The Pupdate

Some dear friends have asked me the following extremely fair question in recent weeks: “What about the other dog?” Those of you who know Lexa, know that she is an unbelievably adorable, funny, slightly mischievous, and sweet Berner. (She’s shown here at last summer’s puppy party for the nieces and nephews in celebration of her birthday—complete with pupcakes, for real, and a hand-crafted party hat, which I can't take credit for.) She’ll be nine this August. I hesitated to post too much about her lately because we have been going through the detective process of finding out what was causing a small bump on the side of her eye. There were two primary possibilities: an inflammation caused by an autoimmune condition episcleritis, which is treatable, or histiocytosis, which for Berners is a dangerous condition akin to cancer.

There is excellent news: the final lab report came back saying that these cells do not show any sign of histio, so with a day surgery, various ointments, shots, and drops, Lexa’s eye is healing nicely. Despite my precarious merges into mid-day highway traffic, multiple visits to a canine opthamologist, and daily applications of medicine, Lexa has remained cheerful, even buoyant. Anyone who’s had a Berner knows that our time with them is a gift. Some would even say we are on borrowed time with Lexa, as most Berners live to be about 7 or 8 on average. But I think any time with a loved one is a gift. So go home and hug or call someone you love. Or you can just make a batch of pupcakes and pass them out at the bar. Whatever you do, share the love; it'll multiply on its own.

*post script: After an intial series of treatments by our vets [recommended! NE Veterinarians www.vetcor.com/salemma], the vet treating her said: “At this point, you may want to take her to an opthamologist.” Me: “Um, this may be really obvious to you, but do you mean a DOG opthamologist?” Him: [chortle] “Yes.” We had her checked out and treated further by Mass Vet, open 24/7 www.intownmassvet.com—which I highly recommend if you find yourself in a serious situation such as ours, or if your dog needs reading glasses.