Our First Girl

I haven't paid homage to the "big sister" enough. This is Hope and she is the best big sister ever! Well, truly, she is a bit oblivious. In other words, she doesn't pay much attention to Zoe. She used to be confused when we would get up in the middle of the night and she would loyally follow us around to change the diaper and feed her. Now she says, "Screw that! Y'all can handle this one, suckas!"

I do believe she is a bit jealous because when I put Zoe right in front of her, she refuses to look at her. She turns her head and won't respond when you call her name. Oh well.

So, Mike and I love our dog a lot. She is our first baby! We still give her as much if not more love than before despite everyone telling us that your pets go by the wayside when a baby comes. Not Hope! That made me even sad to think about that happening!

It also makes me sad that the best doggie in the world is going blind! I write about it now but a few weeks ago, I would cry everytime I thought about it! We knew she had cataracts and even though the cataract removal surgery done by a veterinarian opthamologist is NOT cheap, we were going to do it. She had to have some pre-op testing done first to make sure her retinas were working well. Long story short, not only do we find out she has glaucoma in one eye in addition to cataracts in both eyes, her retinas are degenerating. So, she is blind in one eye and will be completely blind in another month or so.

Mike is the one that took her to the pre-op testing but I was the one that got the call from the doctor telling me the bad news. I am sure I was also a little hormonal still (Zoe wasn't quite a month) but I told myself I would NOT cry at the vet opthomologist. ...that didn't happen. They are SOO nice in there but as soon as the vet assistant came out to tell the hormonal lady with a newborn strapped to her chest in a Baby Bjorn, my throat closed up and I couldn't talk and I just sat there and cried. He went to the front desk and brought me a box of Kleenex and the old lady waiting for her dog (poodle, I'm sure) looked at me sadly and curiously.

This nice vet assistant (a guy) went to get another assistant who brings her dog to work everyday who has no eyes. She talked to me about how dogs can adjust and I watched her dog run around through my tears and choked out a few words of thanks. Then the nice man even walked with me down the hall, in the elevator and out the door. I'm sure they thought this lady was CRAZY! We may have to remove one or both of Hopes' eyes in the future depending on how bad the pressure issues and inflammation issue get.

Hope is adjusting but I want to cry everytime she runs into something. I am afraid to move (houses) now that she can't see! We are still glad that we picked her from the Houston Cocker Rescue because she has been the best dog ever...we just feel bad that she can't see.