Improving

I can't deny being horrified when I got to Promise's stall on Saturday and saw how raised the "scab" (I use the term loosely) and proud flesh were on her right hind. I tried to keep my panic internal because I hadn't examined it yet...I tried to convince myself maybe it wasn't as bad underneath.


I got my surgical scrub and mixed it with water, then went in to pull the "scab" off. Ewww. Raised just under a quarter of an inch above the skin and nasty looking. (I didn't take pictures for that very reason.) 


I wanted to cry (and vomit). Instead, I tried to figure out how I could get my hands on some hot water...in a moment of pure genius, I remembered there is a little coffee pot in the barn owner's office. I went and made some hot water there while Promise finished her dinner. Then I dumped 3/4 of my scrub/water mix and added the hot water to the remainder and went to town scrubbing.


It didn't take much at all to get the proud flesh off and it immediately started bleeding...quite profusely. Hooray!! And it didn't seem to hurt at all anymore. I made sure it was clean, rinsed it will cool water from the hose, hoping to not only wash the scrub off, but also slow the bleeding. Then I applied the first coat of Wonder Dust. 


Bled right through it. Instantly.


I let it sit for a minute or two, added a little more, let it sit, then gently hosed again and reapplied the Wonder Dust. Blood continued to run down her hoof. Hmm. I wanted it to bleed freely, but this was getting ridiculous. People were going to think I was murdering her.


I let it sit a bit longer, adding a little more Wonder Dust whenever I saw a wet spot appear. Then did a pressure wrap with vet wrap for a few more minutes. Soaked through it quickly, but it was definitely slowing down. I had some gauze and more vet wrap on hand just in case I needed to rewrap.


Since the horse in the stall adjacent to where I had her cross-tied was being a jerk and was biting her side while I was trying to tend to a hind leg (grr), I moved her outside (closer to the hose), removed the vet wrap before hosing it again and reapplying the Wonder Dust...again. This time, it did its job and the bleeding kept slowing down. While I waited, to be sure she was ok to turn out, I examined the left hind. 


The swelling appeared to be mostly toward the back where that "wind puff" is - in fact, the leg as a whole it looked relatively normal. There wasn't a trace of heat anywhere. And she was standing and walking pretty normal on it.


After chatting with the barn owner for a few minutes, where we agreed she should get the remaining 4 or 5 days of antibiotics, I finally felt comfortable enough with the lessening blood flow to put her out with her boyfriend for the night. 


She trotted (gimped) out of her stall eagerly and looked back at me like, "Thanks, Ma!" It was hard to tell on the zig-zag path she took which hind leg was causing more gimpiness, but I will take a closer look this weekend. With any luck, she'll be even more back to normal. She was pretty cheerful and definitely seemed to be feeling much better (the barn owner corroborated this theory!). She had put on a little bit of weight in a week, and she should have started the Pergolide late last week, too.


So, I guess for now, I listened to the right instinct. Fingers crossed that the Pergolide will have as much effect as the antibiotics seemed to.


The barn owner seems to have even more respect for me after an email conversation a week or so ago where I pretty much laid out where my thought process was. She said she just loves owners like me who are concerned for the quality of life of the animal and not just prolonging life for themselves. She also said if she was seeing pain all the time, she would absolutely let me know. 


Oh, and thanks to Kate for suggesting Cellulitis. I have never encountered this before, but the more I read the more it sounded plausible. That is really what prompted me to push the vet hard to get me some antibiotics...and let me tell you, I waited after work for 2.5 hours in a gas station parking lot for his partner to meet me with the bottle, on the way to her next call, lol. So, I'm glad they seem to be working!