Ok then…first, Pumpkin’s ulcer quickly turned into something called a Corneal Sequestrum. It showed up on April 8th, just six days after the ulcer had formed. It’s basically a hole in the cornea, and it’s so uncommon that our vet had to get out a big book to remember the name.
Our vet said we should take Pumpkin down to St. Louis to an ophthalmology specialist vet ASAP, and we were able to get him in on Tuesday the 12th. The St. Louis vet was wonderful and reassuring, instantly diagnosing Pumpkin’s corneal sequestrum. He’s been practicing for 35 years and said that he sees about one of these a month, but he’d never seen a sequestrum that deep before. When he normally operates on an eye, he digs out the sequestrum and then sews a bit of the conjunctiva on top of it. Since it was so deep, he said that he’d leave the sequestrum alone and just sew the conjunctiva over it. The conjunctiva is the inner eyelid, we found out.
The surgery was scheduled for Monday the 25th, two days ago. Kevin took Pumpkin back to St. Louis and the operation was successful. The vet put two stitches over the eyelid to protect it, which will remain for a while, but then they will be removed and hopefully he’ll be able to see and will do fine. So far Pumpkin is doing great, and we have to go back for at least a couple of re-checks.
So, that was quite a bit of stuff happening. Meanwhile, Mom and I went to Seattle on the 12th to visit one of her old high school boyfriends, a guy named Stan, who is in failing health. She wanted to see him one last time, so I booked our trip.
On the morning of April 12th, Kevin and I drove down to St. Louis with Pumpkin for his consultation, and then we got home and I finished gathering together a few things and drove back to St. Louis with Mom an hour later. A big travel day.
I took approximately one bazillion photos and videos while we were gone. I always promise myself that I won’t go crazy with that, but then inevitably I end up overdoing it again.
I’ll post some of them here, but not all one bazillion. Maybe only half a bazillion. The thing is, we stayed in a beautiful air b&b overlooking Puget Sound with the Olympic mountains in the distance, and every morning I was able to run down the hill to the shore, where I jogged along the sidewalk at the marina. It was filled with so many boats and there was always some kind of activity and I wanted Kevin to be able to see it all, so I’d stop every few minutes to take a photo/video.
I sent him so many that he stopped watching at some point, and I plan to sit down with him and watch them on the TV at some point.
Just not right now.
We had a good time, more on all that later, but I have two photos today.
On Sunday there were many kitty shenanigans, first of all the fact that we couldn’t find Pumpkin. He’d been sequestered in a bedroom, but we’d started letting him roam free and I couldn’t find him anywhere. Kevin was gone in the morning and when he got home we scoured the house and worried that he might have gotten out the kitty door and escaped over the fence. I was starting to panic, and was inside looking and Kevin was in the fenced yard, after scouring the perimeter and looking around our neighbor’s property.
Kevin then sent me these two photos.
!
What was going on? How had he taken the photos while a bird perched on his finger and what was that bird doing?
The bird had gotten trapped under the extra fencing on top of the fence and Lovey was underneath, waiting to pounce. Kevin was able to rescue the bird and it hopped onto his finger, too afraid to move.
I rushed outside where Kevin was standing inside the fence holding the bird outside the fence, safely far from Lovey’s clutches. I stuck out my finger and it hopped onto it and Kevin instructed me to start slowly walking towards the bird feeder, which I did. After I’d taken a few steps the bird suddenly realized what he was doing and flew off.
Whew. It’s called a rose-breasted grosbeak, and we’d never seen one before.
Yeah, lots going on, not enough time to sit here and process everything.
More later.
Ok then,
G