Mixed news on Susie-Belle’s eyes

Yesterday we had a day out to Oxford to see Susie-Belle’s opthalmologist. Mr Fraser did her cataract op in the summer before we rehomed her and I first took her in November for a check on her KCS, she’d been on the Optimmune for a few months and we needed to see that she was responding. The news then wasn’t good, both eyes had detriorated so Mr Fraser made the decision to switch treatment to the tacrolimus cream.

This is an awkward cream to apply to her eyes, although she’s brilliant, in the beginning I wasn’t, and managed to get quite a bit smeared over her eyebrows. The main problem is that it’s not a cream designed for application to the eyes, so the syringe I have to use is a bit clunky and with one hand I have to retract her eyelid and try and get it under the eyelid. It takes a certain knack – which I seem now to have mastered thankfully.

So we had mixed news yesterday on the Schirmer tear test: the good news is that the eye with the new lens has improved with the cream and the reading is 10mm, but the other one has deteriorated at 5mm. A reading above 15mm is normal, 10-15mm is reasonable, 10 and below starts to be concerning and requires careful consistent treatment and 5mm starts to be a more serious worry. Her tear production readings have fluctuated throughout the time she’s been seen there, sometimes one is better than the other so we cant’ read too much into this reading and we’ll see in March how things are then.

But for now, she’s ok(ish) and we’ve got used to the cream going in, I rechecked my technique for applying it with Mr Fraser and I’ll be a bit firmer with retracting her eyelid. So with an improved technique, her continued improving overall wellbeing and best possible diet, I’m hopeful we’ll avoid surgery.