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!!

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.

Surgery Date

Spoke to Christine, my vet, today. To quote her "I think it is worth a shot, will be big endeavour but the only way forward".

Yep.

So we scheduled surgery for Easter Tuesday - 22nd April. She will be dropped off in the morning and will have the surgery done that day (or the following day if they have emergencies come in after the Easter long weekend). As stated previously, she will have a whopping great big hole cut out of the side of her face for access to the tumour. Apparently the tumour is more pushing out rather than up and in (which is a very good thing!) however one or two teeth may need to come out. Christine is not worried about the infraorbital nerve anymore - she doesn't think it will be a complication. We will have to wait until the surgery to see if the teeth can stay or not. She will need to stay at the hospital for the better part of a week, then home to be on box rest for a short time (poor Allie! MORE BOX REST) then out into a small yard for a time. Antibiotics, bute, ulcer guard etc etc for a little while. Keeping her nostril wiped out and clean and making sure she keeps as calm as possible will be the only aftercare I will need to worry about for a short time. Christine said she won't send her home with me until she is pretty low maintenance.

To get her to eat after she comes home from surgery I am to feed her whatever she likes - I predict that will be leafy green lucerne hay and chaff with Honey B. Worry about putting weight back on her when we can. I don't like feeding my horse junk food but you have to do what it takes in the end. I can get her back on track afterwards.

There will be LOTS of after-surgery follow up visits. We just don't know right now what will be involved until the surgery is done and dusted.

I can not wait until this whole thing is behind us and we are out of the woods and I can go back to worrying about normal things killing my horse like regular horse  people do.