Check up says.......

Dr. Sam still swears that Alduca will be able to see.
I'm oh so skepticle, but he is the Vet, not I!!

Wanna be freaked out?
The 'white stuff' i mentioned over his eye, it's still here. There was one section that looked like it was trying to come off, and had formed a little flap. So, Dr. Sam takes some tweezers, and a small pair of siscors and CUTS IT OFF HIS EYEBALL! Yes, CUTS 'on' his eyeball! Oh my gosh!
Alduca didn't seem to mind.
He had already deadened the nerves around the eye, and we had the 'rope chain' on..... He stood perfectly still, unles the horse in the outside pen got too far from his view, then he would turn a bit. But, other than that, stood like an angel.

New attack plan?
Oh yeah, a new one.

Continue with;
Chloramphenicol (might have the name wrong I will have to double check) .1mL 4x day
eye drops with hyaluronic acid .1mL 4x day

Change;
Prednisone to .1mL 3x day
Bute to 1gram 1x day for 3 days and see if he is ok going without after that

Start
Atropine .1mL 2xday
anti-microbial 1 drop 1x day

So....that's the new game plan......

re-check in a week.
I told Dr. Sam that my weekly visits there are becoming a habit!

It's alright. Whatever makes Alduca all better is fine by me!

Still Chugging along

So far, things are going......where, I'm not sure, but they are going!

We have a check up tonight, so cross your fingers.

His eye is still draining, which he finds irritating. He is rubbing it some. I can tell by the pieces of hay stuck in his fly mask, or, the dirt I find when I take off his fly mask.

He still has the white 'film' over his eye. Dr. Sam says it is a bi-product of the eye healing.
I still find it very bothersome. It's the reason he can't see......and that doesn't make me a happy camper!

ugh.

Wild Weekend!

Well, did we ever have a weekend!

SATURDAY 10/22/2011


Thursday Dr. Sam did some cortisone injections and told me to stop the Prednisone drops, and I could probably stop the bute as well.

So, I follow the Dr's directions to the T. Of course!

All looked pretty good Friday. Saturday am there was some more drainage. By Saturday PM, the pink insides of his eyelids (top and bottom) were seriously swollen and a bright screaming pink color. They are usually a baby/light pink. So, we make an 8:30 pm phone call to the vet's office.
I talk to Dr. Sam who is surprised that the injection didn't last longer. Usually the injection takes the place of the drops no problem. We start him back on Bute, 2 grams, and I'm to call in the am with an update.
I was nice enough to verify if he wanted me to call at 5am when I do my first Alduca meds/eye check, or wait till my second one at 7. He for SURE opted for 7!!!


Sunday 10/23/2011

5am report - no better. Still swollen, still screaming pink!

7am report - no change, swollen, still hot pink!
Called Dr. Sam. Left a message and he called back.....

New plan of attack. Continue with the bute, and race to the office to get a new bottle of Prednisone and a tube of Bute from the techs that were there feeding/cleaning kennels. Take him in for a check-up when Dr. Sam gets in to the office later Sunday afternoon.
No problem!
Fly to Victoria for meds and fly home to administer them. I flew, of course, on my broom :)

First Pred application was at about 10am. By the 2nd one at around Noon on Sunday there was already some improvement.
Dr. Sam called a bit later to let me know he was at the clinic and I could bring him if I was ready.
I shared the news with Sam about the improvement. He said that was great, and we decided a trip into the vet wasn't needed at that time. He has a check-up scheduled for Thursday anyway.

By the final med dose on Sunday evening he was almost back to 'normal', almost.

Side -note. Adding the Prednisone back to the regimen meant that for 2 of his 4 doses he'd be getting .4mL of liquid in his eye. The 'max' dose for an eye to keep it effective is .3. So, we had to take his Atropine and make it it's own dose. So, Sunday, poor Alduca got 'attacked' with meds 6 times, instead of 4. Monday will be the same, as it is the last day of the 5 day Atropine administration.

