We have a 13 yo miniature poodle, Diesel, who has been at patient at the Central Coast surgery for approximately 5 years.
I first learnt about SASH when Diesel developed Glaucoma in his left eye which unfortunately led to his eye needing to be removed.
It could be seen that his remaining eye had a ‘faulty’ drain and that this eye would also develop Glaucoma but when was the unknown. Diesel had quarterly check ups to monitor the pressure in his eye.
Despite the consistent monitoring our worst nightmare was realised in February 2021 and he developed Glaucoma in his remaining eye and medication was not relieving the pressure.
After discussing with Dr Kate Hindley and to try and retain Diesel’s eye sight he was referred to Dr Mark Billson at North Ryde who performed a gonioimplant . This operation involved a ‘tube’ being inserted into the eye to help drain the fluid away keeping the Glaucoma at bay.
After the recovery period Dr Kate and Nurse Holly continued to care for Diesel with regular check ups to monitor his pressure.
In August 2022 Diesel developed some complications. It was thought the tube that had been implanted the year prior had become blocked and needed flushing to allow it to continue to work as expected. Once again we were referred to Dr Mark to look after this procedure.
The process wasn’t as straightforward as first thought. Diesel had developed a hole in his eye which was causing the eye to leak fluid rather than the gonio implant draining the fluid away. Surgery was performed to try and mend the hole and Diesel needed to be monitored and once everything was stable he was going to have the tube flushed. This didn’t happen and an infection developed.
There was lots of back and forth between Dr Mark and myself and it was decided the best outcome was to remove the existing gonio implant and replace it with a new one on the other side of his eye – obviously there were risks and infection was a major risk.
During Diesel’s post operative care everything was healing and Diesel still had his eye sight.
Now more than 16 months after this last procedure Diesel has regular check ups with Dr Kate and everything with his Glaucoma is good, his eye pressure remains stable but my poor boy has developed a cataract and is now virtually blind.
Dr Kate and I have discussed treatment at this point in time a decision has not yet been made.
I could not fault the treatment that Diesel has received from Drs Kate and Mark and all of the other staff who have been involved in his treatment – thank you!
