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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

The Dreaded Colic

I know I have been gone for a long time. It is due to a horribly long commute which is eating up all of my spare time. Commuting 17 1/2 hours a week + riding every night = no time for blogging. It actually doesn't leave much spare time for anything. No time to make jewelry either :-(. But I wanted to document this awful event I am trying to live through.



I got a call on Friday afternoon from a friend who said Kylie didn't look right. She got up and down a few times and was lifting her lip. She took her out and walked her for a while. I asked her to show her to the barn manager and get her feedback. The barn manager took her vitals and they seemed normal. I called my vet and she was a couple of hours away so she told me to give her 10cc of Banamine IV and if she still didn't seem right to get another vet out. The Banamine seemed to make her content for about an hour, and then she layed down again right at feeding time. My friend recognized this as a red flag and notified the barn manager, who said as long as she wasn't rolling that she was fine. NOT TRUE. Thankfully, my friend followed her instinct and decided to start walking her again. At this point I was trying to get there, but friday rush hour traffic in LA is brutal. Within a half an hour Kylie started going down hill fast. I got another call as I sit stuck in traffic that she was now trying to lay down while my friend was walking her. She told the barn manager, who apparently had something far more important to attend to becasue she got in her car and left. This I find to be a HUGE problem, since the horse was getting worse and the girl walking her was just being nice and had no responsibility to the horse, but I will deal with this later. I had a vet on the way and I was trying to brave the traffic and get there as soon as I could. By the time I got there around 6, Kylie was in bad shape. Her legs were buckling and she was trying very hard to lay down. The vet showed up soon after and gave her some sedatives to make her more comfortable. He oiled her and palpated her. I continued to walk her for a while hoping things would work themselves out. The vet said as soon as the drugs start wearing off in 20 min, if she is still uncomfortable I needed to get her to the hospital. He gave me another shot to give her right before she got on the trailer to keep her comfortable for the ride there. When the drugs started wearing off she was even worse, and I could tell in major distress. We had to kept her walking for a while until my husband showed up with the truck. That was a challenge. I am so grateful my friend was there to help me and to have noticed there was a problem to begin with. She saved her life. I gave her the shot and she reluctantly loaded on the trailer. By the time we hit the end of the driveway the shot wore off and she was not a happy traveler. It was the worst trailer ride of my life. She thrashed the whole way there, and I could hear her trying to go down. Nothing we could do but get there as fast as possible. Luckily the hospital is only 30 min. away. When we pulled in I was afraid I was going to open the trailer to a pile of body parts. It wasn't that bad but when she got off the trailer she wanted to go down BAD. They gave her some more drugs to ease the pain but they wouldn't hold for more than 2 min. The vet said I needed to make a choice right then, put her down or surgery and I didn't have 5 min to decide.

Surgery....
After a few hours, the surgeon came out to talk to me. It wasn't good news. On a scale of one to ten, it was a ten. Her large intestine was twisted like a wrung towel. He needed to do a colon resectioning to remove most of it. The chance of survival was 50/50 if that. Oh boy! Not what I wanted to hear. I looked around for second wondering if someone could pinch me and wake me up from this nightmare. Then I looked through the window to my precious baby upside down on the operating table with all of her guts outside her body. I said ok do whatever you have to do.

to be continued....

9 comments:

Paint Girl said...

OMG! I am so sorry you are going through this!! So terrible and the absolute worse thing that could happen!!
You will be in my thoughts and prayers!!

Anonymous said...

Oh no! I am so sorry to hear this. Your friend at the barn gets great credit for hanging in there. Keeping fingers crossed for the outcome.

Unknown said...

So, so, sorry to hear this. I cannot imagine how painful and scary it must have been. I'll be thinking of you, and hoping that she is starting to make a good recovery.

Anonymous said...

OMG! How heart-wrenching. Something told me to stop in and check on your blog today. What a nightmare. HUGE jingles for your mare. I know how much you love her.

Sherry Sikstrom said...

Oh my!!! Thank goodness for your friend , and the BO... well I probably need not bother , to say what I think there. Your poor darling Kylie! I so hope she will be OK!

Jane said...

I'm so so sorry you are both going through this. Thank god for your friend. I can't imagine the agony of being stuck in LA style traffic, trying to get there, and waiting for the vet. Hang in there, there's lots of us sending support to you and Kylie.

Sarah said...

I'm so, so, sorry...it's literally every horse owner's worst nightmare. Take care of yourself and many many jingles for your sweet girl.

Judy said...

OMG..I am so sorry. I saw your post today so I am back tracking to read the beginning of this horrible ordeal you have been dealing with.

allhorsestuff said...

Tara! Oh my dear heart, I'm so shocked that your stable manager treated your lovley Kylie, and you, like that. It breaks my heart, as she KNOWS very far you travel. I'm so sorry!

You're friend should be commended! I also did this for the large warmblood Theo, as he was in Colic distress right when I moved in to where I am now.It seemed to help.

Well, I'm still reading up to date..I know she is doing better. I pray you are too!
XO Kacy

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