RAO

Allie has Recurrent Airway Obstruction or RAO or Heaves or COPD - basically she is having an allergic reaction to something in her environment resulting in inflammation and mucous build up in her airways.

So that's what has been causing her exercise intolerance and the reason why she's been coughing on and off for months.

My theory (and I mentioned this to the vet and she says it's possible) is that allies immune system went from taking a big hit with her surgery and multiple si us infections to being in overdrive (this paired with her itch which is also an allergic reaction make me think this). She got itch initially after she stopped getting recurring sinus infections. It's just never gone away when the itch season ends. And now this.

So treatment is 80% management - trying to reduce or avoid altogether her exposure to allergens. So wetting down feed and hay, no stabling, not riding her in dusty arenas and not riding her with other horses (that stir up dust), not keeping her in the grassy paddock where she keeps flaring up, etc etc. Then medicating when she has a flare up. We are trying to find the meds that work for her - at the moment she's on Clenbuterol which is a bronchodilator. She can have that for up to two weeks and if it works alone then fantastic. It has a two week swab time so to compete I would need to treat any flare ups and get her off it two weeks prior to the event.

If the Clenbuterol doesn't work then she will need to be tried on a series of corticosteroids until we find the one that works. To be honest I would like her to go on steroids to also help her skin initially. But that's not the way the vet wants to treat so I'm following her lead.

The vet says this might be seasonal or it could be a year round thing. We don't know yet. If it's seasonal it's easier to manage because you know when she might get sick and you just medicate during that time and don't compete then.

Other things I'm doing (vet suggested and also from my own research) is upping her omega 3 intake (omega 3 has an anti inflammatory effect) as I think it is out of ratio with omega 6 in her diet right now (she is on sunflower seeds which are high in omega 6 and omega 6 has an inflammatory effect). There's been some research that shows feeding high amounts of linseed can help treat itch conditions due to anti inflammatory properties. So I've added linseed to her diet. I'm also putting her back on a toxin binder for mycotoxins in case that's part of what she's having an allergic reaction to. It won't hurt her adding these and might help.

Long term I'm thinking I need to have a hard look at what exactly my goals are. I'm not getting any younger and we would like to have another child when Evie is about 5 so I've only got a small window where I can get out and compete and really work on my riding before the next big break from riding. But I want to ride Allie, not some other horse. I want to compete Allie. And that might prove very tricky if I need to manage her allergen exposure and medications and all the perfect timing that will entail.

Some of my friends think I should just send her away to spell for a few years and work with a second horse (either buy or lease). My vet says that there are plenty of competition horses being successfully managed and are quite competitive out there, even at the higher levels. My husband thinks I should have given up on Allie by now and sell her on (who the hell would have her? Just the bloody doggers I'm thinking). My sister thinks this is my heart horse and I have the dedication to make this work so to keep trying with Allie for my dream with her.

Right now, I'm a bit emotionally spent (although my cup is rarely full in that department since having a kid. She still wakes 2-3 times a night screaming and needs resettling. She is still on the boob and she is a temper throwing little darling right now who hates being separated from me. I'm fucking spent). I'm so sick of paying vet bills, taking her to the vet, stopping and stalling, scratching from comps, hopping on after a good spell only to have her cough her guts up during a ride so I just get off in tears. Do I want that to be my life for the rest of Allies time on the planet? Can I mentally handle that for years on end? I don't know.

I'm sorry for being a Debbie downer. Allie should have been named Ballymount Rollercoaster.

Trachea Wash

When I went to pick up Allie today she had quite a lot of discharge (she had even been rubbing it all over her legs). She coughed a couple times while getting ready to go.

Once we got there the vet checked her vitals and noted her elevated respiratory rate. She then had a bit of a trot and canter in the round yard to get some mucous cleared. She coughed quite a few times in there. Poor thing.

She was sedated and they put the scope in again. They took some more mucous (there was so much more than last time she was scoped) and it's being sent away again for another culture and a sensitivity test to find out which antibiotics are the right ones to treat it.

Allie was a gem the whole time, as per usual.

A couple of screenshots from the video my sister took of when the vet was trying to insert the tube into the gutteral pouch. If you guys wanna see the video let me know and I'll upload it, it's super boring.

