There is some debate as to whether it was the eye specialist, the emergency surgeon, or the discharge vet tech, but somewhere along the way we were told to keep Asa’s routine as close to normal as possible, and he’ll adjust well to his new life with one eye. So while Mom and Dad worry and dote, and Asa comes to terms with his new perspective, I’m making sure we stick to our normal schedule.

Take for example when Asa arrived home after his night in the animal hospital’s recovery room. Did I make a fuss over him? Nope. I gave him a quick sniffing to confirm he wasn’t out carousing someplace good. He most definitely wasn’t based on his smell of antiseptics, not to mention his appearance also told me he didn’t have much fun while at the er. I then immediately reminded Dad that while picking Asa up, he missed our regularly scheduled lunchtime walk. To which Dad reluctantly obliged, and took me. A tired human is a happy human! Although now that I think of it, Mom and Dad both looked really tired that day without the walk.

The following day Mom and Dad had the foolish idea to change our dinner time to better adapt to Asa’s medication schedule. I quickly put a stop to that, with a tantrum that was worthy of an Oscar nomination! After all if I allow my well established routine of dinner to be served any time other than 5:00 PM, then what chance do we have of keeping anything normal for poor Asa? I only have his best interest at stomach…oops, I mean heart.

Also each evening when Mom and Dad vied for the opportunity to sleep downstairs in the living room with Asa, I would head upstairs to my preferred sleeping spot. What’s the point of all of us having a bad night’s sleep? I should at least be comfortable and well rested. It takes a lot of energy to keep my family on schedule.

Alright, I do admit that some of my attempts to make sure Asa didn’t receive special treatment may have been misinterpreted. I may have almost tackled Asa when I thought he was getting a special treat. Turns out he was just getting a cold compress to reduce the swelling. But I had heard somewhere that humans sometimes use raw meat on eye injuries, and I wasn’t about to let them waste a good snack! I do admit I was embarrassed to realize it was just ice wrapped in a pink dishtowel. And my subtle yet effective reminder for him to move from my spot on the dog bed probably shouldn’t have included flopping on Asa’s head. But hey, they said keep things normal, and that’s what I would normally do in the past.

But try as I might, things are not normal. My goofy little brother went through an ordeal. Don’t tell Asa, but he’s been remarkably brave through all of this. I’m not sure I would be as calm as him losing vision in one eye. Therefore things will be different. But as his big brother, I promise to help keep things as normal as possible.