Yesterday was a hard day. We had been more up than down the whole night before and were on very little sleep. Delilah was still really uncomfortable and, after careful consideration, I made the decision to take her back one more time to get a pain shot to help boost what I am giving her at home. I think it was the right decision. As my daughter Rachel and I watched our t.v. program last night Delilah fell into such a deep sleep, for the first time since we were in the emergency room in the middle of the night Tuesday into Wednesday, that she didn’t even wake up when it was time for Rachel to go. Rachel held her while I hopped up and went potty and she put her back in my arms and Delilah stayed asleep. It was amazing.

We were up by 12:30 when I administered her pain medication and eye drops and took off the cone so she could drink water and she went back to sleep. We were up and down 2 or 3 more times but not for long. At 6 a.m. I put her eye drops in again. At 7:30 I was able to give her her pain medication again, took both dogs out to the potty and we went back to sleep until almost 10:00. It was nothing short of a miracle. Sitting here with my coffee a little after 10:30 after having walked them again, fed them, and administered more meds, they both went back to sleep and with little Delilah sleeping and snoring in her “blanket fort” (She likes to go under the chair where I sit and lay on a soft blanket under the blanket on my lap. It is where she always is when I am here working.) I took a deep breath and I think I relaxed for the first time in 3 1/2 days. My body has been rigid as a board from lack of sleep and fear and the strain of seeing my baby girl suffer.

We have a long way to go, you can’t see in the pictures how bad her eye is but I think it is better. These things can take time to heal but I am hopeful that she is responding to the medication and the eye can be saved, I think she’s on the mend. It truly is a rigorous course of treatment she is on. 3 different kind of eye drops up to 6 times a day, 2 meds by mouth twice a day, the pain medication, but I think it is all doing it’s job and I am deeply grateful. I think today we have turned a corner.

Sorry to be gross but just so you appreciate the situation. And this isn’t a good angle, you can’t see the ulcer, it’s too painful to try to get a shot of that. Please keep praying for her. It’s more serious than you can tell from the photographs..

I still have to be hyper-vigilant. She does not like the cone, though she has adjusted to it pretty well, but she can’t eat or drink in it and every time she gets up to get a drink of water I hop up, take the cone off so she can drink, and put it back on. The poor little thing really struggles outside because like all dogs she wants to sniff the ground to find that “perfect spot” but she can’t get her little face down close enough to the ground with the cone on and she has to have it on. She is so tiny they had to cut the cone down for her in the emergency room but it’s still big on her, it needs to be to protect the eye.

I am about to administer pain medication and eye drops again. I will take them outside. Dear Eleanor is here, she helps me twice a month in the house and it is such a comfort having her here. I am rereading May Sarton’s At Seventy, comfort food. Rachel is going to come tomorrow afternoon and stay with the babies so I can run out to the grocery store. I can’t leave them and Wednesday is Halloween, the first Halloween I will ever have celebrated in this house, the first Halloween I will have celebrated in 2 decades. I have the pumpkins on the porch, Noni helped string up little lights on the front windows, and I have to get candy to give out! In the fog of worrying about Delilah I had almost forgotten!

The left side of the porch. There are pumpkins and lights on the right side too. This was the night, just hours before, we ended up in the emergency room with Delilah. As you can see at 8 p.m. she was fine. These eye things come on so suddenly it’s frightening…

It is such a relief to be able to breathe a little easier. And I want to thank you all so much for your love, prayers, and support. It means more than you could possibly know and I know your prayers are helping so much. Please keep praying for her if you can. I am sending you all so much love and gentle warm hugs. We are getting through this, one day at a time with your help.