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Kind To Pets - Tips for Animal Lovers are sponsored by Asiahomes Internet Its Now or Never  "The
taxi is waiting for me to go to the airport," Ms Robertson, a tall
and slim flight stewardess in her twenties, said in a distressed and
almost hysterical voice. "My Maltese's left eyeball looked much
bigger than the right. She was just pounced upon by the other dog
who had never liked him and now, the eye is bleeding!" She was on stand by with the condition that she had to be contactable at all times and now, she had to fly. Although she shared an apartment, contributing around six hundred dollars per month with two other stewardess, she could not expect them to help out. She wanted to take the evening off to attend to her dog. "Are the pilots going on strike today?" I asked her. The pilots wanted more salary or they would go on strike. The management threatened to retrench them and recruit new pilots. If the pilots had decided to strike now, she could attend to her dog. Now, one eyeball being much bigger than the other meant it must have popped out of its socket. This was an emergency. If it was treated with the first hour, the eye sight would be saved. If there was a delay to over 24 hours, the eye cornea would dry up, the dog would have scratched the eyeball causing more traumatic injuries. Worse of all, the dog's paw would have punctured the eyeball or introduce bacteria into the eyeball by nicking the cornea. The eyeball would be badly damaged and infected and needed to be removed. The Maltese would become a one-eyed canine. "The pilots are not on strike," said Ms Robertson in a sad voice. "My plane would fly to Los Angeles as scheduled." The U.S - Singapore route was a longer flight but it meant more pocket money for the stewardess. The rental could take up one fifth of their salary. I expected the cosmetics, the face powder, the mascara and cream to project the glamorous youth image would take a large chunk of her salary. "Is your pilot going slow then?" I asked. When pilots go slow, I guess they will not fly they plane if they were not on duty. What if her pilot reported sick and therefore the plane would not take off. Provided all pilots cooperated for the go-slow to be effective. "There are always the military pilots," Ms Robertson said. I did not think of Plan B. Now that she was paged and she had to report to Changi International Airport for duty. Mobile phones were not available in the 1980s. Duty or care for her best friend? Which would come first? If she reported sick, she would be able to care for her dog. But that would be dishonest and Ms Robertson wanted to do the right thing. This was one of those telephone diagnosis which would be spot on. It was prolapse of the eyeball and it was a real emergency. No eyedrops would do as the cornea could easily become dessicated into a cloudy layer in the hot and humid climate of Singapore in less than 10 minutes. A dry cornea is prone to infection by bacteria and it must be painful to the dog.  "Go
to work," I said. "The dog would need surgery to relocate the
eyeball into the socket. This would require anesthesia. If the eyeball
is not too big, I could push it back into the socket and hold it in
place for the next 10-14 days by stitching up the upper and lower eye
lids. If it was too big, I would need to cut the lateral canthus or the side corner where the upper and lower eyelids meet, to make a bigger hole for the eye ball to fit back into the socket. Your dog should be able to recover as this was early treatment." Ms Robertson came in her taxi with her dog. Some blood had stained her floral uniform. Her mascara glistered with tears of worries. Her big oval shaped eyes, with or without mascara always demanded attention from men and women as few Asians have such great assets. I guessed she would be able to remove the stains as image was paramount for this airline and for her. It was fortunate that she was at home when the bigger dog bullied the Maltese. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to save the eye as she would be back 2 or 3 days later. It was a now or never operation if the eyesight is to be saved. Ms Robertson would need to fly over 20 hours before she landed in Los Angeles to be able to make a phone call to enquire about her dog. There were excellent chances that the eye would be back to normal as she had sought treatment in less than two hours. If it was two days, the eyeball would be badly infected and scratched by the dog. An eye enucleation surgery which meant the removal of the eyeball would be necessary.
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