Home Again, Home Again Lickety Split

Okay so the plans have changed. Rather than doing the more extensive test under general anesthesia, Megan came home with a bag full of meds to be treated as if she has EPM for the next month. It's killing me to remain the dark of whether or not she has Wobblers for 28 days (at least), but the a conversation with the vet who had spoken with my insurance company put things in pretty stark terms.

If we had proceeded with the test tomorrow and she had shown definitive evidence of Wobblers, the vet's recommendation would have been to euthanize her rather than putting her thru the stress and dangers of waking her up. My insurance company would not support euthanasia (i.e. pay the claim) as she is not yet considered Grade 3 for neurological symptoms. On the other hand the insurance company will pay for treatment for EPM based on the current symptoms and a blood test. This treatement will run nearly $1000, so it's no small thing.

So we treat and wait and see -- yeah that's gonna kill me. (I'm gonna learn all about limbo K-Bod) On the good news side we brought her home today and it's hard to believe anything is wrong with her. Tomorrow when it's not so late, I'll paste in the symptoms for both EPM and Wobblers, but suffice it to say she shows NONE of them. She should be unsteady on her feet, depressed, prone to stumbling and falling. (The discharge papers have in all caps that she should not be ridden as she is a danger to herself and a rider -- they also urge extreme caution in handling her as she may fall at any time.) Well bollocks on all that. We put her in a paddock and she promptly laid down and rolled and leapt to her feet and took off bucking and running. A few minutes later she turned her neck to her haunch and scratched an itch while propping on three legs. This horse is far from unsteady on her feet.

The meds are all oral and getting them in her is a real treat ... for an observer. The first is a liquid that you put in a big syringe and then inject into her mouth. Steve got lots of laughs out of watching me get slung around and covered in the white medicine. I looked like I'd showered in it by the time we were done, but I think I got most of it in her -- only 3 more nights of that one thankfully. The second treatment is a paste in a huge honkin' tube -- no sneaking up on her with that one. More flailing about the stall, but the deed was done, 2 down and 26 more to go. The bright spot was vitamen E gelcaps. She needs 10,000 units and each pill is 400 units -- do the math, that's 25 gelcaps to convince her to eat. Eat them she did, out of my hand, like candy, YES! At least one thing won't be a battle. We stocked up at Sam's to wage the war of getting her treated. Four liters of Coke (a new one on me, you mix it with the meds and feed and they like the cola so much they slurp it down... in theory) and two giant bottles of Mrs. Butterworth's syrup. She may not have any teeth left at the end of all this, but she'll by golly get her meds.

This week Katherine is going to come out and do some of the neurological exams so that I can see and understand what her deficits are. I'm choosing to hope (yes, I may be reaching) that this is all just a misdiagnosis. As much as I respect the vet at UGA, I'm hoping she was just flat wrong -- stranger things have happened. But then I also play the lottery so I don't require much in the way of odds to think positively... Better to spend 28 days in the bliss of denial than mourning her every day.

Scared Silly But Not Giving Up Yet

Today was Megan's vet school appointment. I went in worried about her left front foot and came out worried about her life. What a day. The lameness exam didn't reveal any definitive lameness but all 3 of the attending vets agreed they saw something funky in her movement. Almost on a whim one of the vets reached down and placed one front foot in front of the other ... where it stayed. The primary vet was taking a phone call, but when he uttered an abrupt "oh no" I knew something was up.

After a series of neurological exams I was informed that Megan exhibited nuerological deficiencies. These are not the words you want to hear. The examining vet felt the most likely cause is Wobblers Syndrome -- a progressive degeneration and a very low prognosis for rideability or ultimately survival. There is a surgical option, but it is dependent on the number and location of lesions in terms of success and it's very costly with no guarantee of reversal of the symptoms.

After bawling my eyes out and leaving her there for further diagnostics I came home and did some hard core googling. After reading extensively I'm just not convinced that this diagnosis is accurate. She crossed the first hurdle -- radiographs of her neck did not show any obvious areas of constriction. The next hurdle will require that she go under general anesthesia and have a dye injected into her spinal column. The dye will show areas of compression within the spine on xrays.

The jury is out until the results of that test which we may not have until Monday -- that'll make it a long weekend for sure. I'm hopeful that it will be negative after reading further and finding that she really doesn't exhibit any of the symptoms other than those they saw in the neurological exam -- she doesn't trip or appear off balance, she doesn't have any trouble getting up or backing up, she doesn't exhibit any muscle wasting.

Of course even if she doesn't have Wobblers, the neurological symptoms are still worrisome so we won't be out of the woods even then, but far more hopeful at least. It was certainly a day that poked big ol' holes in my dreams for her. It was so hard to swallow when I went back into her stall to tell her goodbye for the night. There she stands so beautiful, strong and full of life... hard to believe I may never ride her again, may never feel her canter or jump, may be faced with losing her. More than I can wrap my mind around at the moment...

No News is, well, No News

Megan's training is on hiatus while we work out a slight lameness in her left front foot. She was re-shod over the weekend and we hope that will make a difference. In the meantime, I'm trying to schedule an appointment for her at the vet school for more thorough diagnostics.

I've also been investigating training opportunities. I think it's in our best interests (hers and mine) to put her in training for 3 to 6 months and get us to a different place in her development.

In the meantime, she's enjoying her time off!

A Little (or a lot) Disheartened

Last Wednesday I rode Megan again. And again we just couldn't get forward. I clicked, I clucked, I kicked, I tapped, I entreated, I cajoled... finally I cracked my dressage whip across her ass. That got a reaction! A couple of huge bucks that nearly unseated me, but by golly a reaction.

Last night I went out after a 4-day hiatus from the barn due to a busy weekend schedule. She was a lunatic. Flailing herself backwards on the lunge; bucking like a fiend. I KNOW she needs to be worked more consistently, but it just really isn't in the cards in my life.

I'm thinking I should consider either a.) selling her and getting a broke horse that doesn't need as much attention or b.) sending her to a trainer for 6 months or so to get past these formative stages. The problem with A is that I love her and think she is a fantastic horse in the making. The problem with B is she could come back from the trainer still needing to be ridden on a very consistent basis (and ka-ching). I'm really quite down about this.

Tonight Margaret comes out to see the saddle I have on trial and ride her; we'll see how it goes and I'll get her opinion, too.