Day 33: 04/24/09 Marilyn Monroe a.k.a. Isabella typically takes up her post so she can see the backdoor so when humans appear she can tell them she is hungry. :-)
Day 34: 04/25/09 We had a new development overnight. Isabella has been standing around with her rump pushed against the stall wall, the fence, anything she can push against. As you can see in these two pictures she has quite a bit of swelling. We are not sure what caused this so we will contact Dr. Vander Werf and send these pictures to her. And, we will keep a close eye on the swelling. Everything else is about the same - heart rate 60 and spiking fevers around lunch time everyday. Oh, hang in there Izzy we are all pulling for you!!
04/25/09
Day 43: 05/04/09 On May 2nd we took Isabella for a check up to KSU where doctors Vander Werf and Davis gave Isabella a very thorough examination. They suspected the swelling was due to an abscess trying to come out. If you look closely at the picture above you can actually see that the abscess is pushing Isabella's rectum to the left. Dr. Holder did a rectal ultra sound and actually could see a very large abscess. This explains the spikes in temp Isabella was having daily. The team thought they could make an incision near Isabella's rectum to drain the abscess. To make her as comfortable as possible prior to the procedure she received an epidural. Unfortunately, that relaxed her so much that the abscess slid forward and was no longer in reach. The team decided to sew her up and regroup on Monday the 4th. On Monday Dr. W. Beard sedated Isabella and could still reach the abscess so he opened it and drained it. He said there was about 2 liters of very foul smelling material that they drained. A drain tube was inserted to irrigate the abscess and to keep things draining out. Thank goodness! Izzy is on the road to recovery now!!!
05/04/09 Sky is 6 weeks old today and growing like a weed. He is outside tonight with Isabella enjoying some grass and fresh air. Isn't he adorable?
05/04/09 Hey! Who are you taking my picture?
05/04/09 With the big abscess drained out Isabella felt better immediately. We took her and Sky outside at KSU for some grazing.
Day 44: 05/05/09 Unfortunately, when surgery palpated Isabella today they felt another large abscess. It appears this abscess is connected to the one that was just drained. Perhaps the abscess walled itself off inside not allowing for it all to be drained. There's no way to reach this abscess so the course of action is to use the lavage tube and continue lavaging with salt water in hopes of breaking down the wall and allowing the abscess to eventually drain out. Again, there is the fear that if the abscess ruptures that Isabella will immediately be filled with material which will make her very sick and possilbly mean she would have to be euthanized. It seems as though as soon as this mare gets over one big hurdle there's just another one standing in her way. I feel so sorry for her but she is a fighter and has a will to survive and she never complains. Even though this mare has been through so much she is still a great patient for everyone. Dr. Vander Werf is going to teach Randy and myself to do the lavages so we can take Isabella and Sky home to continue the recovery.
Day 56: 05/17/09 It appears there is more infection trying to find a path out. If we hadn't already traveled this road one other time the looks of this would have horrified me! This swelling is worse than the swelling a few weeks ago however. If you look down between Isabella's legs you will even see swelling there. Her rectum and vulva are very swollen and if you look closely you can see that there is bloody pussy material draining from her tube. Today is Sunday and Isabella doesn't seem too uncomfortable so we will take a look at her in the morning and determine if we need to transport her to KSU for examination.
Day 57: 05/18/09 Yesterday Isabella got much more swollen and this morning her tube came out. We took her to KSU this morning where Dr. Vander Werf examined her and was able to drain out quite a bit of nasty infection. There was a knot that was soft in the middle just above the drain tube. When Dr. Vander Werf pressed on it she was able to get quite a bit of puss out. She then opened up a flap to encourage the infection to continue to drain. Again, once this was done Isabella felt better immediately and believe it or not but that evening the swelling had actually gone down. By the following day Isabella was comfortable and the swelling was almost all gone. We were instructed to keep the upper hole open and continue doing lavages. We are hoping and praying this is just one more step towards a full recovery.
GO IZZY GO!!!
Day 62: 05/23/09 Sky and Isabella had visitors today, Mary, Gene, Jean and Katie came out to see the horses. Randy and I were very happy about their visit, it was fun to share our horses with friends. :-) As you can see, Sky is taking advantage of his human pillow and new friend Katie. I think they were both enjoying the sunny morning.
