For the past few weeks I have been busy visiting my doctors for followup appointments. So here is my stem to stern report on their findings. For you landlubbers, stem to stern is sailor talk for front to back of a boat, or in my case – nose to tail!
First up my senior check up with my primary veterinarian. She was happy to find my blood pressure was excellent despite my enthusiasm seeing all my friends at the animal hospital. It’s been a long time since I visited them. My blood panel also came back with good results, especially for my thyroid and kidneys. We will continue to monitor a few big but benign bumps on me, known as Sebaceous cysts. Overall, as long as I continue smooth sailing, I don’t need to set into port to see her for another 6 months.
Next I visited my internal medicine doctor regarding my ongoing rough seas with Aspergillosis. Recently the ol’ nose cannon fired a couple warning shots across the bow with traces of blood in them. This blood, combined with my honking cough being almost as consistent as a fog horn on an early spring morning in Maine, had Mom and Dad worried. However, the doctor said the bloody nose could be environmental, due to the dry air of winter, and wasn’t too concerned at this point. I pondered perhaps a little more sea air will do the trick? She reminded us that this voyage is a long one, and that the anti-fungal medication I’m on takes time. Therefore I must be patient and continue to stay the course that she charted for me!
Finally, my eye doctor did an inspection. This had us all worried, even the ophthalmologist. We all held our breath as he examined me. Then he put on the biggest smile, and announced, “I don’t believe it but Amazing Asa did it again!” Although the complications from the nasal surgery in November damaged my eye, it is damaged in the “best possible way!” The scarring is on the side of my eye, and therefore I no longer have peripheral vision on the left side of my right eye. But the way it formed, it is not blocking my pupil, and instead is permanently holding it open so light can get in, making it possible for me to see! We all let out a big cheer! The eye doctor explained that this was more than he ever could have hoped for based on what he saw during those dark days in the ER last November. I’m still in the early stages of glaucoma, and the cysts from the Golden Retriever Pigmentary Uveitis could flare up at any time. However, all things considered, I’m doing “amazing,” and for now I am to remain on course with my current regiment of eyedrops. Before leaving the exam room, the eye doctor gave me an uncharacteristic boop on the nose and told me to keep up the good work. Aye! Aye! Captain!
