Moreover, Nadelstein performed his own tear test and determined that Peanut’s cornea was a wreck. His tear production was poor as was the quality of his tears. He replaced the medications that Lindley had prescribed with different ones and Peanut’s sight returned almost overnight. The new medications reduced swelling and ultimately enabled Peanut to fully close his eye for the first time in the nearly four months since Sisler’s surgery. (Remember that we had been paying Lindley for weekly tear tests for months to no benefit. We had also seen all the doctors at Eye Care for Animals — none of whom offered a viable long term solution.) Nadelstein told us that Peanut’s eye was in such bad shape that he would never recommend the “corrective” surgery that Lindley had recommended or any other kind of surgery.

We made special trips to see Nadelstein again on August 14 and finally on October 15. Despite that Sisler had told us that Peanut would ultimately require only a single drop of eye lube in his eye (just to make sure we took a look at it closely every day), he needed four mediations twice daily. But, he was doing very well. Unfortunately dark clouds would return in just a matter of months.