Day 63: 05-24-09 Yesterday Sky had visitors and he was his normally spry entertaining self. His visitors left about noon and Sky was fine. I checked on Sky and Isabella at 2 PM then headed off to get horse feed. Upon my return I checked on my duo at about 4 PM, My heart sank when Sky lifted his head and yelled and me and I entered his stall to see him dragging his leg. He wouldn't bend it and put it forward, instead he would drag it but then he would put weight on it. We immediately phoned Dr. Vander Werf to ask if his leg was broken if he would be putting weight on it. She didn't think so. We decided to do hydrotherapy and administer bute. There was one little spot on the side of his knee which looked as though it could be a scrape or a puncture wound. This was about the diameter of a pencil so pretty darn small. Over night and the following morning we did hydrotherapy and administered bute once more. Sky's leg by about 10 AM was getting more swollen. Please see below for the continuation of Sky's story.
Day 64: 05/25/09 So much has happened in the last month. Basically Izzy is holding her own and we are VERY happy about that situation! But, here we go again this time it's Sky who wanted to visit KSU. On 05/24/09 he had a small puncture wound to his knee and within 24 hours it was very swollen and infected. When we sent pictures to Dr. Vander Werf she phoned immediately to tell us he needed to be seen because it appeared to be more than just a puncture and a swollen knee. She knew his knee joint was involved and apparently that's just a perfect place for bacteria to grow in the synovial fluid. I credit her with saving his life because within 24 hours of finding him lame we walked through the doors at KSU based on Dr. V's recommendation. Sky was already septic, temp was 104.4 and his heart rate was in the 90s. His knee was VERY infected and x-rays showed one dark spot on his bone but they could only see that in one view. So, we are hopeful and prayerful that it is NOT bone infection. I couldn't believe in such a short time our baby was in a critical state! Sky had to go to surgery immediately so his knee could be lavaged in an attempt to quickly clean out all the bacteria. Doctors Holder, Bras and Roquet teamed up to take care of our boy. We are fortunate to have such a great group of doctors to assist us on a Sunday afternoon - THANKS to you all! Depending on how things go he may have to have his joints in his knee lavaged anywhere from 1 to 3 times. The hope is that he will respond well to the antibiotics and he will stay in the hospital 5 - 7 days then get to go home. Isabella is NOT very happy about being locked in a stall at KSU again. :-) This little ordeal goes to show us that we really cannot mess around even when we think the injury is very minor. By the time we visited the following day 05/25/09 Sky was already feeling better, his heart rate was lower, his temp was lower, and he was walking better. The true test is whether or not he chews on everything in site. As you can tell from the photos he chewed the brush, the toy and me! I'm not sure if it's the drugs making him feel better but I'm very hopeful it is that he is truly feeling better. He is on broad spectrum antibiotics while we see what grows in the lab from the culture they took from his knee. Please pray for Isabella and Sky!!!
05/25/09 Watch out! He is dangerous with that toy!
05/25/09 Look how big the little monster has gotten. He is 9 weeks old today!
Day 65: 05/26/09 Sky is walking better today but he still has a fairly high fever even with Banamine being administered every 12 hours, he is still running 102 to 103 most of the time. The team decided today that Sky should be lavaged again. The tap from his knee does show an improvement of few white blood cells so that is encouraging news. If we can get a grip on the fever everyone will rest a bit easier.
Day 66: 05/27/09 Sky is even better today. He has manged to itch out his catheter, not once but twice! I think Dr. Roquet wants to choke him! :-) What can we say? He's a busy boy! Sky is walking better on his leg and Isabella got to take him outside for a little walking. Apparently, Sky is ready to run but no one wants him to do that so he had to be hand walked, much to his dismay. When we arrived Dr. Roquet told us we could take the horses outside so we did but Sky still felt spunky so we only stayed about 30 minutes so that he didn't hurt himself. They are still injecting antibiotics directly into his joint daily. Unfortunately, his temp is still running high. Just before he was to receive banamine this evening he was 102.8. The doctors are concerned about the temp so they did an ultra sound of his chest just to make sure they are not missing anything else. Another CBC was done and the white blood cell count has gone from the 16,000 range to the 9,000 range so he is definitely improving. I don't think any of us will be comfortable until we can get rid of those fevers. The lab was able to grow two different bacterias from his knee tap, one was strep and the other we are not sure about yet. The next step is to test what antibiotics they are sensitive to and frankly, that cannot happen fast enough for me. I want to make sure we get best antibiotic in Sky to kill the bacteria in his body. Dr. Roquet is hopeful we will get that news from the lab on Thursday or Friday. Sky acts like he feels okay but he is like a little furnace but it doesn't help that he still has a fuzzy foal coat. Please pray that we learn tomorrow what bacteria is in Sky's system so we can get him treated properly so he and Isabella can get back home to us. Bernie misses his playmate!!!
