Healing

Right after publishing the last post about Mazy's vaccine reaction- it opened up. I will spare you the pics and the gory details for those who may have a weak stomach- as I sit here eating my dinner... Lol There is still some swelling and plenty of drainage, but remarkably there is no detectable smell coming from it. Normally an abscess stinks enough to make some of us gag. It just does and there's no nice way of putting it. So now comes flushing it out to keep it clean and hope it doesn't get infected. 

Even with the nozzle on Shower which is the 'lightest' setting I can find on it- she is not happy with me hosing it. I rinse it and all around the open area and she fidgets and moves and protests in a number of ways. One thing she will do once she feels I have hosed it enough- Mazy will turn her head and use it to block her shoulder. I can't spray it if her head is in the way, right? Then she starts spinning circles around me to get away. When I put her up against a fence or wall where thats no longer an option- she cow kicks! But.... When I go to sticking a syringe up in there to flush it out with antiseptic mouthwash- that doesn't seem to bother her. She stands nicely for that for whatever reason. Maybe she knows she's almost done with this round of torture? I dunno. 

I get it. It hurts and since everything opened up I no longer give her IV shots of pain meds (she hated that too) so while I try to be gentle and understanding, so far she gets a verbal correction for the cow kicks. So far she hasn't connected and has only tried it a couple times. 

We went back to the vet for a checkup and first thing he does- jams his finger into the hole and starts feeling around. Heifer stood like a rock and didn't budge. I told Dr. K that I figured there was room enough to stick a finger in there but I wasn't going to. You just had to go there... I also figured he would have to sedate her to do it and there she stands all Miss Manners. 

We got a bottle of antiseptic spray and a container of antibiotic powder to put on her feed and a bill for our records. No need to come back unless it gets infected and there's complications. This may be a while, but everything looks good so far. Get some petroleum jelly and smear it under the holes so the drainage doesn't burn her skin, and hope for the best. Keep cold hosing until all swelling is gone, he slathered on a decent amount of furazone and sent us on our way. 

Two days later and it has really started to heal rapidly.  To read it looks almost all closed up at times going from the size of a silver dollar to the size of a quarter. Still has the hole the depth of a middle finger, but that is slowly healing from inside out. Still hosing/rinsing, flushing with antiseptic, spraying with flyspray, smearing on furazone and trying to find a way to get the powder antibiotics In her. Miss Mazy doesn't like it even though it smells good (sweet) and is supposed to be apple flavor. Wasted 2 doses so far. Ugh! I'll skip this for now and keep hosing, flushing, spraying it and thinking of a way to get the antibiotics in her and hope it doesn't get infected in the meanwhile. 

When I turn her out she runs and jumps around having a blast and tearing it up. Sometimes when she comes in- everything is oozing. That's a good sign since it is flushing out any stuff I couldn't get to. We're getting there and hopefully there is minimal scaring and all of her hair comes back. Time will tell. 

On the mend

Last week we went to the vet. He said it should/could abscess and once popped open, there will be relief and smelly goo drainage, but will still require watching it and treating it to keep it clean to prevent infection. Take the wraps off and let everything drain down the leg- so what if it swells -> cold hose it, cold hose it, cold hose it some more. Two to three times a day if possible. Easy on the banamine and watch for ulcers. Watch the right front for heat & swelling like you're doing and bring her back in 10 days. If her shoulder hasn't popped open we will look at helping it. I asked about shots of antibiotics to help reduce the size of the abscess? Nope, this one will be a wait and see. Only if it gets infected once open. There will be a soft spot and that's where it should open up.

Sunday there was a spot on Mazy's shoulder where what shoukd be an abscess is starting to come thru. There's a small area about the size of a quarter that about 2 layers of skin has opened up. Of course the flies are on it like white on rice. After hosing her shoulder and getting the skin to soften more, I tried to feel for the soft spot and help open it up more. Mazy was not thrilled about this and kept turning circles around me in protest. She doesn't like anything even touching her shoulder.

After a good soaking I sprayed it with some antiseptic mouthwash and a light mist of fly spray. I also enlisted the help of another boarder to spray it in the mornings to help keep the area clean and fly free. Payment of shavings in her stall was well received and super appreciated.  

Her lower leg swelling has gone way down and right front no longer swells. She has started to move on it more and last night was actually loping around in the arena. She seemed glad to finally be able to run again, one of her favorite things to do. While she may have been running around on it, she still showed some degree of lameness so not totally out of the woods yet but her spirits are definitely up. 

I'm relieved she shouldn't have any long term effects from this. The vet told me that had it happened in the back end, sometimes after the abscess the muscle can atrophy and scar tissue sets in. This will limit the range of motion in that limb and they are pretty much done as a performance horse. Whew! So glad we dodged That bullet! 

Sidelined

Taking lessons has proven to be a difficult thing to schedule for us.  The facility has a lesson horse, but the horse now has an ulcerrated cornea and needs to have some time off. I offered to haul Mazy in for a lesson and all things set for Go. She has all her shots and her Coggins is clean but the barn owner is insisting on a strangles vaccine. That is one I know she has not had. Lesson gets pushed back another week. 

I got the shots and gave them on Thursday before the holiday weekend. I figured she might be off for a few days and then we could get back to work.... Wrong! Two weeks later and I'm still dealing with it. Mazy had a bad reaction to the vaccine. 

This pic shows the swelling in front of her shoulderblade at the top up by her withers as well as down to just above the white on her leg. This was Monday- Memorial Day. She had a fever and was off her feed as well as not consuming much water. This pic she had gotten a healthy dose of banamine a full body rinse and cold hosing to bring everything down as much as possible which is why she was actually putting weight on it. Otherwise she was 3 legged lame and pretty reluctant to move at all. 

As you can see in the photo above- the next day both front lower legs were swollen. According to everything I found online- this is one of the symptoms of a bad reaction... The bonus here- she wasn't dead. Well isn't that helpful?!?! 

Mazy has gotten a bit anxious about getting her IV banamine shots since getting them once a day. Once she realizes it helps subdue the pain, she's ok with it. I was concerned she might develop ulcers but since the dose is low enough and spread out as well as getting time to free graze and then getting fed, we've passed the mark of this being a huge concern. The other thing I'm still concerned with is compensatory laminitis in the right front as well as soreness in her back and hind end. 

Thankfully I was also able to borrow a pair of Back On Track boots. These helped take the lower leg swelling down too. They're a bit big for her but still worked.  

At first I wrapped all four legs with her pillow wraps and stall bandages. Mazy was not happy about the wraps on her back legs and not only did she get one off, she tore two holes in the other one and destroyed her stall. She dug a couple Big holes in the shavings, down to bare dirt. Shavings and dirt in her water tub.... So now the front legs still get wrapped but not the back. 

Every day her knee is swollen and she still has a huge lump on her shoulder. One of the things I read about reactions- they can cause an abscess at the injection site. 

Yes that left shoulder is huge. The swelling has also come around to the front of her chest. We may be headed to the vet to see if it is in fact an abscess and if they can drain it. If that's the case, I'm sure she won't like it but once it is opened up and drained- it should feel much better. I'm really hoping this isn't what's going on, but if it is and can bring her some almost instant relief then who am I to argue?