Day 85: 06/15/09 Over the weekend Isabella and Sky graduated to having full run of the small paddock. It's only about 3/4 of an acre but those two thought it was miles and miles of land. They both ran and ran and ran some more. Both are doing well. Sky is showing more and more soundness by the day. I'm sometimes scared he will over do it but he's a baby and he's got lots of energy to burn. Isabella ran and bucked and did sliding stops at the fence. She feels good! We checked with Dr. W. Beard and he indicated that we will re-evaluate Isabella in a month. While I'm disappointed that we won't be looking to remove the catheter sooner I do understand that the longer the catheter is in place the better the chances are that we will get the bacteria out and get the abscess to collapse. Things are going well! Thanks for everyone's prayers.
Day 89: 06/19/09 Sky finished his antibiotics on Monday 06/15/09 and we were to monitor his temperature for 3 days more days (you know us, we would have monitored him much longer!) for a return of the fever. On the night of the third day (06/18/09) Sky came in from the pasture looking dumpy. When we checked his temp we immediately phoned KSU, he was 103.8! I guess I counted my chickens before they hatched because I was thinking Sky was really going to be just fine. KSU instructed us to administer bute to bring down his temp then we needed a CBC to see if we can figure out what is happening. Dr. Jones of Companion Animal Hospital in Baldwin City got us in immediately this morning. We know working us in put him in a bind because he had people coming and going like crazy. I guess that is what happens when you are a good vet! :-) The CBC revealed a high white blood cell count and high granulocytes. Dr. Jones has put Sky on 10 days of Tucoprim and we are just hoping and praying after that time that whatever caused this spike in temperature will be resolved. Thank you Dr. Jones for your immediate attention and care for our foal. We will keep your dad in our thoughts and prayers as he recovers too!
Day 92: 06/22/09 Sky's temperatures have improved with the help of the antibiotics to fight the infection. We hope and pray after this round that he will be well. If a person didn't know he had been injured I'm not sure anyone would notice he is a little lame - not much though! When I arrived home after work today I discovered Isabella had lost her catheter. I phoned KSU and together with Dr. W. Beard and Dr. Vander Werf we decided we will let Isabella go for a week without the catheter to see what happens to the abscess. Apparently, knowing when to pull the catheter is a real trick. Since Isabella helped us with that little issue we will just give it a try now and pray VERY hard that when we go for a check up next Monday that the abscess continues to shrink and be resolved. If not, we wil have to reinsert the catheter for more draining. Please pray that the abscess starts collapsing and please pray that Sky Bug has won the battle against his infection. There are days that I just know in my gut that both horses are nearing the end of their battles and will be well soon but there are other days I'm just not certain. Prayers are still needed and welcome.
Day 99: 06/29/09 As for Isabella, over the course of the week even though the catheter has not been in place Izzy continued to drain purulent material. We didn't know if that was a good sign or a bad sign. We just left KSU where we have received the best check up EVER!!! Dr. W. Beard's face almost lit up when he palpated Isabella because the abscess is very small now! He said if he didn't know it was there he probably would not have detected it. Dr. L. Beard asked him if he was ready to declare her well. He said not yet but she's close. YIPPEEE!!!! I think I almost cried when I heard this news! He gave us a very small dog catheter that we will have to insert once a day to flush Isabella and keep the drain route open until the abscess finishes healing. In my gut I had suspected the abscess was growing again because Izzy's heart rate has been a little higher than it had been running. I'm sooooo happy I was wrong! Thanks for everyones continued prayers. Sky walked in and while Dr. Beard was admiring how sound he was walking and commenting on how it was difficult to tell which knee had been injured someone started lowering the overhead garage door. Now, every time Sky and Isabella have been in and out of the hospital they go through one of these doors and someone raises and lowers them. They must have done this a hundred times. But today, it scared him and he peeled out and fell down. I think he's trying to kill himself or give us ulcers. I'm happy to say he jumped right back up and was his ornery self. He got a good check up too! His last round of antibiotics was last night so if we can get through this week without a fever I'll be confident that he is finally well. We are very happy with the news we received today. 
Day 106: 07/06/09 Today is the day I feel confident in declaring Sky well! It's been 7 days and no fever. Prayers are answered once again. Isabella is continuing her recovery and feels good.
Day 130: 07/30/09 If anyone would have told me at day 130 that I'd still be writing about Isabella's recovery I wouldn't have believed it. But, we are so happy that she is continuing to recover. We are seeing less and less purulent material so we are hopeful that the abscess has just about resolved itself. I dropped Dr. W. Beard a note today to see if he can see Isabella for a check up next week. We would like to confirm that she is in fact continuing to heal on the inside. It's been a while since I've posted pictures so the ones I've pasted below are of the duo in the pasture grazing. They were taken over the last couple of weeks. Sky has shed out and is such a beautiful little dun palomino. I've done some reading on Isabella's color and I've decided she is a silver dapple. I may send mane to University of Kentucky to test her to confirm but that can wait until she makes a full recovery. Enjoy the pictures, keep praying and check back next week for updates. ;-)
Day 136: 08/05/09 We had a check up with Dr. W. Beard today. The good news, the abscess has continued to shrink - yippppeeee! The not so good news, the end of the abscess dips down so Dr. Beard is not confident that we will ever be successful in healing Isabella. Dr. Beard palpated Izzy while he had a student inject the abscess with Betadine solution and he can feel where the end takes a dip downward. This keeps the abscess from fully draining and therefore allows the bacteria to continue to multiple. None of us are giving up hope though, Izzy has just come too far!!! We all know that injecting antibiotics in an abscess just doesn't do much good because of all the purulent matter. But, Dr. Beard suggested that we inject Tetracycline in hopes that it will help. If there's any chance at all that it will help we will do it! So it is a good news - not so good news day but we are not defeated by any means. Sky was his normal wild self entertaining everyone during his mom's check up. Dr. Armentrout got him a jolly ball which worked because he threw it around the room and Randy chased it. He isn't much different from a human child is he? :-) Dr. Beard asked when we are going to wean him, I laughed and said he is looking forward to the day Izzy can come to check ups without Sky tagging along. Actually, I'm looking forward to that day too! Sky has already trailered more miles than most adult horses and he is only 4 1/2 months old. Dr. Vander Werf had presents for both Isabella and Sky - she is just the best and I'm still not sure how we all would have survived the first 3 weeks of this ordeal without her! See Izzy's and Sky's fancy new clothes below!!! THANK YOU DR. V!!!!
Oh my, these masks are a hoooootttt! Dr. V had these masks made special for the kids. On the side they both have their names painted on their masks so the other horses cannot borrow them. :-) Notice that Izzy's has brown eyes to match her eyes and purple sunglasses for KSU (I realize I work at KU but what can I say? ha ha) Sky's has blue eyes to match his eyes and he is carrying around his ball which has been affectionally named Wilson by Randy (does the show Castaway and Tom Hanks come to mind?) Thanks again Dr. Vander Werf, are you sure you won't stay in KS forever???