Day 71: 06/01/09 The lab results confirm that the antibiotics that Sky is receiving should be killing the bacteria in his body. Sky has had multiple lavages and even had exploratory surgery today to see if some material was still in the puncture wound. Unfortunatley, the surgeons did not find any debris. Sky continues to run a moderate fever even with Banamine. He has been on antibiotics via IV and direct injection right into his joint. As this time the hospital bill has exceeded our expectations so we have asked KSU to help us make them manageable at home. They put some thought into it and have decided that we can manage the duo at home with a watchful eye on them. We will be picking up Izzy and Sky on 06/04/09 to bring them home. We are hopeful that Sky will turnaround at home and his temps will come down after being put back into a normal environment. However, Sky has lived more days at KSU than he has at Tornado Alley Kigers (he is 10 weeks old!) so he may think all babies live in hospitals with air conditioning and fly control. At any rate, we will be happy to have these two home with us again. Please pray that Sky's knee heals well and that his fevers resolve on their own. At this point we are unsure as to why he has fevers and he has been through a few test without anything telling us where the fever originates. Please pray for Sky. Isabella is holding her own and is crankeeeeee! She feels good and is ready to be turned out on some green summer grass. Thanks for everyone's cards and e-mails with well wishes and prayers for these two magnificent horses!!
Day 73: 06/03/09 Sky continues to be improving with the exception of his fevers and he is still receiving Banamine once a day. As of today Dr. Roquet decided to not administer Banamine to see how comfortable Sky is without pain killer and to see what happened with his temperature. Unfortunately, Sky was so uncomfortable and in a bad mood because he was in pain that Dr. Roquet gave him Banamine about mid-day. He continues to have a moderate fever. Mary Brieck went with me to see Isabella and Sky and I was so very happy for the company because I was concerned when I saw Sky because he did appear more dumpy today. Not what I want to see in a horse that we are hoping to transport home tomorrow! Thanks for the ride, company and support Mary!!
Day 74: 06/04/09 Dr. Roquet has good news for us today - Sky has not had Banamine and he is more comfortable today and he has NOT ran a fever all day even without Banamine. What great news! This made us more comfortable with our decision to continue Sky's care at home. Thank you for caring for Sky Dr. Roquet! When we arrived home we still needed to clean stalls and runs so we put Isabella and Sky out in the small pasture area that we had set aside for them. The horses were running around like crazy things but Isabella just kept ignoring them until they eventually got her wired too! She put her head high in the air and her tail high in the air and she ran like there was no tommorrow. She was absolutely beautiful to watch! I could have watched her run like that all day because she got the all clear from the Dr.s to run if she felt like it. Aww, what a pretty site! Then we realized Sky was running on three legs trying to keep up with her. OOPS!! Back to the barn they went because he is suppose to remain quiet for a few days.
06/04/09 Pictured above are Isabella and Sky grooming after they returned home.
06/04/09 Isabella is sooooo dark after being inside for so many weeks during the spring. Her dark body against her light mane are striking. It's so nice to have Isabella and Sky home again.
Day 77: 06/07/09 We changed Sky's bandage today and his leg looks good. Fevers are staying down and we have not used any pain medication for him since he has been home. Izzy is very happy to be home and is doing about the same. We are continuing to flush her 3 times a day and use the Lacerum that Dr. Jones gave us two times a day. Nothing new to report today.
Day 78: 06/08/09 It was an eventful lunch hour when I went home to check on Isabella and Sky today. Below is an e-mail I sent to Dr. Vander Werf. The good news is that I received a note from Dr. V who said Isabella should be just fine. I think she might have even laughed at me!
