Monday, March 24, 2014
Poor Henry
It turns out that Henry's ear infection was really the least of his problems. Last weekend, we noticed that his left eye was getting really cloudy. By the time Sunday night rolled around, his eye was super red and seemed extra big. We made an appointment for him at the vet on Monday. After seeing his eye, the vet did a pressure test and quickly confirmed that Henry has glaucoma in his left eye. The pressure in his left eye was a 22 and normal eye pressure is between 10-15. It was also confirmed that Henry had no vision in his left eye. However, if the pressure in the eye was reduced, there might be chance for him to regain his vision in that eye, assuming the pressure in his eye never goes above a 30.
We left with 3 different eye drops to give to Henry in hopes of reducing the pressure in his eye, making him more comfortable and potentially restoring his sight.
On Thursday we went back to the vet to check on Henry's progress. Unfortunately, the pressure in Henry's left eye was even higher (25). Our vet recommended that we take Henry to the eye specialist and in the interest of time we do it the next day.
We made the trek to the eye vet on Friday morning. The vet confirmed that Henry does indeed have glaucoma in his left eye and that he can not see out of his left eye. However, she also told us that the very small cataract that Henry had in his left eye has exploded in size. The size of the cataract means that Henry has no chance of regaining the vision in his left eye once we get the glaucoma under control.
Our main question was how did this come on so suddenly? The eye specialist explained that there are a few possibilities and we are currently waiting on blood work to help us determine what is the cause for the sudden glaucoma. The first scenario, is it is the result of an infection (most likely from a tick bite). We are waiting on the results of a blood test to confirm if this is the case. A second scenario is that this is the result of an auto immune disorder. A third possibility is that the glaucoma is caused by cancer that has spread to Henry's eye.
Of all these scenarios, the simple infection would be the easiest to treat and would offer the best long term outlook. The worst case scenario would be cancer of course. And while I immediately worry that it is the worst case scenario, I think if it was cancer that has already spread to his eye, Henry would be showing some other signs of sickness.
For now we wait and see how the blood results come back. From there we will figure out the next steps. In the meantime, Henry goes back to the eye specialist for a follow-up visit later this week to check on the status of his eye. Hopefully, the pressure in his eye will be much better.
Caroline
03/24/2014
All of you guys, pugs and people, are in my thoughts and prayers, especially Henry!