Post by Johnnie on Feb 25, 2003 12:46:45 GMT -5
Here is the most recent update....
Wanted to give you an update. Miko was walking much better yesterday so cross my fingers I think we can rule out a fracture. She is eating hay and some of her food now and I took her out to graze last night for about 30 minutes and she ate grass like she hadn't seen it in months. The swelling localized around the knee had gone down about 40% from what it was initially so the wrap must have helped quite a bit.
The bandage I removed last night was soaked completely through several thick layers all the way to the outside so there is a lot of drainage--which in itself is good that it's draining. The bad news is that with some of the swelling gone I was able to get a better idea of what might have happened--towards the back of the gash you can pretty clearly see a puncture wound that appears to go in deeper than we first thought. I cleaned off the wound pretty good with nolvasan and dried it off and then hosed the lower part of her leg a while. After about 20 minutes it was pretty clear that most of the drainage was coming from the puncture area. So I wrapped her back up--all the way up her leg (boy THAT was interesting trying to get a wiggly horse to stand still for the 20+ minutes it took me to get all the layers of gauze/padding/bandage/vetrap and elasticon on!!!)
I talked with my vet again and we agreed that since there is a puncture, and the initial xrays were inconclusive that I need to go ahead and bring her to the clinic so she can get some better ones and possibly start to flush the wound with antibiotics. Hopefully I can get her there tomorrow morning...I have a trailer and usually pull it with my SUV but of course we are in the middle of a cold, rainy, possibly sleet & ice storm today so there's no way I'm taking her 1 hour up to Magnolia all by myself. I think I can get a truck to use by tomorrow morning and the vet said that is fine since we've already been giving the heavy duty antibiotics.
My hope is now that she will go in the trailer willingly since she seems to have no trouble putting weight on the leg and walking. I might give her some bute before trying to get her in. And depending on the results of the xrays I might be able to bring her back the same day. (we're trying to weigh the severity of the injury against her possibly going off feed/hay for a couple weeks like the last time I had to leave her at the clinic for a month. Can't afford to change her routine too much with baby so close) I am hoping though that maybe with this cold snap she'll try to hold out at least until her due date if not longer, since she's not showing any signs of getting close yet.
Thanks again everyone, it really means a lot to have so much support---it's especially amazing when it's from people you've never even met!
Wanted to give you an update. Miko was walking much better yesterday so cross my fingers I think we can rule out a fracture. She is eating hay and some of her food now and I took her out to graze last night for about 30 minutes and she ate grass like she hadn't seen it in months. The swelling localized around the knee had gone down about 40% from what it was initially so the wrap must have helped quite a bit.
The bandage I removed last night was soaked completely through several thick layers all the way to the outside so there is a lot of drainage--which in itself is good that it's draining. The bad news is that with some of the swelling gone I was able to get a better idea of what might have happened--towards the back of the gash you can pretty clearly see a puncture wound that appears to go in deeper than we first thought. I cleaned off the wound pretty good with nolvasan and dried it off and then hosed the lower part of her leg a while. After about 20 minutes it was pretty clear that most of the drainage was coming from the puncture area. So I wrapped her back up--all the way up her leg (boy THAT was interesting trying to get a wiggly horse to stand still for the 20+ minutes it took me to get all the layers of gauze/padding/bandage/vetrap and elasticon on!!!)
I talked with my vet again and we agreed that since there is a puncture, and the initial xrays were inconclusive that I need to go ahead and bring her to the clinic so she can get some better ones and possibly start to flush the wound with antibiotics. Hopefully I can get her there tomorrow morning...I have a trailer and usually pull it with my SUV but of course we are in the middle of a cold, rainy, possibly sleet & ice storm today so there's no way I'm taking her 1 hour up to Magnolia all by myself. I think I can get a truck to use by tomorrow morning and the vet said that is fine since we've already been giving the heavy duty antibiotics.
My hope is now that she will go in the trailer willingly since she seems to have no trouble putting weight on the leg and walking. I might give her some bute before trying to get her in. And depending on the results of the xrays I might be able to bring her back the same day. (we're trying to weigh the severity of the injury against her possibly going off feed/hay for a couple weeks like the last time I had to leave her at the clinic for a month. Can't afford to change her routine too much with baby so close) I am hoping though that maybe with this cold snap she'll try to hold out at least until her due date if not longer, since she's not showing any signs of getting close yet.
Thanks again everyone, it really means a lot to have so much support---it's especially amazing when it's from people you've never even met!
