09/13/2026
Time Moves On
Good morning to those who see this first thing on a Sunday morning! It has been a while since I have written pretty much anything for any reason. Things have been quite busy and there are multiple things to talk about now so… here we go.
In a previous episode, our star Penny, had problems with her right eye. She had a luxated lens in the eye and she had to have emergency surgery to get the lens back in. That all worked out pretty well. She could probably see light and shadows but not much else. All the same they saved the eye.
Ok, it was actually a couple years ago now. About four months ago she had a definite squint to that eye and it was to the point that she would not generally keep it open. When our vet saw her she basically said that we had a good run with the bionic eye and that we could potentially see a specialist but they weren't sure what they would do beyond recommend removing the eye.
You could tell from Penny's demeanor that she was not feeling well. I guess they equate it to humans having a migraine which for a 15 year old dog was not a great thing for any longer that she absolutely had to have it. We scheduled surgery to remove the eye. The surgery was simple, took about 20 minutes not including prep and we picked her up later that day. Other than looking tough with her eye sewn shut she really was none the worse for wear.
It became pretty apparent how much she had still depended on the eye even with the limited vision. I suggested we get her a helmet because she banged into so many things around the house until she adjusted.
When she adjusted she would still occasionally turn into something but she became a lot more careful in moving around and not making sudden right hand turns. That is not to say she would wander in front of you to try and trip you, but we will give her the benefit of the doubt.
Last Friday that changed. We saw similar symptoms in the other eye and Penny was basically blind in that eye. Off we went to the new Emergency Room that just opened near us. It is a different concept in emergency medicine but this story will be for another time.
When they looked at the eye, they saw swelling and her pressures were high. We heard a similar thing to when her other eye turned bad, that there wasn't a lot they could do but they would prescribe some steroids and some drops to lower the pressures. They had us see our vet the next morning and the pressures were still up (they had dropped from the 70s into the 50s) which was trending the right direction. She still couldn't see but as the pressures dropped that may change… if they continued to drop.
She was scheduled to go in 3 days later for a recheck. Shockingly her pressures were down to normal. She still couldn't see much (again, thinking this one may see some light and shadows) but she would not need to have it removed and go through recovery again.
Awesome news! Well, yeah, but she was still blind at least that was my thought at the moment. How will she ever adjust to this and get on with things. Sometimes humans are so dumb and forget how resilient dogs are. They are particularly dumb about how they adjust to their situations.
The first few days were rough. Penny slept a lot. She got carried around a bit (she is a bigger girl, not like Abby used to be) which isn't super comfortable for her. But as the pressures began to normalize you could see a spark in her. She started to figure things out.
She would tell you that the humans started to figure stuff out. She wouldn't be wrong, I mean she is Penny, she is rarely wrong.
Once we let her wander a bit and remap things in the way a blind dogs needs to, she started to make great strides.
The first few days we would find her stuck in a corner in the back room or under something. You would hear a thump as she ran full speed into something. Yeah, it was hard being one of Penny's humans and watching this, but that is what needed to happen. She needed to figure some things out and so did we.
Each day she explores a little bit more. A couple days ago the door to go upstairs was left open briefly. I could no longer hear her wandering and sure enough she had gone up to visit Amy. She just pretty much figured it out. Amy has worked quite a bit on the steps with her. Up is really not an issue, down is a bit more but with a little help she does well.
Oh, did I mention that Penny is stubborn? Yeah. The "look" she gives you when you try to direct her away from something that may either hurt her or delay her from getting where she needs to go is priceless. It is a very Penny thing and one that helps you recognize she is still in there and still ready to roll.
I just started to notice today that she is better with taking leash direction out in the yard. She has a good concept of where she is but if you are just off by a foot you can come off the retaining wall or run into the house next to the door or even get caught up in something in the yard. Gently guiding seems to be the thing of the day for this and see does seem okay with that.
She still runs into some things but she is now using the little pink curb feeler at the front of her face to negotiate direction and what is safe and what is not.
One thing that Amy discovered early on is that Penny is still food motivated. We were sitting downstairs and just eating a light dinner and Penny's nose shot up in the air and she was sitting in front of Amy and Amy's dinner. That was maybe the biggest lightbulb moment for us. Penny was still home and still quite interested.
There are moments that she seems perfectly normal. Out wandering the yard (now on a long leash) she will sudden turn and run straight back into the house. Maybe she can see? Well then she runs all the way into Thor's kennel and gets a little lost, nope but she is improving.
She has figured out where the big water dish is in the dogs room. Sometimes she dips a paw in before drinking but most of the time one of the other dogs will be drinking and she will slide down their side to find the water.
I have said it often but I will say it again here. Dogs are amazing in their adaptability. Sometimes we need to get out of the way while giving some minimal guiderails for them. They are tough, they are smart and most of all they are survivors. I believe the last thing, survivors, is the most important.
While humans sulk about their bad breaks or how life is unfair dogs simply figure it out because they need to eat their next meal and do their next thing. It doesn't matter to them if it is fair or not they just move on. Fair really isn't relevant in their world.
So maybe today's lesson is about being resilient, maybe it is about being stubborn but for sure it is about not having a pity party about our situations because there is still life to be lived.
-Dave
[Today's photo is of the one eyed wonder. This is Penny's spot in the hobby room, about four feet from me at all times.]
