Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Henry’s Health Update

We wanted to share the latest in Henry's health adventures. Since Henry stopped chemo, the plan to monitor his cancer status included a chest xray and sonogram of his internal organs every 3 months. That would mean that around the week before Christmas, Henry would be due for these tests. We had noticed, though, that his eye had been getting a little more cloudy as of recent so we took him in a little earlier than scheduled for his follow up at the eye vet. The eye vet confirmed that his cataract had indeed grown a bit since his last visit. And she was no longer able to see Henry's retina through or around the cataract. With that said, Henry's eye pressure was good, which meant no Glaucoma.

While at the eye vet we discussed the decline of Henry's vision. We have noticed that he is having a lot more difficulty with "transitional" vision. This is vision between different types of lighting. Going from the bright sunshine into a dimly lit home (in comparison to full sun). Or from a dark outside (post sunset) to a well lit home. These scenarios have proven to be a challenge for him. We have also noticed that he is bumping into things (furniture, doorways, stop signs, etc) and that if the light is not just right that he can have trouble staying on the sidewalk.

Anyway, we discussed this with our eye vet. After much consideration, we opted to go the route of cataract surgery for him. We had him tested to see if he was a good candidate for this surgery and he was. The decision to proceed with this was extremely difficult. We realize that this would be considered an elective surgery and we know how much he has been through since March. Nonetheless, we felt that this would be a huge quality of life issue that Henry would vastly benefit from. (He has had some behavior issues since losing Benjamin and Luna--separation anxiety type things--and he becomes increasing nervous if he cannot find his people especially when he is searching for them. He becomes borderline frantic when he cannot spot them quickly.) Right after that, we wanted to be sure that he was cancer free before we actually moved forward with the surgery, so we bumped up his xray/sono appointment about a month early to be sure he was really in tip top condition. Although, sadly (and to our dismay) our vet will never actually consider him "cancer free" his chest xray came back clear (and the sonogram was bumped back to December).

We promised Henry that the cataract surgery would be the last time he would have to "go under" and that it would all be for the greater good. Then the monkey wrench came. The eye vet called and asked some follow up questions. She asked how long it had been since Henry had had his last dental cleaning. And the truth of the matter is that we legitimately cannot remember. Ben & Luna had frequent dentals since their teeth were problematic. Henry, on the other hand, needed his teeth cleaned much less often. So, we told the vet that it had been at least 5-7 years since this had been done. Apparently, without a fresh clean mouth, this risks of a cataract surgery are greater. (Something about the mouth saliva having a high bacteria content and being linked to eye moisture thus a greater chance for an infection.) So, we had to weigh our options. Have Henry get his teeth cleaned and then 2 or more weeks later, get cataract surgery. Or don't have his teeth cleaned and put him in a higher risk category for infection post cataract surgery. Or do neither the dental nor the cataract surgery and watch him go blind slowly. Can you say SOPHIE'S CHOICE?

We are now opting for the last choice. No dental. No cataract removal. Hoping that his eyesight holds out and that we can work hard now on teaching him skills that he may need in the future. This was not an easy decision to come to initially (before we even had the news that a dental was recommended) but then with the addition of a dental cleaning it became nearly impossible. It was truly a struggle. Still not an answer we love but we have to get a peace with it. We knew that cataract surgery alone was not without risk, but compound the whole thing with the need for a dental, too. That was just too much. And we had already promised him the eye thing would be his LAST GO UNDER.

So, we are doing everything we can to ensure that he is comfortable and working with him to prepare him in case he loses his sight altogether. The main issue is that Henry also does not hear that well, so he really has to focus on listening and trying to place where the sounds are coming from and not panic when he cannot immediately decipher where the noises originate from. He's getting there but it is a process.

The silver lining to all this is that our general vet shared that he thought Henry looked the best he has seen in the last 2 years! So, that is pretty cool! Go Henry! #HenryStrong #TeamHenry