Monday, August 1, 2011

Healing Power



Monday August 1 2011

WOW!

What a difference of 5 days makes in a dreadful gaping leg wound.

I worried all weekend while we were off exploring trails at the City of Rocks about Sunny's bandage - did I put it on tight enough, or was it too tight... what if I did it wrong... and when Steph talked to John on Sunday (when we were on our way home) and said the wound was weeping a lot through the thick bandage, I was really afraid I'd screwed up.

We were due to change the bandage yesterday evening when we got home, but the wind was blustering and a big thunder/lightning storm was almost upon us. We didn't want to get blowing dirt in the wound - nor did we (nor did *I*) want to hang out in the lightning, so we put it off till this morning.

The wound had indeed weeped a lot underneath and through the bandage layers - uh oh. Steph held Sunny and distracted her with feed (laced with her twice-daily dose of antibiotics) while I carefully peeled and cut away as much of the bandage layers I could before having to yank the rest off.


I was dreading what i'd see - and instead was blown away at how much the wound has healed in 5 days! (See 5 days ago here.) It's incredible how much it has closed already. The exposed bone is 2 inches instead of 4, and the tissue looks quite healthy.

That dark spot at the left (on top of the white bone) is a blood clot. Part of the clot washed away but the rest of it didn't want to come loose even with 15 minutes of hosing, and I didn't want to yank or cut it away.


The pain level was much less this time - Sunny held her leg up, but didn't flinch as much, and she wasn't shaking this time. In fact, Steph was even able to leave Sunny tied to the hitching post, and fetch a towel for drying and to call the vet to ask about the clot as I continued hosing the leg.


After hosing, and picking at dried blood and bandage material stuck to her ankle and hock, I dried the lower leg off (didn't directly touch the wound) and put baby powder on the lower part of the leg where the bandages are starting to rub her hair off, then started the bandaging process. I put a telfa pad with the prescription ointment directly on the wound. Sunny didn't flinch at all, and in fact kept her toe resting on the ground for the entire bandaging process.

I got the bandages on in the correct order this time and, I think, the correct tightness (last time I forgot the 4th tight gauze layer, so I had to take the last 2 layers off, put the gauze on, then reapply the last 2 layers).


When we were finished, Sunny was reluctant to put her leg down at all - feeling the tightness once again on the wound and thinking again she only had 3 functioning legs, but Steph talked her into taking a step - a big limping step - and Sunny realized she did have 4 working legs, and the 4th one didn't hurt so bad, and she followed Steph back to her pen with hardly a limp.


I'm just astonished at the healing power horses have within themselves. Of course the added healing power of all the welcomed prayers, thoughts, well wishes and hugs from everybody can't be underestimated either.

: )

14 comments:

  1. Wow, that looks pretty good compared to the first set of pictures. She's on her way to healing completely. What a brave girl she is. Best wishes again for a speedy recovery.

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  2. That really does look a lot better. I can see how much it's healed. Boy it's a big one though. Whew! I'm glad she's going to be ok. She's got good people taking care of her :)

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  3. That is amazing progress! And so glad she can walk on it OK - that probably helps the healing.

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  4. So much better. Amazing how a wound like that can heal so well in the right circumstances, and due in no small part to good vet advice and good care.

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  5. So much better! And sounds like the whole process went better. This will all be a memory soon. Not soon enough - - but soon!

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  6. That has the look of healthy healing. Keep up the good work.

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  7. Amazing progress, horrible eeeewww cringey pictures. I hope I never have to learn to wrap a leg as well as you've done! Keep up the updates please!

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  8. Wound looking So good! Being so "open" is for the better at this point! Easier to keep clean! What a Brave girl!

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  9. Magnifica la evolución de la herida, no parece la misma herida.
    Con las curas hay que tener mucho cuidado con la limpieza, hay que quitar lo que salga facilmente, no redundar con lo que no salga, ya el organismo lo irá eliminando.
    Tampoco hay que hacer las curas muy frecuentemente, ya que se puede eliminar los tejidos de epitelización que son los que van cubriendo las zonas más profundas de la herida.
    Mucha constancia y fe en la curación de esa herida.
    Saludos de Gabriel.

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  10. Horses amaze me every time with their healing ability.

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  11. Nature is amazing in healing. Sunny is clearly in good hands and was as soon as you discovered her injury.

    You look to be doing a beautiful job of bandaging, and it surely does seem to be working. It's still upsetting to see the pictures, but I am looking forward to the next time to take the bandage off. Each time is going to just be better and better.

    But again, the best part is that Sunny does not seem to be in horrendous pain. There is so much improvement there since she stood so well for you. All is positive. I am sending more good vibes and prayers for patient and caretakers as well.

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  12. Oh my gosh, that injury looks scary. But I went back and looked at the first photos and it really has improved a lot. I'm so glad she's healing.

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  13. Oh my gosh that's an icky wound. I had a horse get caught in barbed wire and he did not have that type of wound, but he had 3 cuts that weren't healing and I also wasn't living with him so couldn't get to him but 2-3 times a week. I worked on him for several weeks and finally found Equiade http://www.equaide.com/ and tried it on him. Within the first application the wounds started to heal and within another 3-4 weeks they were healed. I couldn't wrap them and my pasture was high, so the salve got rubbed off on the lower legs more than the higher wound, but they still healed. I was pretty amazed. It would be worth it to try it, if you haven't already. Good luck!

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