Rowdy story, Chapter 6 We left off the night of his joint flush. His fever finally broke in the middle of the night and he was feeling much better by the next morning. For the next three weeks, he had IV antibiotics. The good part about that was that I no longer had to give him injections in his muscle of penicillin, which HURT! But, we risked getting an infection in his juglar vein, or even introducing additional bacteria via the catheter. So, I was diligent about keeping it clean and we had to replace it several times. The first one lasted about 4 days. The second one, 6 days, then after that, it seemed like he figured out how to rub them out fairly quickly. If Dr Sam was going to be coming for a treatment, he would replace them...but I had to put several of them in myself. And it always stressed me out! I had plenty of experience putting in IV catheters, but it was so hard for me to have to put them in Rowdy (emotionally). Somehow, we got through it all. As you can imagine with no sleep, and all of the stress and worry...I was not always a fun person to deal with! How Chris and my friends put up with me, I will never know! One night as I was trying to put Rowdys IV catheter back in...he was not cooperating....and that was making me stress out even more. I managed to get it in and he was wiggling all over the place. I managed to save it several times, and as I was about to suture it in, he jumped and the whole thing came out. I chucked my suture scissors across the living room in frustration, because now, I had to poke him again and start all over! I found myself throwing fits and crying sometimes over the stupidest things. I was worn out! We were still getting only minimal sleep. Rowdy was up for an hour and each time he was awake, he drank bottles, had to go outside for exercise, his stall had to be cleaned...and we had to keep track of at least 5 different medications, make sure he got his probiotics and different supplements for ulcers in his bottles. His vitals were still watched closely and then he would sleep for about an hour. Sometimes it was easier for me to just stay up and ready everything for the next hour he would be awake. I did not do well with 45 minutes of sleep every couple of hours at night. There was too much to take care of during the day, and in the first three months, I think I got only 2 or three naps in during the day! Chris was working 7 days a week, so I would try and let him sleep. But several times, he let me sleep all night and did not wake me to change shifts. (Probably because if I didnt sleep, he was going to kill me, lol!) We were so fortunate to have Barbara konney come and stay for a week when Rowdy was about a month old. She was able to take some of the night shifts that week so Chris and I could both get 4-6 hours of sleep. Next, a couple of weeks later, my parents came for 4 days and did the same for us. And, Barbara came back when Rowdy was about 9 weeks old, and helped us again for a few days! About the time Rowdy was a month old, I switched his formula to Foals First, made by Progressive Nutrition. Immediately his stools started to soften and he was able to have bowel movements on his own. Dr Sam had consulted with a vet in Florida with experience in successfully treating the growth plate infections and after our second perfusion treatment and X-rays, she felt confident that we could beat this. It was slow progress, but she thought it would take at least 5 perfusion treatments, each being about one to two weeks apart. She was right! By the third treatment, June 29th...we started to see that the infection was now encapsulated. I really started to feel hopeful after the July 6th Xrays and treatment, and that is when I knew we were going to win. His hock did not require any additional flushes, but he did require 3 shockwave treatments, as it was not growing like the left hock after the infection and treatment. He received the last shockwave treatment on August 16th, so as of this writing, we are still experiencing the benefits of the last treatment and wont really know if anything further will be needed for it. Although, Dr Sam was confident that we would not. We did bloodwork to make sure his CBC was good and on July 6th Rowdy was switched to oral antibiotics. These antibiotics made him succeptible to heat stroke. So, he could not go outside much at all during the day for the next month. Once after being outside for 15 minutes at just 9 am in the morning, he came in and collapsed because of the heat. This made it more important for us to get him out for exercise during the night, so we still were not getting any sleep. He was now up to about 12 10 oz bottles an hour and consuming about 10 gallons of milk replacer a day! He was on the oral antibiotics for four weeks. So, he has been off antibiotics for about three weeks now. At this point we introduced a bucket...and it took only about 2 days to get him from bottle to bucket! We were able to finally get some sleep. But, the first week or so, he called to me anyway in the middle of the night, just for company. However, for two weeks now, we have slept all night...for the first time in 3 months. I will tell you that I still feel like I could sleep for a week straight! His only meds now are just for the ulcers. They will take many months to heal completely. He is now sleeping in his outside stall and we are currently running a fundraiser to enlarge it, once again...he keeps on GROWING! LOL. We also need to make sure it can keep him cool enough during the day as he is just now acclimating to the heat and elements for the first time in his life. It will serve as his winter stall, too and it is right outside the back door on our porch. We did adopt Gasston, a BLM burro, for him to have a buddy and company, as it will be a few more months until he can be out with the horses. So, Gasston lives in the backyard with him, near the house. We do bring horses in for Rowdy to see and he has access to two of the horses that are next to turn out, so he can get to know them and socialize with them, too. Our BBQ and celebration on Aug. 16th, was a perfect evening and he was a big show-off for the company. At times, I still have a hard time relaxing and believeing we are through this with Rowdy. I have had anxiety attacks now that things have calmed down, lol. However, I am looking forward to enjoying watching him grow into a healthy yearling, and beyond. He is destined for great things. So, this may be the end of the story of his miraculous beginning...but it is the begining of something much more miraculous to come. He defied all of the odds, he faced euthanasia and escaped it, he fought battle after battle, and he brought so many people together to believe in him and help him survive. We may have done the hard work, but it would have never been possible without each and every person that prayed, shared his story, and donated funds for us to keep fighting for him. Thanks, once again, to every one of you! Love, Chris, Ann, and Rowdy
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 16:38:05 +0000
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