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...