Wednesday July 27 2011
As I worked at cutting the layers of bandages to expose the wound, I kept thinking back to the movie Into the Wild, when Chris finally killed a moose in Alaska - he'd have food for months - and he was rushing to cut up the meat before the flies got onto it.
There were flies hovering around Sunny's leg even before I could get the bandage all the way off, and we desperately wanted no flies on that wound.
That wound. Holy Moly.
Today we changed the bandage on it for the first time since Sunny got back from the vet clinic. We're supposed to change the bandage every 4-5 days. This is day #9 since the barbed wire accident.
The hardest part for Sunny was my getting the bandage off. The more layers I got off, the closer I got to the wound, and the more it hurt. I had to peel and yank a bit.
The other hardest part for Sunny was hosing the wound. It hurt, hurt, hurt, boy did it hurt. And no wonder.
A gaping hole to the center of her hock. 4 inches of bone still exposed. I thought I'd be ill when I first saw it, but as I peeled most of the bandage away, I thought, wow, the vets did a great job cleaning it up. It's clean and healthy looking - if you can call that healthy.
Sunny tried to be still - Steph held her head still and talked to her - but oh my, it hurt. She kept her leg up in the air and after a while was just shaking - but she stood bravely. I hosed it for 5 minutes, then reached for the bandages, while Steph guarded it from flies.
I referred to the handy sheet the vets sent Steph home with,
and had the bandages laid out just like in the picture,
and got busy wrapping.
Once the water stopped touching the wound, it hurt much less and Sunny was able to put her leg down. And she never moved it again, not even when I put the telfa pad with the ointment directly onto the wound. Next was cotton cast padding, then a cotton sheet, then gauze, then vet wrap, then the Elasticon (as CG said - great stuff!). It sticks to the bandage and to Sunny's skin, at the top and bottom of the bandage, to help hold the whole shebang in place. Definitely don't want that slipping down.
Once I finished and Sunny took a step forward - ouch - it hurt again. She held it up in the air and thought she only had 3 legs. Steph coaxed her forward and she limped big time until she realized that the leg was all bandaged up and it felt a whole lot better. She followed Steph back to her pen with hardly a bobble.
Nine days down... months to go...
Oh my gosh. I nearly fainted just looking at the pictures. Wow. That's a big one.
ReplyDeleteIt will heal though, like you said, months to go. Hugs to all of you, I know it's tough.
Barbed wire can do some awful damage. The wound does look good - for an awful wound. I can't imagine taking care of such a wound, but then what choice do you have?
ReplyDeleteOh My God!!! That wound is horrendous. Hope she's a quick healer. What a good girl to stand so quietly for you. Nice wrap job.
ReplyDeleteWow! I was surprised, though, at how clean it was. Nice wrap job! Hopefully it will heal up fairly quickly.
ReplyDeleteI about passed out seeing that wound! Poor girl. It does look really clean though. Bless you for taking care of her. And yes, Elasticon rocks!
ReplyDeleteWowzers, thats a quite a wound, but I've seen before and after pictures of similar injuries- and they healed up well, so don't despair!
ReplyDeleteYour wrap looks great.
I'm surprised they have you still hose the wound, as many vets are saying that it is actually more irritating to the healing to have the "tap water" hit it than healing for the wound. More debris can actually be pushed INTO it that washed away.
ReplyDeleteNice wrap job. Gonna be a lont tough road.
Seriously gruesome. What a wonderful mare to let you help her like that. Your bandage looks pro!
ReplyDeletePoor girl! I hate to see exposed bone in a wound. She has a long road to recovery, but it looks like she's in good hands. I'm so not going to worry about Gussie's relatively little wound after looking at that.
ReplyDeleteFirst comment out of my mouth was "Oh my God." She is so lucky to have you all to care for her.
ReplyDeleteI have a mare that had a hernia operated on and the care that the vets showed was outstanding. I too came home with directions and I try to follow them faithfully.
Nothing like yours but I have to say she has been wonderful even though she has to stay in an enclosure. You guys are the best.
Thank you for posting the pictures, horrendous wound but looks clean hope it heals well. What a good horse to let you do the bandage change, they do know when we are helping them. Hugs, I am sure you all need them :)
ReplyDeleteThat is one gruesome injury...
ReplyDeleteLa herida se ve muy fea, mucha perdida de sustancia, el hueso se ve y hay que tener mucho cuidado con las infecciones.
ReplyDeleteHay que tener mucha paciencia y esperemos que el resultado sea bueno.
Mi experiencia de una herida catastrofica, por el ataque de unos lobos a una burra(Asno), fué más problematica y al final se soluciono todo con una buena cicatriz. En el Blog publique esta cura campera, que por cierto no teniamos estos buenos materiales de curas, con lo que vosotros si disponeis.
En este enlace teneis la cura campera.
http://ggjineteraid.blogspot.com/
Saludos de Gabriel.
Wow. I am so glad that she is going to be OK. What a mess! Poor girl!
ReplyDeleteHoly Moly is right. Wow, what a wound - it looks so bad, but it sounds like the prognosis is really good.
ReplyDeleteI bet it's hard to hurt her when changing the bandage.
That is one horrendous wound. But it does look really well cleaned up, and already healing a bit. I have seen pictures of some pretty dreadful injuries horses have recovered from just fine. The fact that Sunny is not really lame on it is an excellent sign.
ReplyDeleteAnd you did a beautiful job of rebandaging it! Gorgeous. And yes, Elasikon is great stuff...good for keeping wraps on for hoof injuries too.
Sunny is a brave girl and I am sure she is trying hard to be good for you. Poor baby. Proof of all her good training and handling over the years is her efforts to behave during this ordeal.
Bless you for being there to care for her. She deserves it.
Seriously bad. So sorry for you all. Your bandaging looks great. Good luck sending prayers up for a speedy healing. And hoping you found an inexpensive outlet for the bandages as I know how it adds up.
ReplyDeleteWow!!! That looks really bad. I'm a little surprised about the hosing as well. You should check into a laser (LED) wand for treatment. I believe they really do work. My horse had a similar barb wire wound, only not as bad. I took him to a guy who heals horses and it worked wonders. For one thing, it increases the circulation, which is really helpful on the lower leg like that. Prayers for all...
ReplyDeleteIt really does look good (even if you don't think so).....you guys will do, did awesome! Me: retired AHT ;)... Only thing I would do is if you can get some Saline (1000 ml bag) from Vet. use that after you have hosed it to do final rinse squirting from 60ml syringe at each change, awesome as ease's the pain since same pH etc as tissue and its sterile so helps with healing before bandage. Latest studies show how well this speeds things up....last few wounds I worked on did only the saline instead of water and it was major difference.
ReplyDeletePoor, little thing. She really got butchered by that wire, didn't she? The flesh looks good in the photos, though. Hang in there! You're doing a wonderful job doctoring her.
ReplyDeleteHave have you ever used a HydroT hose nozzle ? I have a vet friend in Belgrade that patented them , , they are especially for wounds , I use one all the time just to hose off , but they are designed to keep proud flesh at bay and for healing. They are great !
ReplyDeleteThe new infrared laser heals anything in twice the time. A lot of vets are investing in them. I have personally seen it work.
ReplyDeleteGreat job!.....hang in there....I had a gelding with a VERY similar injury.....took us 6 months of hydro/wrapping....but finally got him back to "normal" except for the scar.......YOU CAN DO IT!!
ReplyDeleteThat looked like Hakheem's leg when he wanted to go through the NZ fence and he has lots of Owyhee miles under him post Inj. I think it looks great and will heal without a problem. :)
ReplyDeleteOuch! My friend's horse got caught in barb wire last August and has a very similar type of wound that had bone exposed. It's been nearly a year and it is getting closer to fully closing. I just saw him last weekend and it actually looks pretty good -considering the initial damage. He's sound, but has become very reluctant to have his leg or hoof worked on. I'm sure Sunny will also heal in time and I know how much she's loved and cared for :)
ReplyDeleteWow. Ouch! Thanks for posting this and sharing. You are helping others more than you know. Fantastic job of re-bandaging. Keep posting updates. Prayers and good thoughts coming your way.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. Although very unfortunate, it is fascinating to see those photos. The vets did do a nice job and so did you looking a the photos of the bandage, I will be following (and rooting for) her progress.
ReplyDeleteOMG, I know you said it was bad, but I didn't think it would look THAT BAD! She is lucky she will recover in time.
ReplyDelete