Monday AM

Still some drainage, but looking better.
Alduca is still being a champ!
Even with the 6 doses instead of 4, he still whinnies cheerfully and comes right up to me in the pasture.
What a good boy!!

Decisions, Decisions!

Trying to decide to make a post a day for all the days I missed, or sum it up in one.....
hummmm....... I just don't know!

I guess I will make a post a day! Enjoy!

Survey Says?

It's a good sign when the vet looks happy, right? Unhappy vet, bad sign!

Dr. Sam said it looks much improved from when Alduca went home.
Sigh of relief!
He was actually very pleased with how his eye looked.
I explained that I'd been following his suggested medication schedule to the letter, and he seemed impressed by my dedication to his treatment.

Upon staining the eye, the ulcer was almost non existent. YAY!

His main concern? It looks like the eye has "shrunk" itself, so he added Atropine (sp) to his eye med arsenal to dilate the pupal and hopefully prevent any damage.
He also did some cortisone injections too!

The big white 'mass' that I was worried about?
Apparently it's a byproduct of the eye healing process. Strange, right? Dr. Sam said it would slough off when the eye didn't need it anymore. Cool beans!!! Learn something new every day!

Speaking of learning something new, I apparently taught Dr. Sam a new (old) trick.
Remember the 'stud chain rope' from a few posts back?? Dr. Sam was astounded by how well it worked with Alduca. He said he hadn't seen one used since the late 90's, that the long wooden stick with the rope on the end of it (twitch) had become the norm in Veterinary Medicine, and he totally forgot about the rope.
He was so impressed in fact, that he said he may start using one at the office.
Good job, Do-do! You did something good!

Oh, and he thought that me calling Alduca do-do was just hilarious!

So, we are continuing the eye meds for the next week. Atropine 2x a day for 5 days, other meds 4x a day until his recheck next Thursday.

Vet Checkup day

Alduca has been great about his MEDS all week. He's really being a trooper. Then again, the cookies help :)

Well, I'm leaving work in a little bit for Alduca's checkup.

I wish I felt better about it.

I'm nervous. And anxious. Worried, and optimistic.
Just when I think it might be OK, the tidal wave of pessimism crashes back around me and I'm consumed by it.

I understand. It could be worse. He is still alive after all. There are worse things than losing sight in one eye. But still. He's been through enough. He shouldn't have to live like that.

People and horses see differently. Horses can not see directly in front of them, or directly behind them. Check out this link for more information on how horses see.

So, I will post the results of the checkup tomorrow.
I hope I get to share good news only.........

the MAGIC continues

Well, we went all weekend with the lip rope and we have NOT had any issues getting his eye meds in his eye.

The eye is looking great, and DH and I don't have to fight with him and worry about poking his eye with the end of the syringe.

We are getting up at 4:45 in the am, to give meds by 5 am, and again by 7 am so we can go to work. He gets them again at 6ish pm and then again around 10 pm or 11ish pm.

His eye is looking really great!

We have a follow up appointment with the vet on Thursday at 3:30.

I'm a bit concerned about the amount of sight he will have left when this is all over. The vet assures me that he will be able to see, but he will probably have a spot on his eye for the rest of his life.

I hope he can see. We have one horse who is already blind in one eye, and I hate that for him. I hope Alduca gets his sight back.

Magic string and stuff!

Ok people, last night's med sessions and this mornings went great!

Huh? Did I read that right?
I know that is what you are saying. How did this happen? What could have changed in less than 24 hours to make Duca the monster horse go from Satan's Spawn to Angelic Alduca?
A magic string.

Before you read any further, I don't want to hear anything about being mean to this horse. Pestering him for 30 mins to get 1/2 his meds in his eye is mean. Grabbing an ear would not be so kind, and would make him hate his ears being touched. A twitch? Yeah, you grab his nose and see if you can hang on while the Alduca elevator takes you to the top floor!

