My husband had laser surgery to fix a small hole in his retina. It was most impressive...he saw the Ophthalmologist Thursday evening and we received a call from her secretary the next morning at 9 AM telling us that he had an appointment for the surgery that day at noon in Narbonne. Obviously lunch plans were cancelled. And we couldn't believe that the surgeon would work at lunchtime. This is France after all, where the stomach rules.
Thirty minutes of waiting for his eye to dilate, then some anesthesia drops followed by 10 minutes of a laser zapping and we were sent home so he could recover. Which he did. His follow up appointment was last week and the eye has healed perfectly.
By the way, it didn't cost a thing.
I'm glad he's healthy because the chihuahuas are falling apart. The older one, Speck, started showing signs of arthritis last summer. He had a few X-Rays and was put on Rimadyl and was fine. Until 10 days ago. He woke up from an afternoon nap screaming in pain. Not whimpering, not whining, not crying. Screaming. It is the most horrific, nails on a chalkboard, distressing sound that tears my heart out because there's nothing I can do other than pet him until he calms down. Since then he wakes up an average of once a day and once in the middle of the night, around 4 AM, screaming. He's been put on new medication which we hope will start kicking in soon. The night before last was a particularly bad night but last night seemed better. We'll see how tonight goes. If these new pills don't work the next step will be injections of Cortisone.
A few months ago we noticed swelling on one side of the younger one, Tico's, neck. A couple of weeks ago the vet diagnosed it as a possible backed up salivary gland but needed us to go to the big clinic in Carcassonne where they would anesthetize him and draw out the fluid to make sure that that was exactly what we were dealing with. We went Monday morning and I held the poor little guy while they inserted the IV and drew out the fluid. I'm such a wimp around needles and hospital-like situations in general that I felt like I was going to faint at one point and had to sit down and put my head between my knees. I'm hopeless.
It is his salivary gland and he needs surgery in the near future. It isn't urgent but if we don't treat it, eventually he'll have a big bubble on his neck. I've looked at pictures of dogs with this condition on the Internet. It ain't pretty.
On a good note, our street is having it's annual apéro evening tomorrow night. We always look forward to this evening with our neighbors. Everyone brings something to eat and drink to share with the others. There are always some very interesting homemade alcohol concoctions to try (and burn taste buds off).
We finally cancelled our Canal Satellite contract after many letters back and forth and they even reimbursed us for one month. Now that is amazing!
The weather continues to be bizarre. We had rain for several days and it currently feels like autumn with warm sun but cool wind. So far this summer it hasn't even gotten hot enough to take the duvet off the bed. Bizarre, very bizarre.
There's an upcoming event in Italy which I hope to attend with Riana and her sister, Novella, who arrives for a visit from California in September. It is an International Exhibition of Cheese sponsored by the Slow Food organization. Cheese from Italy, France, Switzerland, New Zealand, the US, South Africa and Greece to name a few. We would be surrounded by cheese for four days! How fabulous is that!
That's all the news for now.
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