He said two months. It's been two years.

Photo copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved.

That's She-Wolf, a few hours ago.

Even in the gathering dusk, she can still run around on her own, checking out her world.

Two years ago today, we were told she would be completely blind within two months. Diabetes. The vet amended that to say "four months at the absolute outside," but it turned out she'd already had the disease for at least a couple of months before her formal diagnosis on this day in 2013. By rights, she should already have lost her sight by that point . . . but she hadn't.

I'm nothing if not bull-headed. She gets her glucose checked twice a day. Insulin injections twice a day. A tailored (by me) mix of different kinds of dog food, prescription and otherwise, twice a day. Three different supplements once a day, all designed to save her eyesight. Since Wings and I both have decades' worth of experience with diabetes, far too much, we followed our own instincts rather than the conventional veterinary wisdom when it came to managing her illness: adding the supplements; tailoring her food in terms of both type and quantity; adjusting her insulin levels up and down based on specific glucose readings rather than a set schedule; and refusing to confine her, allowing her normal exercise, play, freedom. She's a happier dog when she can play, and happiness translates, to a not-insignificant degree, to better health outcomes, for dogs and humans alike.

Her eyesight is deteriorating, of course. She already had a cataract forming in right eye on November 19th, 2013. She has visible cloudiness in both eyes, now, and her distance vision is compromised to a degree. Dawn and dusk are especially hard for her, those times when the world goes gray, so we set up some old solar lights Wings found boxed away so that she can always find her way back to the front door. But she has beaten the odds by two full years, and so we're sticking with what clearly works. We're going to keep her seeing her world as long as possible.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.