Ffs

We've been riding weekly, Allie has been really good, like, amazing, to ride.

We have her feet in gear, all systems are go to plod along.

Then, yesterday, attack of the fat leg.

SIGH

Right hind fetlock, doesn't look lame to me, but she seems uncomfortable when flexing it.

It was worse this morning, so off to the vet tomorrow. Wish me luck.

So, I've been very quiet here. I guess it's because this is a horse blog and I've not been doing much more than feeding the damn things. Being a mum to a tiny baby is hard you guys.

But Evie is starting to go longer between feeds. She is very happy being looked after by her dad, so I'm slowly starting to go do more stuff by myself. It is really helping my mental state.

I've tried riding a couple of times but Allie needed/needs so much stuff done to get her right, before she can officially start back in work again. The shopping list:
- Vaccinations
- Teeth
- Body clip (way too hairy and itchy)
- Body work (massage etc)
- Feet trimmed, lucky I know a good trimmer ;)
- Saddles fitted and billets changed on dressage saddle

Of course, hooves were easier than most, I just needed hubby to look after Evie while I did them. Then I had the EMT out for a massage - she's feeling pretty good over all, just slightly tight in the hind quarter. The EMT and I agreed that the jump saddle fits well right now but that the dressage does not. So I'm riding in the jump until next month when we can afford to have the dressage altered and billets done. That works!

My float needed a new loom because we lost blinkers and electric brakes. So that finally got fixed, and we took the horses to the vet to be vaccinated and clipped (and Allie's teeth). The trip over was super eventful, with Gracie not traveling well at all and a bloody truck riding up my arse and holding his horn down honking straight into the float and terrifying the horses again and again to the point where I stopped and got out of the car and had it out with him on the side of the road. I was fucking furious. He didn't give a shit though. Ugh I hate other drivers when I'm towing.

ANYWAY they both got clipped. Even the groomer kept going on and on about how much better Allie looked with a clip! She seriously looked like an unkempt yak (see comparison below). And she feels awful with all that hair, she's too hairy for Aussie winters. It's been pretty mild this year so she's been super itchy from sweating.

So with teeth, body, hooves and coat all done and a saddle that fits, yesterday we went for a fang around the property. She was a lunatic, had so much energy. She started the stupid threatening to rear bullshit again (I guess that happens when you aren't schooled for almost 3 years) so I wore my vest and got stuck into her and made her move FORWARD. And it worked.

We ended up bowling along the gravel drives (it's so wet that we can't ride anywhere else really) and along a high well drained ridge in a big balanced forward canter with me up in two point and her feeling the awesomeness that is her body and she could breathe fine (!!!!!) and I felt like the last 3 years of setbacks didn't matter and it was just my horse and I and and and and yeah. All that good stuff. It was fricking fantastic!!

Next up is saddle fitter, then hopefully we can figure out a way to get to the indoor to school on some footing that doesn't threaten to trip my horse.

Allie Stresses Me Out

I'm going to put pictures of Allie at comps in this post to make myself feel better worse.

Look at me. So happy. So Naive

 
Ugh. So Allie has had a snotty nose for about 4 weeks now. Started off in both nostrils (I thiught it was a cold she had picked up), then after a week it moved to just the left nostril, never been particularly bad or particularly smelly. Slight odour, sometimes stronger, sometimes not. She has been eating normally this whole time.

Because it wasn't going away, I emailed the vet and she has put her on 10 days of antibiotics. Two days in, and the discharge is getting worse.

So pretty all clipped with a false tail in.

I'm trying to save judgement until after the course finishes. But I can't help thinking that it might be those teeth causing issues.

I hope they aren't dying. Poo bum sticks.

FANTASTIC NEWS!!!

For those playing along with Complex Odontoma Watch 2014:

Allie is at the vet last Friday for a check up.



The vet said that she is so glad that they did not go back in for a second surgery - the scar/granulation tissue is healing properly in there, the teeth look unchanged from last xray (i.e. no deterioration), the recent lump out the side of her face was the second pack that they put in - she didn’t need it anymore so they removed it. The first pack is still in there so they left it and it will act as a grinding surface for the opposite teeth. The vet is VERY PLEASED with the way she is healing and said “mother nature is doing a better job than I ever could have if we had intervened”.



