Since then, I've been eroding at the bond of trust we built over 20 years by subjecting him to drops three times a day, initially three separate prescriptions. That's 9 applications daily. Which really had me wondering if the vet school lead me down the wrong path instead of enucleation (removing the eyeball completely).
Our Dr. Brown had been coming to recheck him, but his major reevaluation was Tuesday.
Our Dr. Brown had been coming to recheck him, but his major reevaluation was Tuesday.
I sandwich my nearly 20 year old truck and 55 year old trailer between a 40k truck and 20k trailer and an even more impressive 50k trailer and new F-550 (a rig worth more than the median Alabama home).
More posh rigs from Ocala, Florida were taking up space in front of reception.
Then there was the lone dinky little 2 horse bumper pull towed by an SUV parked in the bottom of the lot. Instead of the perfunctory "isn't that cute" thought, I got ill (to clear things up for you Canadians, I was not puking in the bushes, I was mad). The driver probably parked it off on its own for the quiet, but I imagined it was because he felt less worthy, He obviously wasn't cramming a 16 hand Warmblood into that cubicle, but the clothes do not make the emperor.
Behind in their appointments, Axel waited an hour for his turn in the opthalmology exam room. No better time to practice the massage techniques I've been studying in Linda Tellington-Jones's book. Two groups of students were sent during the interim to listen to his cardiac problem. Due to the more gentle ride in his 1960's school bus versus the borrowed ride from the time before, and perhaps the massage, only a handful of the students could identify the premature heartbeat. This dude was too chill! The cardiologist was even summoned and she had to wait 4 minutes before a single anomaly occurred. Am I peeved at the hefty cardio exams from the initial exam? No. Now I know that stress can actually kill him, I call that preemptive knowledge.
Axel undergoes an hour of exams while standing sedated. I even get to look through the lighted head microscope. I peered into my boy's soul and saw a cloud of golden asteroids. His geriatric eyes are being assaulted by numerous chronic diseases, but considering he's 75 years old in human years, the opthalmologists tout his youthful eyes.
I cherish each farrier, vet and vet school visit. I always learn so much. Here, a student poses in the new eye medicine dispensing technique that I was taught. They were alerted to my poor technique by my request to double the prescriptions...
My little old man leaves the vet school with an A+.
Understandably unenthused.
We glide back to the farm by 8 PM. Ten years ago, while I was building my house, before I had time to renovate the horse trailer to the moving violation it is now, I lived in it for 9 months. No electricity, no water, no fans, broken windows and holes in the roof. She was my home and now she is the rolling fortress that keeps my most precious loves safe.
I believe everything has a form of spirit. I collect rocks from places Cole and I have run in order to bring home some of the energy we all shared. I equally have great respect for the machines and equipment that allow me follow my passions.
This year, I've dropped a small fortune into body work and refurbishing my old truck. Boss is her name, she's about to crest 200k miles, she made me oodles of money in my landscaping business... dammit, she's earned every penny.
