Catching Idle Butterflies

It's gross! Watch yourself.

*** WARNING! GRAPHIC CONTENT AHEAD ***

Kinda funny considering yesterday I talked about movie makers showing us way more than we need, huh?

I have some pictures to show you. They’re at the end of this entry so you can escape at any time if you don’t feel your tummy can handle it. I suppose I could describe it all with words, but I don’t think my words can show it better than the photos. Or you can call me lazy, whichever.

Most of you remember me talking about our puppy Rufus getting a stick in her eye. If you know nothing about it, you can check out "Oi, me eye!"  and "Doggy Update" .

For the last 1½ weeks, we’ve been putting in eye drops 4 times a day as well as antibiotics, and at one point pain medication twice a day because her eye hurt her so bad.

We ran out of eye drops once because Rufus kept squirming, and I kept missing my aim.

Her eye was improving much quicker than anyone anticipated.

Until Tuesday (wasn’t that a name of an 80s rock band? Or was it “Til Tuesday”?). Her eye had gone down enough that we knew for certain she could see out of it. She also kept acting more and more her usual puppy self. But then, we both noticed Monday night it started to swell more, oozed a lot, and by Tuesday morning, it had swollen shut again.

Dave took her to the vet that afternoon. Doctor Dockter wasn’t at all concerned, and was even impressed with her progress. He nonetheless gave her another week’s worth of antibiotics and eye drops.

Yesterday after Dave came home from work, he saw Rufus sniffing and nibbling on something. He picked it up and found it was a small stick about ½” long, and very wet. He at first thought she might have gotten it from outside, but she usually simply swallows little sticks like that whole, and it wouldn’t have been so wet.

He thought perhaps it was another piece that had broken off in her eye and it finally worked itself out.

By the time I got home, my goodness, I couldn’t believe what I saw! Her eye is almost back to normal. There is very little swelling, and I can see her entire, warm and bright brown eye again. There’s no milkiness to it, and it’s obvious she can see quite well out of it.

Now for the pictures!

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The day after her injury. Her eye is actually rolled upward into her skull which is why we couldn't see her iris.

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This is yesterday. A marked improvement! It looks even better this morning.

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Remember, the entire length of this stick was shoved into her eye socket. The broken off portion on the left is all Dave could see. The ruler, in case you can't read the numbers is 6" long. The stick is 4½” long. The little one above it is the one Dave found yesterday.

I'm just thrilled beyond words Rufus is getting better so quickly, and that she can see out of an eye we didn't even know would survive. To all of you who sent your thoughts and prayers, I thank you! I know they made all the difference.

Never say God doesn't answer prayers, even for a puppy.