On 03-23-09 Isabella gave birth to a dun palomino stud colt. Unfortunately, he weighed in at approximately 118 pounds (a colt born to a mare her size should have weighed about 80 pounds) he proved to be too big for Isabella to deliver without complications. Our veterinarian Dr. Tim Jones from Baldwin City came out without hesitation when we phoned him at about 12:30 AM. Dr. Jones stayed with us working on Isabella for about 3 hours. When she stabilized Dr. Jones departed to get some sleep. Shortly afterwards Isabella headed downhill again so Dr. Jones returned promptly. We made Isabella comfortable and prayed she could withstand a 2 hour trailer ride to Manhattan, KS to be treated at the Kansas State Veterinarian Hospital. Upon arriving the KSU team quickly determined that during birth Isabella had hemmoraged.
Day 1: 03-23-09 See our stripes!
Pictured above are Isabella and Sky shortly after his delivery. Only the experienced mare owner would know anything is wrong with this picture. Sky is standing while Isabella is laying, normally when the foal is standing the mare will stand so the foal can nurse.
03-23-09 Stand up Momma.
Day 4: 03-26-09 Sky catching some Zzzzs while mom watches over him. This was the best day that Isabella had since she was admitted on Monday.
03-26-09 Kristi & Beth watch over Sky while mom munches on some hay. This was the first day Izzy was allowed to eat. Beth is a friend and a photographer. Beth came to photograph Sky immediately after his birth - yes, the middle of the night! Considering the crisis that unfolded Beth helped in whatever way she could assist. We are VERY grateful to her.
Day 5: 03-27-09 Isabella had a set back and started showing signs of colic again. She was hooked back up to the IV, her nose tube was reinserted to flush the contents from her stomach and she was muzzled to keep her from eating straw. She was very frustrated because she could not touch her baby because of the muzzle. She was uncomfortable and very unhappy. Please pray for her recovery!
03-27-09 Isabella and Sky resting.
03-27-09 Wanna Kiss?
Sky had a kiss on his lips for Dr. Vander Werf. She has affectionately nicknamed him Bug. It seems he "bugs" them all the time while they are trying to administer care.
03-27-09 Sky working Randy over. It seems as though he thinks everyone is a milk machine.
03-27-09 Sky working Kristi over, there seems to be a pattern going on here.
03-27-09 Oh, look how sweet he looks when he sleeps. Please check back for updates on Isabella and Sky. All prayers and well wishes for Isabella's recovery are appreciated.
Day 9: 03/31/09 We received a call from Dr. Beard at KSU that as they increased Isabella's feedings and started her back on hay that she again started showing signs of colic. Now that the hematoma from the bleed into the broad ligament has shrunk they could palpate Isabella much easier. Upon a rectal palpation they could feel the cecum and could tell it was hard which meant it was impacted. We (and the KSU staff) were faced with the decision of how Isabella would do in surgery. It was determined that she was stable enough to attempt surgery. There was a possibility of rupture of the cecum at any time, therefore, we gave our approval to take Isabella for surgery immediately. The only other option was euthanasia, neither Randy or I consider that an option at this point in time. We headed for KSU right away and just minutes before we arrived Isabella was being stapled shut. Praise God, she had made it through surgery!!! The reports were that the impaction must have been building for days because one Dr. said it was the largest he had ever seen. The good news is that outside of the impaction everything else appeared to be in good health. Unfortunately, the cecum showed decreased motility. The cecum needs to repair itself and get better motility so that when Isabella is allowed to eat again the cecum will not become impacted again. The picture above was taken only minutes after Isabella returned to her stall after surgery. Nadine (L) is checking Isabella's gut sounds and Dr. Vander Werf is watching over Isabella. Sky is just happy his momma returned to see him.
03-31-09 She looks very good for a horse just off the operating table only a couple hours earlier. Isabella is showing her will to survive. We were told when she awoke from surgery she was looking for Sky. I'm sure he is giving her the will to survive. Please keep praying!
Day 10: 04/01/09 KSU phoned this afternoon and said Isabella is alert and is hollering for food. That's our girl! As you can see above for a having surgery only 1 day ago and still taking care of a baby Isabella is looking pretty darn good. What a trooper!! She refluxed a couple to times but apparently that was to be expected. And her heart rate is higher than I wanted to hear but maybe that was expected too. They are still withholding food so now she will be put on an IV fluids to feed her. Sky will be supplemented with other foods so that Isabella does not have to produce so much milk during this time that she is without food herself. In the picture Kent & Cable are tricking Sky into drinking milk from the feeding contraption that they cobbled together. Earlier today Cable was able to get Sky to drink an entire bottle of milk - yeah Cable!! The trick is that Sky knows milk comes from his mommy so they have to put the tube with the nipple on it under Isabella so Sky thinks he is nursing Isabella. Oh poor Izzy, she is so patient with everyone including Sky. Apparently last night she some how managed to lay on little Sky's head and he got a little nose bleed but Dr. Vander Werf came to the clinic to check him over thoroughly. Thank you Dr. Vander Werf! I'm guessing Isabella was still a little groggy from surgery because she has been VERY careful to not lay or roll on Sky even though he chooses the center of the stall to sleep. Thanks to all of you wonderful folks for the e-mails and calls we have received supporting Isabella and Sky.