She said that I don’t need to bring her back for checkups again unless something changes.



Could it be? Could we finally be at the light at the end of the tunnel? Do I dare hope? I feel like I shouldn't hope yet. That horse has broken my heart thoroughly and I feel like I need to protect myself.

But what awesome news to get.

Coming Home

Cross post from Facebook. Totally sums it up for me.

:(

The hole won't close. The tooth is front is dying.

She goes in for another surgery on Tuesday.

I'm devastated all over again.

Still Not There

It is Wednesday morning. Allie is still in the hospital and will have at least 2 more days in there. They ended up putting more pack in while she was under standing sedation as when they were flushing yesterday there was no pus but there was still some freshly masticated hay and feed getting through to the sinus. Today, there was no food in the sinus but there was a small amount of green fluid that had squeezed through, which ran clear very quickly.

Christine says the new pack is not doing as well as she had hoped but better than she had feared. We are at the point where we need to just buy a little time to see if this will settle down before making a decision to go back to surgery in the next week to close everything up. Obviously surgery is something we don't want to have to do monetary for me or physically for her, but we need to do what we need to do.

Apparently she is very happy. She is behaving beautifully, they don't even need to sedate her for flushing, she just stands there!! They are poking the tube through the small hole they cut in her face to flush so it is not like she is having a grand old holiday at the vets but I am so so glad that she is eating and behaving and just being the pleasure that she truly is.

Love love love that horse.

Do I title ths one 'Poor Allie"? Because that is all I can thnk right now...

Gosh, where do I start.


Over the last few days, Allie's lump hasn't gone away but her nasal discharge has increrased and so has the bad smell. This morning I hauled her over to the vets for Christine to check her.

Never ending vet visits wear us out.

First up was a radiograph. The teeth don't look good. Both the tooth behind and the tooth in front look unusual. We still don't know if they will die and need to be removed or if they will live and be fine.Time will only tell. Basically, if they do have to come out,  the two teeth plus the tumour leaves a big gap to try to encourage to close. It would mean surgery, lots of flushing, $$$$$. We do not want to go down that path if we don't have to. It is quite serious (serious-er?) if she needs those teeth removed.

After the rads, she had a scan done over the area to see what was causing the lump. Infection, possibly from a small piece of bone that had lost blood supply and died we think, or maybe the teeth are the insidious cause of it all. She then had an oral exam which looked good, however Christine could feel that tooth in front has a small depression that may be a sign that the tooth may die.

After the oral exam, Christine ended up having to cut a small hole with a scalpel and then inserted one of her surgery tools to make the hole bigger inside to get through to the sinus. She then spent about 20 minutes pulling out some of the pack, some sinew, and quite a bit of old food material that is getting in there from the mouth. She went looking for the piece of bone but she doesn't think she got it.

After this, Christine flushed out the sinus/mouth with two bags of saline and then squirted aqueous penicillin in over the area. There was blood, stinky food and snot everywhere.

Poor Allie. She got pain relief and had been sedated but she was so damn good about the whole process. That experience must have been terrifying and even under sedation she did lift her head high a coupke of timez and looked very worried in her eye but she held it together. She is amazing. Just a superstar.

Christine wanted me to leave her there over the weekend so that they can flush her on Saturday and again on Sunday. Hit it hard. Hopefully by flushng and keeping it clean, the small hole that is allowing passage of food will be able to close over and her sinus can finally dry up and hopefully those teeth hang on and decide they aren't going to keel over and quit this life for good. So I left her at the clinic, because emotionally right now I am rubbish and I need to know that I have done everything possible to give this horse the best chance of recovery. What else can I do?

One of the other vets was discussing the case with me and she said that Allie is very very lucky to have me and Christine/Derek (the other surgeon). "Not many owners would do what you have done, and not many surgeons would have attempted that surgery at all" were her words. That really brought home the seriousness, the gravity of the situation for Allie. Emotionally, I am not good today. I have taken the day off work to just lay in bed and chill out. I have my first uni exam next week and I hve picked up a cold too. So today is for me I have decided.

This has been a depressing post. Sorry guys.