EXCERPT: I went home at lunch to check Izzy and Sky. I turned them out now that the grass was dry and Sky wouldn't get his bandage wet. Izzy went right down laid in the grass (the flies are bothering all the horses) and rolled. When she went over she got cast against the wood board fencing. She didn't freak or panic but couldn't move. I was the only one home so I ran like crazy to the barn in my high heeled shoes through the mud and got the hammer. I got the board off then got it out from her feet so her back feet were free but her feet were uphill so she couldn't get up. She really needed to roll downhill to be on her right side (she was laying on her left with feet uphill) and then she could get up easily. Even with feet free she didn't understand when I told her what to do. So, I took a cotton rope around her back legs and pulled (thank the good Lord above she is calm) but I couldn't budge her and didn't convince her to help me. So, then I tried the front legs, no luck. At this point I'm thinking I've got to call for help. But, I was worried about her intestines getting twisted and didn't want her to lay any longer than necessary. So, I started encouraging her to get up and when she tried I just pushed for all I was worth and the two of us got her up. My heart was pounding so hard and I was sweating like I'd been swimming. I'm sure a lot of it was adrenaline and nerves. I'm not sure why she insists on trying to kill me via ulcers, stress, heart attack, etc. So, now I've got a question for you, you knew one was coming didn't you? I've never dealt with a colic surgery horse and I know I'm just a nut about taking care of her but do you think there's a chance she twisted anything? She just rolled from her right side to her left side, got cast, laid there not struggling, then I helped her up. She got up, trotted off and immediately started eating grass. When Marvel was a few months old she got cast in her stall but I found her within minutes because I had just been through her stall a few minutes earlier. She was small enough I (it was so long ago Randy may have helped me, don't really recall) just rolled her back over and she was okay. I hope you laugh and just tell me I'm very obsessed! If I ever buy another horse I need my head examined because this is tooooooo much stress!
Day 79: 06/09/09 Isabella lost her drain tube overnight and we cannot get it back in, it appears the abscess has closed so we are going to need the professionals this time. Dr. Beard told us to come ahead to KSU and he would put the tube back in for us. It was a busy day at KSU hospital but the wait was worth it. When Dr. Beard palpated Isabella he said immediately that the abscess is smaller. He used the rectal ultrasound and said the abscess has shrank more even since Isabella went home only 4 days earlier. Dr. Beard reinserted the drain tube and he said he is very encouraged about Isabella's progress. I feel it, we are getting closer to getting her well! I don't think either Dr. Beard or Dr. Roquet were happy with the stiffness Sky had in his leg. His open wound (from the surgery) has healed enought that they pulled the staples out and told us we do not have to wrap his leg any longer. Sky's longterm usefulness is not known at this time because no one is sure how much damage was actually done to his knee when it was punctured.
Day 80: 06/10/09 When Randy opened the pasture gate to let Isabella and Sky in to the barn at dinner time Isabella flew past Randy and Sky did too. Today was the first day we've seen Sky use his injured leg at a pace faster than a walk. Randy said he was looking pretty good too! It appears he has finally figured out that he doesn't have a bandage any longer and he can bend his leg. The bandage material was flexible but he probably felt like it was too restricting and he couldn't bend his leg - who really knows? He's on the road to recovery!
Day 81: 06/11/09 Sky is continuing to improve and looks more and more sound each day. We think he is gaining some range of motion again now that he is using his leg all the time. Today when I checked on him and Isabella over my lunch hour Sky ran and ran and ran and he even squeeled some. He felt very good and was quite entertaining! I was worried about him running but rarely did he show any signs of lameness. I thought he might be sore this evening but he was fine. I think our boy will make a full recovery at this pace. Some more good news for today - when Randy flushes Isabella it is taking less fluid so we are hopeful that means the abscess is continuing to shrink! I am looking forward to the day we can pull her drain tube. I also know that we must not do that prematurely or the abscess will just grow again. Isabella is feeling very good, if it were not for her drain tube no one would know there is anything wrong with her. She is nearly back to her full weight and looks great! I know the prayers for Isabella and Sky are being answered and I look forward to the day they both are 100% well!