Yesterday was Jay Jay’s “Big Day”…double-cataract surgery at Animal Eye Vet in Murrieta, California.
The owner/eye surgeon is Marcella Ashton. She is South African, talks a mile-a-minute, and is well-respected by our regular vet, Dr. Rebecca Black. Jay Jay has been seeing Dr. Ashton for about a year now. He likes her.
Jay’s vision problem was “Intermediate”-level cataracts in both eyes. He could still see, but how much is anyone’s guess; he’d started walking into things, couldn’t catch tossed treats anymore, and was not very sure of himself in the dusk/dark. We could have waited until he was completely blind, but Charlie and I felt that he deserved to get his new peepers now so that he’s have four or five years to enjoy them. He deserves no less.
His surgery ran three hours…it’s evidently very complicated, replacing the lenses in both eyes. Plus, according to Dr. Ashton, she ran into a little complication which extended the operation a bit.
Here’s where they did the deed:
Dr. Ashton came out to see us afterwards, gave us the rundown, and got hugs from Charlie. And, good news!…she gave us a discount, because we work in the veterinary community (i.e. we do the bookkeeping for Old Town Veterinary Hospital).
In recovery, Jay looked like he’d been run over by a Mack truck.
His recuperation from this surgery will take a good part of a month, the doctor told us. His eyes will be closed, generally, for a couple of days. They are sewn slightly shut, for now, so as to keep the eye globe from moving too much. He will not be able to see much for a week, and then his vision will gradually improve.
Jay is on a massive regimen of different eye drops and several oral medications, all of which have to be dosed several times per day. That is Craig’s job.
Charlie’s role is to give Jay Jay lots of love, hugs, and encouragement. She’s good at that, and the J-Man will appreciate it.
Next up: new ears for Booger and a new brain for Baby! Money…who needs it?