Snake Issues; Resolved
In continuation of the events from my previous post, Echo is doing great! Here’s how it all went down:
I took her to the vet on the wednesday appointment. That visit was full of tears and tough decisions. I fought with the idea of putting her down because, alas, my family can’t really afford any extra expense at the time. The vet said that her eye had been ruptured, and the only way to cure it was that it needed to be removed. The total cost was going to be about $200, and although I love Echo, I knew the price was a bit high for me. My dad had given me $100 to spend on her vet bills, since I don’t have a job and all, but he said that was it. After many phonecalls, I finally decided I would delve into my savings for my trip to Europe which was coming up in the next week and a half. I went with my gut on this one; I knew that if I gave her a chance, she would pull through. So there I left her to have surgery, and I would pick her up the next day. The vet said that he would give me a call if anything went wrong with the surgery.
The rest of that day, I kept checking my phone, making sure I hadn’t missed a call. I felt like a paranoid parent. And in technical terms, I kind of was; Echo is like my baby, same as any of my other pets. Well, I didn’t get a phonecall that day, so I assumed surgery must have gone accordingly. The next morning, I spent half the day checking my phone again - they said they would call when she was ready to be picked up. I’m not patient enough for that; I needed to know how my snake was doing. So I called in, and they said I could pick her up in a couple hours.
It was really weird seeing her for the first time. The stitches closing her eye socket were pulling on her lip, so she had this sort of joker smile on one side. I felt sorry for her, but I knew she was feeling a lot better (or would soon). For the next 10 days I gave her shots and an oral medicine, which was convenient since I would be leaving a couple days after (meaning no one else had to take on the obligation of giving her shots, although my mom continued with the oral medicine for a while). On her check-up with the vet, he said she was looking good. From here, my mom looked after her for about 3 weeks while I toured Europe. When I came back, her lip had relaxed substantially, which was good to see. I made an appointment with the vet since it was nearing the time for her stitches to come out. He looked her over and said she was looking great, and that the stitches could come out in a couple weeks. A few days before the appointment, Echo shed her skin, and during that shed, her stitches had pulled out. I wasn’t too worried since they were going to come out anyways. But what a sight! You can see the socket quite clearly, although there is skin that has formed over it. It was a bit creepy at first, but she actually looks pretty cool. If anything, it adds character!