Emails

Hi Christine,

I thought I would shoot you an email with how Allie is doing and a couple of questions I have.
She finished her sulfa on Thursday 15th. The whole time she has had normal vitals (except today, temp was 37.1 which I thought was a little low) and has been a great eater and very happy in herself. Both nostrils had some discharge but the left one was worse and it still hasn't cleared up completely. Even this morning there was some yellow gunky discharge again.
Her scar looks amazing in my opinion. There has been no rubbing but I have noticed sweat crystals on it quite often which I assume is because that area is hotter because of the healing.

My questions are:
- should we be worried that her left nostril is still having pretty consistent discharge? It doesn't smell foul, just like she has a cold (if that makes sense) but the odour is definetly different to her other nostril.

- there are three little stitches showing in the scar, in the top under her eye and in each of the 'corners'. Are we just leaving those alone? I assume they are dissolving stitches but they aren't dissolving because they are exposed.

Thanks

Lisa.

___________________

Hi Lisa

 

Thanks for update.

 

Don’t worry about low temp – not unusual at all, especially as gets cooler at night.

If the discharge does not get any worse let’s just watch it.  It was definitely coming from her trachea on scope last time. Even if it is coming from her sinus, we often see this post sinus surgery  for a couple of months.  Unless things change, let’s hold to the 6-8 week recheck plan.

 

The sweat may be because it is hotter, but may also be a regional nerve that has been disrupted or irritated!  Not much we can do about that.

 

The sutures in the common are not unusual – the corners are the hardest to get to heal.  The sutures are absorbable and will take care of themselves.  They are slow to dissolve, and if I can get them out next time she is here I will. They will continue to dissolve even though are exposed, just maybe at a slower rate. They are a monofilament and not irritating, so I am not fussed.

 

Sounds like things are still going as well as I could hope.  I think the next challenge will be to see what that tooth does.  It will take some time for it to decide to heal or become sicker (the tooth that is).

 

Keep me posted

 

Christine

___________________

PHEW!

I am totally tacking up tonight and having a whirl around the round yard. I'll let you know how she goes guys!!

Vet Bill

Got my vet bill.

So far:

$500 for hospital overnight and rads when she had the bleeding nose when she was diagnosed.
$1400 for the CT scan.
$4000 for surgery and hospital care and post-surgery rads.

So what's that so far - $5,900.

She is worth every cent.

Another Update

Christine just called me. Allie ate all her dinner last night! I can't believe it!

They pulled half the pack out yesterday and the rest today. There was almost no bleeding involved. She was radiographed and Christine said there was a big feeling of relief as radiographically it looks like they got it all!!!!!!

After that they put the gag on her and the dental pack seems to be holding well. On Monday she's going to scope her to see if there is any food getting through to the sinus and if not then she can come home - huzzah!! If there is then there may need to be some flushing so that means a longer hospital stay.

She is being taken off the injectable antibiotics and being put onto pasted sulprim (she hates it). She is only getting bite once a day now.

I'm still holding my breath but I'm astounded with how well this is all going. So far so good! All your prayers and good vibes and thoughts are working guys. Thank you so much.

I'm off to visit Allie this afternoon. More piccies then.

Visit

Visited her in hospital just now. She seemed OK. Very quiet but a little perky. Didn't want to finish her carrot, I think she got a bit in a sore spot and wasn't interested after.

Got to see what they pulled out. Are you ready? Scroll down the bottom (I think) to see.

Poor pony girl.

Post Op

So the surgery went as well as can be expected. Complicated by about 4 litres of blood loss, the visibility wasn't great. Christine is fairly confident they got most of it if not all. Some of it broke away easily, almost in their fingers. Much of it had to be chiseled away.

Her two teeth behind it are fine - good to stay. The tooth in front, however, is questionable. It was wrapped in the tumour and while chiseling they thought they would have to remove the tooth too but all of a sudden the tumour came away and left the tooth intact - however there is a massive hole there now so whether the tooth stays or goes only time will tell. The hope is packed with a dental Paco for now, while we wait for her to heal the hole with granulation tissue. There is an infection in that tooth too but hopefully that resolves.

Cosmetically, her facial ridge on that side is gone. It was riddled with the tumour. She will look like she whacked her face on a pole once it's all healed. I'm OK with that for now.

