Morning Ritual

Every morning after the sunrise, it's breakfast & insulin shot for Kolo. Here are Clapton and Kolo waiting patiently for their meal.

Here are their pre-made brown rice, green vegetable, chicken, mixed with dog food. Yes, that is my morning sunrise glittering on the red top. Proof of the magical sunrise I just captured.

Every time you mix her food, Kolo knows and barks, as if to say, "Hurry up..." Or maybe, "I'm so excited."

Kolo With Clapton

"Love - the feeling - is a fruit of love, the verb."
Stephen R. Covey 

To Charlotte We Go

Me & Kolo heading for Charlotte to see her eye doctor. Looking forward to all of the Spring colors as we drive off the mountains... We made our usual Landrum, SC stop and the temperatures were sizzling already.

Charlotte Waiting Room

Kolo wants to play with every dog in this waiting room. She whimpers. Looks at me with those eyes.

They kept us waiting a long time. Dr. Pate was behind, way behind.

Here's a good triceps workout: Holding Kolo back with leash from playing with all the dogs in waiting room for 1.5 hours. #NoGymNeededToday

Ice Cream

Biltmore Park

Nothing beats a healthy doggy ice cream treat on a Spring Day.

French Broad River

Happy in Sunlight

Kolo & Steven along the French Broad River

Hiking, Warm Out

On the parkway near Bent Creek again with Kolo today. We hiked for about an hour. It was a bit overcast, but warm out. Steady climb up. She did great. We had a good workout and she was a delight.

checking out French Broad River

2 happy kids

Bent Creek

sun through trees

We are hiking again. Steven is really anxious to get into better shape and Kolo certainly enjoys the exercise. Man and his dog. It is very endearing to behold and be a part of.

I am having a creative time with my camera. So, it is win-win-win all around. I just need more time to be able to do it all... and warmer weather.

Shut In Trail

So we are back to the Shut-In Trail. Rediscovering the beauty of this great Blue Ridge Parkway trek that we did years ago. Steven wants to get us able to do the Bent Creek-to Mount Pisgah haul in a day. OK... That'll be 16.3 miles with 3000 feet of vertical climbing...

At this moment, I think Kolo is the most prepared to attain this goal.

French Broad Dog Park

Snow on the ground, cold, but sunny, we had the French Broad River Park virtually to ourselves. Kolo loved it. She is beautiful. And we are happy.

Vizsla

 We have 15°F weather this morning. (-10° with wind chill.) Steven took Kolo down for a walk on the property while I waited for the sunrise.

We figured out that Kolo's breed is Vizsla, a Hungarian-Austrian Hunting dog with royal pedigree. Except for her lovely black nose, she looks just like the breed. Precious!


"The Vizsla’s ancestors were hunters and companions for the Magyar hordes, a tribe that settled in what is now known as Hungary. A favorite of early barons, Vizslas are depicted in etchings as far back as the 10th century."

Eye Drops

Kolo doesn't like it much, but she is getting three different types of eye drops, post surgery. Steven's in charge and he's doing a wonderful job.

Beautiful World

Kolo is doing very well. We continue to take her for short walks. Slowly but surely.

Here we are, walking at dusk in a forest near Ridgefield Blvd. One more discovery almost in our backyard.

These jaunts are the perfect opportunity for me to take photographs and write about them, my big passions.

I don't know who enjoys these walks more... Kolo... Or Steven.

It is a big beautiful world we live in. Everything is perfect just as it is.

"In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful."

 ~ Alice Walker

French Broad River Park

  Just back from taking Kolo on a leisurely stroll at Asheville's lovely French Broad River Park.

Just imagine. Two weeks ago, she was blind. Now with cataract surgery, she can see. & what a celebration she is... 

Waiting For Breakfast

Waiting For Breakfast
Not too patiently.

(Kolo will start barking soon. She does every morning.)

Steven uses my mother's red and blue bowls to mix their food and feed them. Seems very appropriate to me.

Parkway Beauty

We were able to take off Kolo's cone collar today.

We took her up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. We have to limit her exercise, but we can walk her gently. It was cold, but stunningly clear on the parkway. The visibility was amazing; you could see for hundreds of miles. There was virtually no one up there with us. We had the parkway to ourselves. What a gift.

Kolo was excited in the car. Usually she sleeps in the back seat. But in a stunning change of behavior, she was looking around, up, taking in the scenery. Full of excitement. We felt it, too.

We wondered if perhaps her vision was faulty for a long time before her blindness.

It is very remarkable to watch her celebrate her life.

Kolo Sunrise...

Kolo and I watch the Sunrise...So nice to have her with me... She made my sunrise blog, too...

Those are stickers on her collar. Yes, I did that. Always looking to embellish. Just like autographing casts. Her doctor and nurse loved it. 1 more week of collar.

Sleeping Beauty

Our Sleeping Beauty Kolo has figured out a way to sleep with the collar. She looks peaceful, but that's got to be uncomfortable. We will be so happy when she gets to remove this for keeps.

Carrier Park

Me and Kolo today at Carrier Park.

She had a great time and I shot a lot of beautiful photographs of the French Broad River...

Pink Harness

We just finished feeding Kolo. Her clunky cone collar fits perfectly over her red bowl. (I don't think anything will get in her way to eat.)


We got her a pretty leather pink harness yesterday so folks we meet will quit calling her "he." It suits her.


She is doing well. Her right eye looks better (less inflamed) than her left. But all is wonderful.

Dr. Pate

8:30 am and we are back at Dr. Pate's office to recheck Kolo before returning to Asheville. There is inflammation because of her diabetes, but Dr. Pate says it is not unexpected.

What an amazing thing she has done... Giving sight to a blind dog.

Two special beauties... Kolo and Dr. Pate...

