Horses

Good news! Isis continues to improve and has been doing well. Two of the spots where the IV was sutured to her had some issues, but that has cleared up now. She is completely off of IVs and fluids. She’s eating hay and grazing regularly. A chicago screw came out of her halter, so I opted to buy her a new one. It seemed appropriate symbolism — putting the old halter behind her...

I’m waiting on a call back from the vet. Isis is supposed to start eating today. I’m anxious to know how she has been doing. Back to my meeting… I’ll update here as soon as I hear anything. Related Images:

The good news continues (yay!). She drank water this morning. She seems to be handling everything well. The path out of the woods continues to brighten. She has been pawing whenever she comes back in from being outside — but it is out of boredom/pissiness rather than pain. She wants to go back outside and is tired of being in the stall. Her vet said that she will be able to graze tomorrow...

PROGRESS!! Finally! The biggest news: her small intestines have motility! WOOHOO! No signs of the evil “L” word (knock on wood). Some possible signs of very minor infection around the incision sight (not unusual)–she has been started on another round antibiotics just in case. (Can’t say I’d like to get my doses of meds up my derriere… aren’t many other options when she can’t take anything orally. But she’s being good, probably easier...

Good news at last! The vet said that the last time Isis was tubed this morning she had about half of the amount of fluid she had the day before. She also passed some manure (very positive). So overall medically today she looks better than she did yesterday. She has some swelling on her incision, which might mean a low-grade infection. She started her on antibioitic, which is administered as a paste through...

I found a good article on colic. It is some hard reading, especially when you get to the mortality rate for horses who had similar cases to Isis (50-75% mortality in the worst cases). The article covers pre-op to post-op care. The good news was that 90% of the horses who survived the surger and fully recovered were able to return to the original occupations/use. Colic: Pre-op to Post-op Related Images:

On Monday evening, Isis had looked so much better. She seemed awake and aware and happy to see everyone to came in to visit her. Yesterday she seemed more subdued. Even the vet student commented on how Isis seemed more depressed in the evening. Isis has lost weight, which is expected. Last night was the first time I could really see how it was effecting her. Her coat is still shiny, but she...

The vet was supposed to have called me back this morning. So far, nothing. I suppose that is good because it means no emergency. The waiting is hard, especially when I can’t just be at the hospital with her… Related Images:

Okay, it’s blurry and you can’t really tell what it’s supposed to be. You can see her head behind the stall door, the tubes running from her catheter to the IV bags, and the grazing muzzle. Poor kid. Related Images:

I just found out that Mom posted pictures of Isis on the farm Web site. If you would like to see Isis and her full brother, Maattari, jumping, visit the Sirdar Foals page. It’s hard for me to reconcile those photos with the mare who is in the hospital. It was only a month ago when she was taking jumps and having a ball. Related Images: