Final Times at Cleveland Equine

I have finished at Cleveland Equine Clinic, and I have had the most amazing summer experience.  This last week was pretty great.  I was able to see and assist with a mass removal on a horse's upper eyelid.  This was more of a debulking procedure as the mass was quite involved in the surrounding tissue, and complete removal of the mass would have resulted in damage to the eye. A penrose drain was placed because after debulking there was a significant amount of empty space, and we did not want fluid or infection to pool in the area.   There was also a smaller mass over the facial crest. The doctor removed that but then let me do my first suturing!!!  I did 3 simple interrupted sutures to close that incision. After 4 days the drain was removed and sutures were removed after 10-12.  Histopath on the masses revealed they were sarcoids.   We have seen a lot of sarcoids this summer. They are a benign skin tumor.  They are benign, however their location can lead to pain or other problems.  This sarcoid was large and on the upper eyelid, and was pressing on the horse's eye. It also kept the eye from closing completely which leads to increase risk of eye trauma and ulceration. 

There was also a colic that came into the clinic.  It's history is long an convoluted.  The horse may or may not have had bastard strangles--they found an abdominal abscess on rectal palpation 2weeks prior. The horse was treated with excede (ceftiofur).  The abscess could not be palpated at this visit, however there were thickened small intestines. He came in with a heart rate of 52, but an arrhythmia, and a grade 6/6 heart murmur.  We passed an NG tube and before entering the stomach got spontaneous reflux.  In total 6 gallons were refluxed from the horse.  We left the NG tube in place so he could be refluxed as needed throughout the night. After we got this huge volume off his stomach, we re-listened to his heart and the murmur was gone and arrhythmia had lessened.   In the morning he was placed on IV fluids. An ultrasound exam was done.  Enlarged liver was noted, along with ileus throughout the small intestine.  He was refluxed throughout the day without any significant improvement.  At the end of the day the decision was made by the owners to euthanize him.  This was an interesting case in terms of how to handle difficult cases and client communication.

I have had the best learning experience this summer and thank all at Cleveland Equine Clinic for the opportunities they have granted me. Each and every veterinarian at CEC has been a pleasure to work with and they have all been wonderful teachers. I also would like to thank Dr. Schott in his work to keep the Equine fellows program running.  This has been a once in a lifetime experience and I hope to incorporate all of the wisdom and education from it into my practice as an equine veterinarian.
Thank you ALL for an amazing summer!!!    Now back to school in 3 weeks!