Eye Drops

Gotta put in those eye drops. Kolo is on three different eye drops, three times a day. (Don't know what Kolo likes more, the eye drops or that cone collar.)

Full Day

Here is Kolo after her full day. Poor thing. Even the dimmest lights are too bright for her. She wants to keep her eyes closed...

Success!

 Dr. Pate called, Steven answered the cell phone. Kolo's surgery was a success! We had to wait a couple of hours, until 3 pm to pick her up...

Here she is, looking like she's been through a battle. They shaved around both eyes, which is part of the procedure. The bandage around her right leg is where the intravenous (IV) catheter was placed.  She is disoriented and does not like the hard plastic cone collar.  We cannot tell if she can see. She is fumbling around, but it might be the after-effects of surgery.

Big Day

Today is the big day. We are driving to Charlotte for Kolo's cataract surgery...

Cheryl, the vivacious and kind technician, has dilated Kolo's eyes & she is going to do an electroretinogram (ERG) to check the condition of Kolo's retinas.

It took about an hour to get the results. Steven worked on my iPad as we waited. We also chatted with the other pet owners in the waiting room. Often people commented that Kolo is beautiful and asked for her breed.

We really do not know. She is a rescue mix, we think.

Kolo's ERG test was successful and she was moved to surgery, to be done under general anesthesia. We left, had breakfast, then checked into the pet-friendly La Quinta hotel. Dr. Pate's nurse said someone would call us when surgery was over and Kolo was ready to be picked up.

Steven said he wished he could be the first person Kolo would see when she woke up from the surgery.

Steven Loves Kolo

I accidently hit video instead of photo on my iPad and captured this unguarded moment of Steven with Kolo. What a gift to glimpse into Steven's immeasurable heart.

It is so obvious how much Steven loves Kolo. This experience has been hard on him, yet has given him a remarkable chance for knowledge, wisdom, and growth.

Pre-Surgical Work Up

Kolo and I went to see Dr. Young today. Kolo needed a CBC, serum chemistry profile, and urinalysis in preparation for her cataract surgery on Tuesday. We waited awhile for the results and she was a very good girl, in great spirits. She even sat next to me calmly and let me work on my iPad while we waited.

I was able to single-handedly get her weight (which is usually a chore, with everyone in the office trying to get her to step on the scale). She weighs 88.5 pounds.

Her glucose reading was 71. Still low. We are dropping her insulin from 17 to 15 units, twice a day. Everything else looks good and she is ready for surgery.

Trip to Charlotte

We are driving Kolo to Charlotte this morning to see about the feasibility of removing her cataracts. It is quite a rainy day, but as usual, she enjoys the car ride and loves being with us in the car.


We made our usual breakfast and bathroom stop at Bojangles in Landrum, South Carolina, leaving Miss Kolo in the car alone. Ha. In a few short minutes she had nosed through all the bags near my front seat. Good thing her lunch was in a zippered thermos bag, or it would've been devoured.

Carolina Veterinary Specialists. (Arrive there at 10 am exactly and of course predictable Steven checks his watch and urges me to hurry up.)

Waiting... And Kolo does not sit still. Note the moving tail.

Look at that face! My Sweet Kolo, in the waiting room. NOT her favorite place to be. She keeps pulling us toward the door. I know she'd like to head for home without seeing the doctor.

Ophthalmologist Dr. Pate first numbs Kolo's eyes, then checks Kolo's cataracts up close.

There was a last minute cancellation, so it looks like Kolo will have her surgery next Tuesday. They plan to remove the cataracts and insert an artificial replacement lens, called an intraocular lens. Both eyes will be operated on at the same time.

Her eyes are inflamed from the cataracts, so it seems the sooner we do the operation, the better her chances to see again. There is also a greater chance for complications because of the inflammation. No guarantees. We are hoping that all will go smoothly next week.

Clapton

Clapton, our lively 13 year old shih tzu, is mostly deaf. When we realized Kolo was blind Steven said, "Great. I have one blind dog and one deaf dog. I guess together they make one healthy dog."

In this photo, Clapton is sleeping in Kolo's spot in the office. Before her blindness, Kolo would curl up under my desk on my feet, or just under the desk if I had my feet cross-legged (which I usually do when I work). It is difficult for Kolo to maneuver under the desk now, so she will plop down beside me on these blankets as I work pre-dawn.

I suspect right now Kolo is curled up in the morning sun, bathed in light, on the bed.

Clapton is camera shy, so any photo of him is a score. I don't know what he hates more, the camera or the scissors. But thanks to my iPad, which looks like a book, not a camera, I have successfully captured this shot. Of course, it helps that he is sleeping... And deaf. :)

Blood Sugar Management

We are trying to fine-tune Kolo's insulin management.

I asked Dr. Young how the insulin therapy we give Kolo affects her metabolism and he drew this chart of the way her blood sugar level rises and ebbs. The 80-100 mg/dL is the normal range we need to keep Kolo at, at her lowest time of the day.

Stuffed Animals

If I am gone all day, Kolo greets me at the door with a gift-- one of her stuffed animals. 

Kolo Bathed in Sunlight

Kolo takes her insulin shot very well, looks forward to her meals, and knows how to find the most comfortable place in the house, usually in the sunlight...

Kolo's Meds

Our blind Kolo needs a lot of daily TLC.

In addition to insulin injections two times a day, she takes a pill 2x for her thyroid and eye drops to keep the redness and inflammation from her eyes. She is almost finished with the pill we give her daily for her pancreatitis ( Denamarin) and the ear drops for her yeast infection. We will continue to use the ear wash to deep clean her ears once a week.

Morning Feeding Ritual

7 am Morning Ritual. Kolo and Clapton wait for their breakfast.

Patiently.

 Turkey, brown rice, and meds.

Hurry up!

Yay!