Friday, January 8, 2010

Checks and Cataracts....

My very first check from EsScentuals retail store for my goat milk lotion which is on their shelves! Rosso in his stocks waiting for the eye Dr. It was -10 outside. It was warmer inside but certainly not peel your clothes off and stand around in your skivvies sorta warm.


I was bummed cuz there is no definitive answer. He has uveitis... inflammation or low grade infection in that eye. Probably caused by a trauma at some point... like bumping his eye hard on something.
We don't know when it happened cuz like I said before, there hasn't been any squinty eyes or tears or swelling... it could have happened sometime back in September when we first noticed it while we were working on his teeth.
Anyway - the important thing is to stop the inflammation. We don't know if his eye will have recurring bouts of uveitis... esp. if there are no outward clinical signs. The eye doc kept asking if he's been squinting a lot or if there have been tears. Nope and nope.
This makes it harder for me, I'll have to evaluate pupil size by shining a flashlight in his eyes in the dark. When one pupil is smaller than the other, it means there is uveitis.
The eye guy said something about this recurring and the blood barrier breaking down and the eye beginning to act like a lymph node to fight infection only the eye begins to work against itself. If the uveitis can't be stopped, the cataract could grow causing blindness. Or the cataract could grow and turn into glaucoma which means he loses his eye. OR the opposite could happen... his eye could atrophy and wither away into nothing.
We don't know if we can stop this uveitis. The treatment is to inject the eye with antibiotic steriod every 6 weeks for 6 mos. And then monitor....
AND say good-bye to my first check from EsScentuals! Tho' it's why I wanted to create my own lotion biz anyway - to supplement this crazy horse habit I have!
Dun dun duuunnnnn.... the cataract. (the bluish cloud in his eye)

5 comments:

Heather said...

Yay on the business!!!!
Bummer for Rosso! Just a thought, but maybe all of his acting up had to do with insecurities if his sight were changing. He was better at Rex's, but she has an indoor arena, so maybe he felt secure there. Not sure if the timeline matches up, but its something to think about.

DebH said...

ain't that the way it goes!! In one day out the next! Congratulations on your First check!! Sounds like your using it for a good thing. Sure hope you caught it early and the meds work. Your a good Mom! :)

Shanster said...

Heather - I WISH the time line matched but nope... he was fruity long before this would have started. durn it!

DebH - so totally how it goes! At least we had the money to pay and that is way better than NOT having the money to pay! I hope the meds work too! Thanks!

Cheryl said...

Cute haircut, btw! And yay on the first check! It's going for a good cause and there's plenty more coming, right? Sounds like a worrying situation. Hope he feels better soon.

Shanster said...

Cheryl - thanks! I'd be little Cindy Lou Hoo or a 1950's housewife with little flips on either side ...

Yes, that is the plan! We are sending out samples to other retailers we'd like to see carry it .. so it's a work in progress. Like anything I expect.

Yeah - Rosso's eye is so far out of my realm of control I'm really not that stressed. He'll have his treatment injections for 6 mos and we'll go from there.

Maybe I'll be stressed 6 mos from now, but at the moment, we're doin' all we can for him and he seems quite comfy - not in pain. So I'm actually o.k. with it all. (for now)

It would have been nice if they coulda just said, THIS will fix it! Oh well - that's the animal biz I suppose...