The Junior Chronicles: Part 10

Junior continues to improve.  He is quiet in his stall, picking through the occasional handful of hay and eating his paltry allowance of feed pellets.  He drinks his water, and grazes grass when taken on little walks around the clinic.  He's a trooper.

The weight continues to melt off him, and his ribs are showing plainly.  His demeanor is dull.  I don't know what else we could reasonably expect, though, since it has been two weeks since he's eaten a substantial amount.  The few calories he's allowed to ingest now really aren't enough to sustain him; they're just all his insulted GI tract can handle.  Day by day, he will be allowed more feed.  I'm sure the increased calories will restore not only his weight, but his brightness. 

He must be incredibly sore, despite medications.  He has a 15 inch incision running through his belly, and horses can't go on bedrest.  The very site that was cut to save his life is the line of support for hundreds of pounds of internal organs.  Ouch.  His walk is stilted and stiff, and he moves like an old man.  The incision site is very swollen, but clean and healthy.

Junior is doing amazingly well.  As one vet said to us the other day, that's the kind of horse we love to work on, because he's going to fight to live just as hard as we'll fight for him.

Atta boy, Junior.  You're doing it!

Beach Baby

Sometimes we escape from our chores and run away.  Recently, we drove higher into the limestone hills.  We wound up the canyon against the flow of the milk-glass-green river filled with tourists.  We used to be a part of that crowd, floating along, tanning and laughing and drinking beers. 

Now, in pursuit of a more Beep-friendly environment, we wave to the tubers as we drive to the lake that feeds the river.  We have a carseat.  We need a beach. 

We are going to have fun together, make memories, and show our baby the wide world.  And she loves to go places; she wants to hang out in the sun, and swim, and try to eat the pebbles. 

The Junior Chronicles: Part 9

We stopped by the vet clinic to see Junior this afternoon.  He is doing great.

He spiked a fever early this morning, which so far looks like it was just a blip.  He's on IV antibiotics, and his temp came back down.  He's making manure, which is the prettiest poop I've ever seen.  And I've seen a lot. 

His incision site is about 15 inches long, and it's swelling on either side of the stitches.  It will continue to swell and distort his belly profile. 

A closer look at the incision:

A few inches to the left of the edge of the above photo, there is a separate incision site closed with a couple of staples.  That was where the surgeon put a drain for the first day or so after surgery. 

Today, Junior started eating again- he gets two handfuls of special feed four times today.  He is also drinking from his water buckets, an excellent step so early in his recovery.  He gets to graze on green grass at least six times a day for a few minutes each time.  Studies have shown this helps the gut regain normal motility after surgery.

Plus, he likes it.  Food is mood.

I thought many times during his colic I would never see this.

Pet Junior, Beep.  Tell him to keep feeling better.

There is still a real chance for serious complications.  But this is where we are today, and it's a heckuva lot better than where we have been.  He's a fighter and getting better by the hour.  We are so happy!

To celebrate, we all took a 3-hour nap this afternoon.