Photo by K. Vander Werf Day 12: 04/03/09 Today is the day that Isabella will start receiving food again. While this is exciting it is also terrifying because we will soon know if her cecum is up to processing food. We are hopeful and optimistic but very nervous. Sky, a.k.a. Bug has finally learned to drink from the Diet Pepsi bottle. Lindsey took a minute out of her busy schedule to show us how well he can drink. :-) Well wishes and prayers are still in order so please keep them going for Isabella. We hope to be able to deliver good news with our next posting. It's going to be a long couple of days. Gulp!!!
Day 14: 04/05/09 We learned on day 12 Isabella had an infection from the colic surgery. She has a high fever and her heart rate is in the 50s and 60s. Everything was going on along pretty good so this is like a kick in the shins. Today, day 14, Isabella was taken to the "red room" which has a rubber floor for her and Sky to stretch their legs a bit. We are grateful for the effort it took to mobilize the duo because Isabella perked up on her outing. She appears to be stocked up in her hind limbs probably a combination of pain from the infection and having to stand around in a stall for 14 days which she is not use to doing. Early this morning Randy picked fresh brome grass for Isabella to eat and she LOVED it. She doesn't appear to care too much for the Equine Sr. that she's eating but most horses don't particularly like mush. Unfortunately, her options for food are limited because she needs something fairly easy for her digestive system to process. When we left this afternoon her fever had come down some and her heart rate was 48. This was great news because her heart rate has been high for a couple of days. Sky is doing pretty good. He is being a real challenge because he insist all good milk comes from Mom and he doesn't have a lot of interest in figuring out how to drink from a bucket or a bottle. The goal is to have him drinking milk from other sources so that Isabella doesn't have to work so hard to feed him. The vet students have been creative and resourceful in the apparatuses that they have designed. They are a determined group but Sky is a challenging boy. Sky enjoyed his outing to the red room. He didn't venture too far from mom but it did him good to know there are places other than the stall he has inhabited the first 14 days of his life. Isabella's cecum appears to be working but we are not positive about that just yet. With the fever and infection of course she doesn't feel good which can slow motility of the gut. So, we are still waiting on her to defecate on her own. If she can prove her cecum is working and can fight this fever off she will in much better shape.
Day 15: 04/06/09 Isabella wasn't doing very well this morning. There were discussions about having to go to surgery again. Randy and I ended up traveling to KSU to visit with the Dr.s and see Isabella. If she had to go to surgery again we wanted to see her before that happened. Upon arriving we had a consultation with Dr. Vander Werf, Dr. W. Beard, and Dr. L. Beard. Based on some tests results it was determined the course of action should be to lavage Isabella's abdomen. What does that mean? Well, while Izzy was standing in her stall they blocked her stomach and then Dr. Beard made an incision, inserted a tube and pumped 15 liters of solution into her stomach to wash her out. Then it drained very slowly and a syringe had to be used to keep the drainage going. Pictured above is Dr. Armentrout keeping the drain open. The process took about an hour. At one point I asked if Izzy was sedated because she was standing so nice and quiet and never moved. The answer was NO, she was NOT sedated. Aww, this mare is awesome. I've read other stories about horses who have to go through such procedures and sometimes they decide they don't want to be messed with (who could blame them!!) and they start to get a little nasty. We are fortunate that Isabella has kept her good disposition even though she has no idea why she gets palpated daily, why people stick tubes in her nose, why her temperature needs to be taken hourly and on and on. She is an AWESOME mare with an incredible will to survive. After the lavage Isabella seemed to feel better. She got to immediately get her "back pack" on to go walk around the "red room" to stretch her legs. I think the change of scenery perks her up so much, I can't imaging what it must be doing for her mind and in turn (I hope) for her body. By the end of the day her heart rate is down some but still high, her temperature is down some too. It was also good news that she has decided to lay down and rest because the threat of laminitis has started to sneak into this picture. One more thing Isabella doesn't need to complicate a recovery right now. Gut sounds are present but they are weak. Please pray that Isabella does not get another impaction and hopefully she will defecate some time in the very near future.