All up surgery took about 2.5 hours. The bleeding was the only complication however she didn't require a transfusion as her vitals were all fine especially her blood pressure.

In recovery she was impatient to stand and once up she was very unstable. She keeps rubbing the surgery site so they have had to wrap it. Her sinus is stuffed full of gauze to stop the bleeding. They don't think she likes the feeling and that's why she's rubbing.

Overnight she did well - vitals all good. She's not eating well of course. What else is new?

I'm seeing her this afternoon. Might be able to take her for a little walk if the vets say I can. If not, just a scratch and hugs for her.

Thurs or Fri her sinus packing comes out. Once out they will take more xrays to see what they have got and to have a benchmark to compare to.

As for me, I feel like I'm holding my breath. Hopefully the worst part is over. I'm always thinking of her. Hoping she isn't in too much pain. I know she is in the very best hands and I have placed my faith in the vets and in the powers that be to get us through. So far, so good.

Here We Go...

Just got a call from Christine the vet. It went a little something like this:

C: Hello Lisa. Nothings wrong. I'm just calling to let you know that we are starting her in a half an hour and also to check that you're all OK.
L: oh thank you. Yeah I'm OK surprisingly. How long do you think it will take?
C: oh, to be honest we have to see how we go when we get in there.
L: my husband had a dream last night that it took 6 hours.
C: oh god no! Gosh I hope not. Probably closer to two hours. If there is anything wrong I'll call you while she's on the table, if not I'll call you when she has woken up.
L: thanks so much. Good luck!
C: to you too Lisa. Speak to you soon.

Gosh. My horse is about to have her skull sawed open. God thankyou for giving me the gifts of strength and money to be able to help Allie. Please help her make it.

Mini Adventures

Not much to report on, except that we have taken the girls on a few mini adventures. One worked out well, the other not so much, and one was a vet visit.

Colo River
We took the horses up to Colo River for a ride, like we did years ago with our first ponies. We have been talking about doing this for so long, and we were quite excited about getting the horses back up there.

Matchy matchy uniforms for my trimming business. They are PRETTY AWESOME.

It is an hour and a half drive, up and down steep hills. It chews up quite a bit of petrol BUT the last part of the drive is very pretty.

Once we got there we tacked up, rode down to the (shallow) river and promptly got stuck in quicksand. Twice. :(

The horses were so scared and the ride was ruined. Years ago we had galloped up and down that river! But that was during a drought and we are not in drought anymore. The recent rains must have moved the sand about and created sink holes.

We found a part of the river that was safe and just hung out there for a while until the horses weren't scared of sinking anymore. It was a crap day, I was afraid that Allie had hurt herself and we had no reception so I thought Andrew would have worried about us. What a waste of a potentially good day. At least we know now.

Allie was not happy. She kept resting that hind leg and had trouble turning that way. I thought she had damaged her tendon but she pulled up fine and was not lame out of the water. She was just sooking.

Gracie had fun though.

Vet Clinic
We took them on Thursday to the vet clinic for Allie to have a vet exam for insurance and for them both to get their first Hendra vaccine shot. Nothing special to note except that while Gracie was NOT having it when the vet tried to take her temperature (he gave up after she kicked at him), Allie actually LOVED having her temp taken, grooming me while he had the thermometer up there. Even the vet said "Um, yeah. That's not normal". Sigh. She is a weirdo.

Allie passed the exam and we took them home. They are going back again in the beginning of December for the booster shot. Once that is done no more worrying about Hendra! For my foreign readers, all you need to know is that Hendra is a terrifying fruit bat-bourne disease that while not common, kills horses, people and dogs, in a long, drawn out, neuro destroying way. I have been terrified of them dying from it for a long time and was the first owner to have her horse vaccinated. I have copped a bit of criticism on Facebook for making that decision but it is the right one for me and for my horses.

Suburban Ride
Today we took the girls to my home town, parked at Mum's, then went for a road ride/school in the park.

Here is a video of Nat riding Allie.Please excuse/ignore my screeching.

After this video we rode to another park and I got some lovely canter work from Allie. No video of that I'm afraid, just trust me that it was much nicer than this work. They were very well behaved, it was a really nice ride.

That is about it really!