Farley is…
| June 5, 2015 | Posted by Melinda under Uncategorized |
Sound!
Sometimes it’s nice to be a vet.
OK, mostly it’s like all the time it’s nice to be a vet, but sometimes being a vet comes in really useful.
After our Sunday ride Farley was footsore, but it was hard to pinpoint exactly where the problem was. As I posted here, on Monday it was obvious that the right front was the culprit.
A rock was the mostly likely answer. The LEFT front is where all past soft tissue injuries have been, there was no filling, swelling, or heat in either leg, and during the ride I recalled her stepping on what must have been a very painful rock judging from the couple of hard head bobbing steps she took, and how she only wanted to move out on non-rocky ground after that.
A rock bruise fit. In fact, a rock bruise fit so well and I was so confident that it would be a short-term no consequence event that I sent in her entry Monday, even as she was still head bobbing consistently lame.
But here’s the problem.
For a sixteen year old horse that has a (mostly distant) past history of soft tissue injuries, and who had a fifty in a little less then 3 weeks, I wanted to be sure – but couldn’t take her into a *vet* because of my clinic schedule. As for evaluating her sole…her soles are rock hard this time of year and nothing less then an angle grinder will make a significant dent. Likewise hoof testers – even if I owned a pair – are likely to produce some inconsistent results and have me and the vet shrugging and moving on to the next step.
My Dear Reader will laugh at how long it took me to realize I had access to the very tools I needed to be very sure the problem was as I suspected, in her right foot – and not higher up in the soft tissue structures of the leg, or on a different foot.
Lidocaine. I could BLOCK her right foot and be very very confident that I was right.
In the interest of protecting the not-so-innocent (me…) we won’t go into how I got a hold of lidocaine now that I’m out of school AND waiting for my license number to come (can’t order non-OTC drugs until then).
Suffice to say I ended up with sufficient quantities of both lidocaine AND syringes and needles to get the job done.
On Tuesday one right front PD block later, and a horse that showed 90% improvement I declared my job done. The pain was indeed in the right front foot and the most likely reason based on history was a rock.
That was Tuesday.
For some reason once I confirmed this and wasn’t agonizing over tendon injuries I couldn’t be bothered to show up Wednesday and Thursday. I was having to pretend very heavily to be an adult this week and that is very taxing if you aren’t aware.
Today (Friday) I managed to go back out and run her around a bit.
Sound.
Woot Woot!
She has another 2 weeks until Wild West and the angle grinder is charging now.
I have a link luv post for you guys…but like I said…being an adult is so tiring and I need to go do something perfectly adult-like to relax…like play a point and click adventure game on the ipad with the tv playing in the background and maybe binge watch a show or two, and DEFINITELY spend copious amounts on the couch with some delightfully all-the-same young adult books.
Me being perfectly adult-like
Here too. Just doing my job…nothing to see here and no need to mention I managed to take home 4 kittens one night so I could be an adult at *home* too.
All this adulting stuff….. does this mean you’re really, really DONE???
Can we have an “amen”?!!?
Yes officially stick a fork in me done. Picked up my diploma today and took a selfie with it. Lol. Even though you aren’t on facebook I think you can still view my vet page at http://www.facebook.com/melnewtondvm if you want to see it!
Oh and by being pretending to be an adult, I was thinking more about the stuff I was doing like the million and one errands and tasks that got put off until after graduation,which happened to also be the first of the month. Exhausting! Last big todo task is this morning – how do I fit three large dogs in the Corolla to take down for vaccine and rabies and licensing when one of them would like to kill one of the others? :). With my stuff mostly done now, and Matt taking his FAA check ride this morning I’m anticipating things slowing down and returning to normal. Definition of normal = I get to sit down before nine pm, and there’s usually time to run or ride a couple days a week!
(But pictures of me submitting my stuff for licensing and doing errands isn’t nearly as entertaining as vet photos)
ALL your pictures are entertaining! Love the diploma-selfie! I have a feeling one depicting the 3 dogs in the Corolla might be challenging to pull off- hopefully no blood and no need for your vet talents. Perhaps a little Ace for the tyrant??
Best wishes to Matt for a boring and uneventful check ride. He flies *with* wings, and you- without. Love it!
Valium or prosaic is so on my list for the GSD as soon as I get my DEA license. Would be so nice to see the GSD actually be able to relax and be comfortable in her own skin for once!!!!!!!