04/06/09 While some people would think this is gross all I could think was that we were removing bacteria from Izzy's abdomen so she could get well!
04/07/09 Ashley taking care of Isabella while Sky gets his second wind. As you can tell, Isabella has lost a lot of weight. She got weighed today and is still 1,070 pounds even though we estimate she is 150 - 200 pounds underweight. We are hopeful that she will be up to full feed as soon as we are all confident her system can handle processing the increase in food. If you look closely at the picture above you will see the lavage tube is still in Izzy's abdomen. We are praying that the procedures are washing all the nasty Klebsiella bacteria from her abdomen so she can get ahead of them and her system can mount a valiant fight. Special antibiotics will be administered to assist her as soon as they arrive at KSU.
04/07/09 Monica being walked by Sky. :-) There was so much to see on his first outdoor trip. What a glorious day!
04/07/09 Sky resting so he can run some more! We were told when Sky arrived at the hospital that there were 3 or 4 other babies there and he was the youngest but he was the biggest. Hence, where all the story began. Sky's sire is only 14 hands so we are not sure why this young one is such a monster in size. He got weighed today and is 148 pounds! He thinks he is a lap puppy! Oh help us!
Day 16: 04/07/09 This morning has already started off with better news. Isabella is resting more and her fever is down and heart rate is lower (but still high) she is still on medication to control both but even so, this is good news. Dr. Vander Werf is planning on taking Isabella for an outing to the "red room" today. We hope that will get her body moving and in turn her digestive track. She's been eating so now we need to see some manure. I will never complain about cleaning stalls again because manure is a GOOD thing!! Randy & I will travel to KSU tonight to check on the dynamic duo. Sky, he is a mess! Don't bend over in front of him or suddenly you are his size and think you are inviting him to spar. Oh dear, he really needs to have some room to run and some friends so he will quit trying to ride people! More after our visit tonight
UPDATE: Isabella POOPED! Our friends have said they are doing the "Izzy made a do-do dance", oh our friends are a little funny, what can we say? :-) And, Isabella was doing so good that Dr. Vander Werf, Ashley (who now has Isabella's case) and Monica (who now has Sky's case) took the duo outside. Isabella reportedly ate every sprig of grass she could find and Sky loved the great outdoors. He has never seen sunshine. He was born at night and has been inside at KSU ever since. Oh what a big day it was for these two. We are so grateful that Dr. Vander Werf took photos so we too could enjoy their adventure outdoors!
Day 17: 04/08/09 Aww, more music to our ears, Isabella defecated again. Keep up the good work KSU and Izzy!!! We've been told this is holy week and we should expect miracles. We are hopeful again (and praying) for a full recovery so Isabella can come home.
Day 18: 04/09/09 Isabella is thoroughly enjoying a good grooming by Randy. This is obvious because of her outstretched lip. Sky was oblivious to anything going on around him.
04/09/09 He really loves his toys and chews on everything, including people!
Day 19: 04/10/09 Sky can float on air, he loves it outdoors at KSU.
04/10/09 Sky trying to follow Isabella's lead and get this grazing thing down. Some day his neck will be long enough he doesn't have to stand so funny. :-)
04/10/09 By looking at the outside of this beautiful dappled palomino with the golden heart no one would ever know what struggles she is having on the inside. Isabella just keeps fighting to live and the great staff at KSU are doing everything they can to help her.
04/10/09 Isabella and Kristi take a stroll on a nice sunny afternoon. Sky is close by, see his ear in the left corner of the picture?
Day 20: 04/11/09 Isabella enjoying another good day and getting to go outside at KSU more and more as she gets stronger.
04/11/09 And what can you say about this little monster? He puts EVERYTHING in his mouth just like most babies!
Day 21: 04/12/09 Don't ask where the pictures from today went cuz I don't know. Nothing new to report today. Isabella is continuing to get lavages to try to knock the nasty Klebsiella infection out of her system.
