OF TOLERANCE

Speaking of tolerance, Lily, the barn cat, has taken over the yard since I can no longer see her.  I hear people saying how nice it is to have her out and about.  What should I make of that?  She comes out only because of my handicap.  She is better off because I am down and out.  Her well-being is relative to unfavorable factors in my well-being.   

Well, I suppose you'd expect such a relationship between antagonistic canine and feline species.  What about among other creatures?  Does what is good for one depend on something being not so good for another? 

When I do cozy up to one of the other cats who aren't afraid of me, people get out their cameras.  They say, "Isn't it great that they get along with each other?"  If I had a camera, I could photograph people of different races being friends.  How is it for you?  Do you notice when physical differences don't matter in relationships? 

I have a lot of time to think about Lily these days.  How would things be different between us now if I hadn't been so aggressive toward her when I could see?

Collie Talk

The Minnesota Wisconsin Collie Rescue organization, which helped me to find my home at Clare's Well, is a resource for help in any need.  Sister Carol e-mailed them to ask for advice about blind Collies.  Several Collie owners responded through collietalk@yahoo.com and they were very encouraging.  Even if I never recover my sight, they say, I will be just fine.  She was advised about things I'd already told her, like keeping my food and water dishes in the same spot and not moving furniture around on the porch.  I get to know a certain path and stick to it.  My favorite path is the driveway where I feel where the gravel ends and the grass begins, making it easy to run out there. 

My spirits are better these days and I'm spending more time out of doors.  Dr. Sillerud says my left eye cleared a little and she still hopes I will be able to see from that eye.  Some of the medicine she has me taking increases my appetite and to keep from gaining still more weight, I eat shredded carrots instead of snacks between meals.  The carrots taste pretty good, but I feel like a rabbit!  Please don't publish that in collie talk.

A Collie's Holy Week

Holy Week is all the buzz around here.  My Sisters are busy with choir practice and Easter preparations and are trying to take more prayer time.  They weren't able to make reservations for all the people who wanted to come to our hermitages this weekend.  More than at any other time of the year, it seems, people want to be quiet and tune their spirits to God's spirit.  I hear it is a time to recall how God came to personally share in the experiences of creation, including suffering and death as a human creature.  This is consoling to me as a creature who is suffering more than I ever have before.  My blindness is very disorienting  and only a little more bearable because I know I am not left alone to go through it by myself.   

The Sisters and my doctor are hopeful I will regain sight in my left eye.  It is not a cataract afterall that is causing blindness but some other undescribable obstacle that should be healed with eye drops and pills.  My right eye is totally gone.  I see the doctor again on Tuesday. 

If I can't be out herding the guinea fowl, whom I hear squawking around the yard, and if I can't run out to greet guests, or do my other assignments, then Holy Week is as good a time as any to be confined to the porch.  I take it as a time of conversion while I listen to readings from passover and the way of the cross.  Perhaps my healed vision will be more than just that of my physical eyesight.

Give Me Eyes That See

"Give me eyes that see", is my prayer these days.  Even though my other senses have increased their ability to help me navigate in my canine world, I'd like to have my eyes back.  We are still investigating whether or not it is possible to have my cataracts removed.  I am among the uninsured, you know.  My human friends are working on that aspect from within their network of friends who support us.  If the eye specialist tells us this week that I really am a candidate for cataract surgery, people who see me as integral to the hospitality at Clare's Well say they will help to make it possible.  I'll keep you posted. 

In the meantime, I don't know myself how I do it, but I just know when there is a puddle ahead and I walk around it even though I can't see.  Isn't that amazing?  I love how God designed us.

Cataract surgery for Collie

Just to let you know, I visited the eye doctor yesterday.  She says I have mature cataracts in my eyes -- no wonder I can't see.  I also have red eyes, which are caused by inflammation and she gave the Sisters  medicine for me.  When the inflammation is gone, they can consider surgery for my cataracts.  I understand this is expensive.  I overheard shock in Jan's voice when she repeated what the receptionist said was the charge for my examination visit yesterday.  She had a large question in her voice.  The lady in the doctor's office calmly repeated the number and I could feel Jan's disbelief as she wrote out the check. 

In the meantime, I overheard them say my diet will be changed:  no more fatty treats and no people food. I don't like the sound of that.  But, what can I do about it?  I have little to say about what people give me to eat.  I am feeling better, and the ice is less in our yard, so I feel like wagging my tail when I go out.  This is a strange time for me and I'm not quite myself.  Hang in there with me, please.