Hello everyone! Apologies in advance for the brevity of this post- my computer has been on the fritz the past two weeks, but I had it taken care of yesterday.
LEqMC has been busy as ever! This past week was bittersweet as the 2017-2018 interns finished their last day on Thursday 6/26 and the new group of interns started. Since the last time I wrote, young Pheonix has returned home! He had two procedures to fix a stricture of his rectum so he can defecate normally. The poor guy has to be bedded on grass hay because he eats all other types of bedding.... (shavings, straw, and we certainly don't want to put him on sand!) Luke, the young Shire (I thought he was a Percheron, but I was wrong) ended up going to colic surgery. I was unable to witness it, but he has since gone home and is on the mend!
I've seen lots of lameness exams the past two weeks, and it has been really fun refining my skills in noting where the lameness is. I've also seen lots of joint injections, which is helpful for remembering important equine anatomy.
There have been SO MANY colic cases here, it seems that it's really common here in Colorado. One of the cases this past week was an American Cream draft who came in for sand colic. He was medically managed for 4-5 days before it was decided that he would go to surgery as he was not improving and not passing the sand. Often pain levels are a good indication of how bad the colic is. It's difficult to tell how sick a draft horse is based on pain because they are so stoic. There is concern with taking sand colic cases to surgery because the tissue can weaken and become friable, leaving the horse more susceptible to rupture when the large colon is exteriorized during surgery. Luckily, Hickock's surgery went well after removal of around 80lbs of sand/gravel, feed material, and mineral oil. There was some concern about the integrity of a few areas of large colon that appeared weakened. We're now 4 days post-op and he's still doing well. He's eating and going for handwalks now.
During my ICU days this past week I had the chance to spend some time with Dr. Duff, watching pregnancy checks. I watched him lavage for an embryo and had the opportunity to look for it under the microscope. Unfortunately, we didn't get it but it was cool to practice looking and learn about embryo collection.
Last Friday I was able to ride with Dr. Dunbar, who has a special interest in dentistry. I watched her perform several floats and dental exams. We discussed the importance of having a speculum, excellent light source, sedation, and a mirror in order to do a proper dental exam and float. One of her patients was a Belgian mare with sidewinder. She did not have her teeth floated but was vaccinated and examined. Having sidewinder put that mare at risk of falling under sedation, risking injury or inability to rise once the sedation wore off.
This past Friday I went to the horse show with Dr. Tisher and Dr. Pierson. I jogged horses for lameness exams and restrained for pro-stride treatment and two schockwave treatments. I really enjoy equine sports med, and you definitely have to have a well-trained eye for lameness as some of them can be subtle (but important to their athletic performance).
No comments:
Post a Comment