What I used is a lip rope. A simple piece of soft, white cotton rope. Similar to what you might have on your clothes line out back, and a metal snap.
Tie the rope to the snap and make a good knot. I also put a knot at the other end. I think the rope is about 4 feet long.
I snap the rope to the right side of his halter, and bring the tail around the other side and pull it through the brass buckle. The rope then slips inside his mouth and sets on his upper gum-line. Like a mouth chain, but much less severe. I'm not sure how it will work with every horse, but with Alduca, just a little pressure and he is putty in your hand.
Less than 5 minutes and the lip rope was on, his the meds were IN his eye, 100% of the meds, the lip rope was off and he had a whole bag of treats!
Simple!!! Easy. Less stress on the horse, and we in no way, shape, or form ABUSE the power of the lip rope.

I hope it works this easy tonight! If so, we are in business!!!

And maybe I can't!

OK, scratch that last line of that last post.

Last night? He was ok...again, about a 30 minute fuss 2x. At about 6:15 when I got home, and just before dark at about 8.

He is just so dang tall that it's impossible! If he doesn't want to keep his head down so you can reach, that isn't much changing his mind!.

This morning? A whole NOTHER ball game!
While the eye looked better, less swollen, and less irritated, it still wasn't great.
Now, he is on 1gram of bute 1x a day to help with pain and swelling.
This morning it was evident that the bute from yesterday am was long gone and he was in pain. He didn't want you to touch his eye.
The 'elevator' treatment that the tech got? Well, DH got it this morning too!
I didn't believe it until I saw it.
There was DH, dangling in the air from Alduca's halter. I have no idea how tall his head is when it's straight up. Maybe 8 or 9 feet? I'm almost 6 feet tall, and when it's all the way up...I can't reach it.

Monster, ugh!

The vet tech called this morning to check on him and I filled her in.
She gave the good news about the eye looking better to Dr. Sam, along with the info that Robert got taken for a ride. She must have explained that I thought that the bute had worn off because about 10 mins later she called back and said that Dr. Sam said to give 1gram 2x a day and see if that helped.

I got to work this morning and told my co-workers that I'd need to leave early so that I could get in two good PM med doses as this morning did not go well at all.....

I'm dreading 5 o'clock when I get home to do this all over again.

Alduca is home!!!

Well, I'm writing this post in the PM because on the way home last night I found out that ALDUCA could come home tomorrow (aka, today).
So, DH took the AM off work, as did I to go get him. One of my co-worker's may be out in the afternoons, so I opted to be pro-active and take the AM off to go get him.

I was a nervous wreck.
They had already given his eye meds before I got there.
Dr. Sam had to race out on an emergency farm call, so his head tech was left to give me the meds and instructions.
She was nice about it. Very thorough. She said that this morning when the guys have him his meds he was agitated, and lifted one of them off the ground.
It was the poor soul that had the job of attempting to hang onto Alduca's head while the other poor guy attempted to get the meds in his eye.
I wish I knew someone who drew cartoon caricatures, because this one would be an awesome scene to have done. I can soooo picture it in my head.
For those that don't know...Alduca is almost 17h tall. While he is not wide, he is VERY strong, and when he makes his mind up, well, there isn't much changing it!

So, out we went to the stall to look at the eye. I hadn't seen it in a while.
I'd been by there, and dropped off food, and fed him bags of cookies, but I didn't want to take the fly mask off and look at it without the Vet present.

It looked terrible. I was devastated. All this time and money spent at the clinic and it looked that bad?
The tech assured me most of the swelling was due to the fact that he would not quit rubbing it! Their hope? That he got home, to normal surroundings and his normal people (notice I said HIS normal people, not normal people! I would not want to imply in any way, shape or form that I'm normal. I'm just normal to him!) that he would chill a bit and relax and leave the dang thing alone!

My concern? Getting the meds in that eye! Ugh! Do-do is tall, and his head straight in the air, no telling how tall that is!
Ugh!

We made the trip home, after paying the 'almost' reasonable bill..ALMOST! :) He was there a long time and they did a LOT to him.
I got him home and cleaned his fly mask and his eye. He wasn't 100% compliant, but hey, he just got home! All in all he was pretty good!

I turned him out, and let him be a horse for about 2 hours.
I pulled up his meds in the syringe, grabbed halter/lead/large amounts of cookies and DH and I took off to the pasture.

