Followup on Samson & Our Morning Walk

First, thank you so much for your caring comments from yesterday's post and thank you for your prayers and good thoughts. I wasn't going to say anything until I knew more, but then I just felt so helpless and sad that I decided to let you know. I appreciate each and every one of you and I will get back and get caught up on your blogs as soon as I can. A little here and a little there probably. You know I feel guilty when I don't. 

When we were at the vet yesterday, Samson's eyes were very red and inflamed. After only one dose of eye drops and the two medicines, the redness and visible signs of inflammation seem to be gone. The blue tint is still there, but looks a bit different as if the haziness is gone too. I don't know what this means and I will wait until we see the vet tomorrow before I get too happy about it. But it has to be a good sign. 

The vet said Samson shouldn't be out in the sun, so we left for our walk as dawn was breaking. It was about 35 F out, which is cold. I guess I forgot what cold is after this summer so I just put on my fake down vest with a long-sleeve cotton sweater and no gloves (see below). I was sooo cold, but I didn't turn around to get my gloves because I have complained about the heat since June, so I felt I had to just put up with a little cold. And I did.

I took this picture in the bathroom mirror so I could show you that the cooler fall weather has finally arrived in the canyon. Of course, you can't really see what I'm wearing, but I just love these silly pictures. I used to do them all the time when I first stared blogging.

It is difficult to believe that there's anything at all wrong with Samson. We had a fun walk, he knew where the quail were hiding in the field and tried to flush them like he always does; when a rabbit took off to hide under a juniper tree, he knew immediately that the rabbit was there. And he doesn't appear ill in any way at all. 

 

I took my camera this morning, thinking it would help me stay positive. It was gorgeous out. I love the early morning hours, but even though I'm up early, I usually wait until daylight. I didn't sleep well last night, but I still felt great out walking with my dog and taking pictures. 

Samson checking something out in the weeds, as alert and happy as ever. As for me, I cant stop wondering how he feels about a suddenly dark world. I know that if he will be blind permanently, I for one, will feel so much better after a while, when I know for sure that he has stopped wondering what happened to him and adjusted. Even though I'm pretty sure dogs don't think that way at all, I seem unable to stop that scenario from tumbling around in my brain.

After the sun came out, it was Soldier's turn. This picture is not clear because the old boy took off at such a speed, dragging me down the hill with him. If you look at his hind legs, you can see that he is running! His gimpy right leg is doing OK, he lifts it now sometimes when he thinks it is important to leave a REAL boy dog mark somewhere out on the land.

OK, texwisgirl, this was supposed to be another fence for  you, but now I see you can barely see it. I like the sunshine though.

I have a garden chair up by the barn, a place to go and sit a while. Soldier, of course, thinks that's a lousy idea.

I feel much better today, more hopeful. We see the vet again tomorrow at 2 p.m.

Then, of course, something else happened that I will mention here briefly just to see if it has happened to anyone else out in Bloggyland.

My girlfriend warned me to not get the added potency flu shot at Walgreens because it made her and her husband really ill. She didn't go into any details, just warned me. Walgreens give these flu shots that are about double the regular potency to people over 65. Well, I heeded her warning and got a regular shot at my doctor's office. But my husband decided to take the more potent shot because we had both been so ill last winter when he had not had any flu shot at all. So, he went on Saturday. Got the flu shot and the pneumonia shot as well. And now he is so ill, everything is wrong, like a real horrible flu. I called my girlfriend to find out exactly what happened to them. And they had the same reaction. Both of them. They were down with this for about a week. Then she had such pain in her arm afterwords she couldn't raise it for about three months. 

Has anyone else over 65 had this experience?

Thank you so much again.