Day 22: 04/13/09 (pictures below on this one because they will make more sense after reading the story). We received the worst news yet today. It is suspected that Isabella has another impaction in her cecum but because she is difficult to palpate no one can tell for certain. She may be difficult to palpate because of adhesions near her hindend. She is showing signs of severe colic which may mean the small amounts of hay in her system are not getting through due to adhesions or impaction. Ten liters was refluxed from Isabella's stomach which proves something is very wrong. Also, her white count is astronomical 475,000! It doesn't appear that there is much more that can be done for our golden palomino. It's time for Isabella to bring Sky home in hopes that he can settle in and be comfortable with Isabella in his new surroundings for a few days. We are hopeful but nothing seems to be going right today. Dr. Vander Werf from KSU followed us home to Wellsville in case Isabella could not make the ride home. Talk about going above and beyond her call of duty! Also a big thank you to the kind staff at KSU who covered for Dr. Vander Werf so that she could make the trip with us. We are so thankful that Dr. Vander Werf has gotten to take care of our girl. Isabella did make the ride home and Dr. Vander Werf gave her Banamine to make her comfortable. We phoned Dr. Jones in Baldwin City to see if he would be available if we needed him to come euthanize Isabella and he said he would be available. I do not think there are words to express how grateful we are for Dr. Vander Werf's trouble to see Isabella home. After Dr. Vander Werf departed for her two hour drive back to KSU Randy and I got busy picking every little piece of hay out of Isabella's stall and run. If hay caused Isabella to get impacted and colic we decided we would try to remove it all from her stall and run in hopes that we can keep her comfortable for as many days as possible. As soon as we let Isabella into her run she immediately checked her hay feeder for hay and then her flat back bucket for grain. She KNEW EXACTLY where she was and she seemed happy to be home. We are VERY happy to have her home even under these circumstances. Sky was running all around enjoying his new found freedom and the other horses were very interested in the tiny new addition to the family. The night all went well even though we were on pins and needles and didn't get much sleep. Whew, Isabella made it through the first few hours at home and appeared to be comfortable.
04/13/09 Isabella at home looking for pieces of hay. She might as well forget it. We cleaned her run and stall with a fine tooth comb! Even as sick as she is, it sure is nice to have her home.
04/13/09 She looks pretty alert for a sick horse. When you see how she appears on the outside but know what's taking place on the inside it makes you have an understanding that Izzy is tough as nails!
04/13/09 Since we don't know how long Isabella will be comfortable we knew we better introduce Bernie and Sky to each other. Needless to say there were no worries, they were instant friends. :-)
Day 23: 04/14/09 This is Isabella's first morning home from the hospital. She acted like she felt well so we took her for a slow walk so she could graze on some nice green grass. She practically drug us down the road to get to the grass! We could not believe how alert and alive she was this morning! AMAZING GRACE!!
04/14/09 Isabella was having a great day and she had a good appetite so whenever she nickered we were there to see what she needed. Normally she was demanding food!
04/14/09 On Izzy's first day home she had six visitors. Pictured above from left to right are Dona Brown, Mary Lou Branch, and Beth Ridenour. Izzy had a wonderful day and we were so happy to get to share her with special friends. Thanks for coming over ladies!!!
Dr. Vander Werf called twice today to check on Isabella. When she heard how well she was doing she said "WOW!" :-) Thanks for checking on our girl Dr. Vander Werf!!
Day 24: 04/15/09 This is day two at home and Izzy is having another great day. No fever and heart rate is not too bad. She shows a lot of energy in the mornings and enjoys her hand walks. Late in the afternoon she gets tired but she is still very weak from all she has been through the last few weeks. We are happy she is still with us and not showing any signs of pain or discomfort! Praise God!
04/15/09 With the help of mom Sky seems to be settling in just fine at home. What a great end to a wonderful day!
Day 25: 04/16/09 Isabella seems to be more tired today and her heart rate is in the 50s today. We've moved the round pen to the back yard so she can graze and be near her herd too. KSU knew Isabella had an incisional infection but they were waiting on it to form a pocket so they could open it and drain it but that never happened prior to Isabella coming home. Today the pocket has opened and started to drain. If you have a weak stomach you may want to skip the picture below. For us, the fact that this nasty infection has started to drain is great news.
04/16/09 The picture above was taken on the first day the infection started draining. The draining went on for 5 days and only got worse. Surely getting all of that infection out of her incision must have felt better and been healthier for her. If you look very carefully at the picture above you can see the staples that were put in Izzy's tummy after colic surgery.
Day 26: 04/17/09 Isabella has an appointment to see Dr. Jones of Companion Animal Hospital in Baldwin City. If you recall way back to March 23rd you will recognize that Dr. Jones is the Dr. who responded without hesitation when we called him at midnight because Isabella was having problems after foaling. Without Dr. Jones' immediate response to our SOS on that first day Isabella would not be here for us to enjoy.
04/17/09 Dr. Jones removes the staples from Isabella's colic surgery. Isabella was very cooperative. If you look closely just to the left of Dr. Jones' hand you can still see the infection draining. Removing the staples will help the infection to continue draining.
04/17/09 During Dr. Jones' examination he also checked Izzy's digital pulses and taught me how to do so as well. We needed bloodwork done on Izzy and specifically we needed her Fibrenogen tested. Dr. Jones had his old machine at home packed away that performed that test. He so kindly dug it out and took hours out of his evening to run the test so we could see if our girl was healing. Thank you for everything Dr. Jones you are GREAT!!!