Haltered, fly mask off, here we go.
It wasn't.....bad? It took about 30 mins and wasn't that bad.
Hummm....maybe I can do this?

No go :(

Well, Do-do won't be coming home today.

Dr. Sam wants to keep an eye on him for the day and make sure that they guys there can get the meds in.
I guess if they can do it, that means there migth be a snowballs chance in hell that I can pull it off as well.
Here's hoping!

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear....

But the blaze faced sorrel gelding from our neighbors next door!

Nope, no joke.

We have dogs. Inside dogs, and outside dogs. We have deer that come to visit, making the outside dogs bark, bark, bark with excitement. They love to warn us when the 'killer deer' are in the horse pasture.

They started their ruckus at 5am. I elbowed DH and asked him to see what all the fuss was about. They were barking with more enthusiasm than usual. This was a "hay idiots there is something out here" bark. Not just a "I'm barking at the deer to drive you crazy" bark.

DH and I both looked out the window.

NADA.

I got up and let Tucker and Peetie out while he went to the back door for a look see.

"HORSE" he hollered.

"Ours?" I hollered back.

"Nope, neighbors" he replied.

GREAT!

We got dressed and proceeded to walk the little red critter back home.

DH held the critter while I proceeded to bang on the door.

I knocked. I huffed. I puffed. I was banging. I was pounding. Wood, glass, wood frame next to the door.
I even went around and tried the back door, which was 'plastic' with a metal frame. That thing made enough racket to wake the dead, I swear. But did the people inside wake up?
Heck no! I continued to bang.

I knocked with my knuckles. I knocked with my fist. I even smacked the door with an open palm. NADA!

I began to bang harder. I swear, I could have heard me knocking on my neighbors door from my bed inside my house. Did they wake? Heck no!

So, I put a little more elbow grease behind it and let it rip! I was smokin' now! Bang bang, bang bag, bangbangbangbangBANG!

What was that? Did I hear a bark from inside? I did! I started banging again! More barking!
"YES!!" I though, surely the barking dog will get someones attention.
And it did!

The little girl who owns the horse came to the door. Groggy eyed with wild hair going every direction she answered the door.
I explained that I was sorry to bother her but her horse got out and was at our back door.
She apologized many time and went inside to get a flashlight.
We walked the critter to his pen (keep in mind it's like pitch black out still) and found his pasture gate WIDE open.
Girlie insists it was closed and he must have figured out a way to open it.
Who am I to argue? I've been around horses long enough to know that if it is even remotely possible, it will happen if there is a horse involved.
We put the critter back in his pen and walked back home.

DH, back to bed.
Me? Not so much. It was 5:45 already and I had to be up in a few minutes anyway. If I went back to bed I'd still be sleeping right now instead of downing a Carmel Mocha Java Latte Caffeine Cup o' Joe and typing this mornings events.

I do hope that the rest of you had a more peaceful morning than I.

Update #5

Well, the lavage came out this morning.
Crossing my fingers that all goes well today with his meds, and he doesn't start rubbing again.

If all goes well, he may get to come home tomorrow.
Again, happy and nervous/anxious all at the same time.

I hate waiting.....and wondering.

I hate him not being home.

I hate that someone else is taking care of him because it should be me, but at the same time I'm so relieved that it is someone else taking care of him because they are pro's and should be able to do it better than I can.

Update #4

Well....we are in a holding pattern.

Not much progress, but no regression either.

So, both good, and bad.

Lavage system may come out tomorrow.
He may come home Wednesday.

He will still need meds multiple times a day. I'm gone from home for many hours, between an hour drive to work, work, and an hour drive home.

I'm doubting my ability to get this done. DH really doesn't like Alduca. It really takes a special kind of person to LIKE Alduca. I"m sure DH will help...but will it be that willing, good mood help, or will it be angry doing it because I have to not because I want to type help? Alduca is sensitive, he will know.

So, I'm excited that he might be coming home. But, I'm also nervous and scared at the same time.......
Oh do-do!

