not that she can see anything. The quality of her life will be in sounds, feelings and smells henceforth. In one of these pictures, we are at the ophthalmologist yesterday for a last-minute pre-vacation check on the 22 drops a day and 3 oral medications that I currently have to put in her at three different times of the day. None of those will be needed when she has the surgery and will be out of pain from the eye pressure. The other picture is a screenshot from the video from today which best shows the condition of her eyes. You cannot tell that she is completely blind in both eyes when you look at her. The blueness that was in both eyes caused by the glaucoma (which everyone assumes are cataracts) is now overtaken by the blood in the left eye. This is exactly what I saw in my dachshund Tucker years ago when he injured one of his eyes and became a candidate for enucleation in that one eye. It’s a mindfuck to think that she’s not really looking at me when she’s jumping up on my legs like this every day, but I’ve processed what’s best for the dogs when they already have no function to the eyes except to manage the unnecessary pain in them.
