[Dailydrool] more on Elmo's corneal ulcers

[Donna Lindy]

I have been pretty frazzled lately so I probably wasn't as
clear as I should have been about Elmo's corneal ulcers.
I wanted to clarify that our eye vet also does the procedure that
Chris talked about in her post to the Drool.  The eye vet scrapes
the edges of the ulcer that are not attached to the ulcer and also
does the grid kerantotomy with a needle of some sort. I do think
that it's painful afterwards, though. Checking eye pressures is also
something that is done on every visit; Elmo's eye pressures were
bordering on too LOW at 5; below 4 could have  opened the door
to even more problems. On our visit earlier this week, Elmo's eye
pressure was up to 8 in both eyes so that was a good thing.  Now
if the bubbles just will dissipate instead of burst. . .

Elmo also has episcleritis in his other eye, which means he
gets 2 kinds of eye drops in that eye - they are, of course,
different from the eye drops he gets in the eye with the
ulcer.  And Bev mentioned Atropine.  The eye vet adds
atropine as the 4th eye drop but only once a day for no more
than 5 days  after she treats the ulcer.  The atropine does
seem to help more than the compounded pain eye drop.

Elmo did seem to feel a little better today -  it was beautiful
here in GA and he did mosey around some of his favorite
spots this afternoon.

Thanks so much for all the drool and the private responses - I
got some good information and encouragement from several
Droolers who have been through these mean old ulcers with
their bassets.

And one last item - after I sent the first post I realized that
yesterday (March 18th) was the 7  year anniversary of when
Pw Miss Pauline was diagnosed with glaucoma.  We're still
doing eye drops 3 x a day; her left eye looks great - her right
eye was removed 4 years ago. She still goes for eye pressure
checks every 3 months but she's doing great.  She's approaching
13 and is still feisty and bossy.  Her "famous" eye patch hat
picture is on display in one of the eye vet's exam rooms as
one of Dr. King's success stories. We are so thankful that she
has so far beat the odds.

Drool to those in need and thanks again,

Donna, drool fueler, for Elmo, Pw Pauline, Gracie and Pw Bosley