Update #3, or, two steps forward and one step back

According to the vet, the system is working much better.

Problem??

he is STILL rubbing his eye like crazy! They already took everything out of the stall that they could. The hard plastic hanging feeders are gone and replaced by plastic black tubs for him to eat out of. There is nothing in there for him to rub on except the stall itself.
He seems to be doing a great job!

That silly horse. What the heck?
I so wish he was home already. I hate him not being at the house.

Alduca update # 2

OK, so much for possitive update number one!

Oh Do-Do, what am I going to do with you?!?!?!??!

Apparenlty my boy has turned into a monster! Surprise, surprise! Go figure. He IS a monster, all the time! But I love him.

According to the vet he has been rubbing his eye a great deal and has caused some serious swelling and more injury to his eye.

Great! Good job, Duca!

Ugh!

Friday evening he got the lavage system put in his eye. There is a small plastic 'contact lense' like piece that pulls itself up to the top of his upper eye lid. When they push meds through the plastic tube the contact lense opens just enough to let the liquid wash over his eye. The tube is 'stitched' to his skin in about 3 places.
The vet said they will be putting different meds in through the tube then the ointment was. I sure hope this works!!


The update I got today was that this medicine seemed to be working much better, and Alduca apreciates the fact that they don't have to 'come at him' 4x a day with ointment for his eye!
Cross your fingers people, cross your fingers!

Alduca Update #1

Well, according to the vet clinic, things are going well.

Alduca is a bit of a pill, but they are able to give him his meds and he isn't being too much of a butt about it.

This news I was glad to hear. Anyone that knows Alduca knows that he is a child that only his momma could love. Many people that used to work with him say that I am the only person that would ever put up with him.
I think he's sweet.

Hoping he can come home on Monday, 10/10. Cross your fingers!

Again, REALLY?

Yesterday, Alduca injured himself, again!

I woke up early on 10/2 to go feed the critters for the still vacationing Jen. I asked DH, who had gotten in from a late night/early morning hunt a few hours before, to please get up and feed the kiddos before I got back.

FFWD 2 1/2 hours and I'm home. Home to a house of unhappy critters! DH had not gotten up to feed, ugh.

Let the dogs out, feed the dogs. Check!
Assemble horse buckets/bags with grain and distribute. Chec.....WAIT!

What the heck? Alduca has some eye drainage and is squeezing his right eye shut with every eye muscle he can muster.
Really? Another owie? This kid is accident prone!
Grab a cloth and some warm water and clean it up.
Best I could tell, he'd poked it with something. Since eyeballs aren't something you can replace, I immediately called the vet.
Dr. Sam was out of town for a little bit, but said he'd be back later that afternoon, and I could bring him by. We decided it would be around 4-5. I had some plans a bit after that, so I called and canceled those.
I put a fly mask on him after the eye was cleaned and gave him some banamine.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.

And WAITED some more!
It felt like it took days, weeks even, for the vet to call.
Finally, he called and out the door we went.

Arrived and after an examination Dr. Sam said yes, he had definitely gotten something in his eye and scratched it, causing a surface ulcer.
He suggested ointment type meds numerous times a day, and if that didn't work, a lavage system that would run from just under his upper eyelid with a tube stitched to his neck, and liquid meds. Since we don't have a barn/stall at our place, I knew he was going to have to stay.
Dr. Sam said that wouldn't be a problem, and that he should be good to go in about a week.

The plan was made to start with the ointment style meds and move onto the next option if needed.

Alduca is pretty high maintenance, so I let them know I would stop by in the morning with his grain, supplements, feed bag and treats. Yeah, treats too!
So, away we went, empty trailer, but sure that we'd left Alduca in the most competent and capable hands possible.

I'm sorry!

I must apologize. I will be giving you about 3 weeks of posts and updates today.

I will be back-dating them to the correct days in time when they should have been posted, so it's just like I posted them correctly, right?

Alduca, the super skinny guy from last year, injured himself.
The above posts are about his trials and tribulations getting better!

Enjoy, and please, have a laugh or two. I know I have!