Holding my breath

So far, she has not had any more dizzy spells.  She seems to be holding her own.  I may even sneak in a short ride to see how she does.  I guess I will wear a helmet during this experiment.  I am still hoping that it is a side effect from the medicine for the Cushing's disease.  I will keep you posted.  I would love to hear from others about your experiences.

It's 3 a.m.  and I am sitting here, unable to sleep.  She has been falling down lately.   For some reason, Truffles has been having dizzy spells.  The other day, I was giving her a bath and she fell on top of me.  I was scratching her face and she was moving her head up and down as I rubbed. After I stopped and moved back to her side she began acting like there was a fly bothering her face and then her feet began scrambling on the mats in the wash rack.  Then she fell. She trapped me up against the wall and fought to get back up.  Once she got up, she looked at me as if to say, "What happened?"  Neither of us were hurt but it was kind of scary.

I talked to my veterinarian today and we don't know what is causing this.  I believe she is declining.  I don't know how much more time I will have with her.  She takes forever to eat, now, and is on medicines for Cushing's Disease and for her thyroid.  I, obviously, will never get to ride her again and will wait until the bad days outweigh the good ones.  But, I don't think the prognosis is good.  I don't know if her new symptoms have anything to do with the hyoid disease.  We are not going to put her through anything more surgeries.   I am so disappointed and sad and tired.  I just don't have a good feeling about this.  I have tried everything and don't know what else to do.  I don't know if it is the medicine or something new with the Cushing's.

 I can't be the only person in the world going through this.  I wish I had someone to talk to about this.  I am writing this blog to be a comfort to others who are going through all this.  I don't feel that I have been very comforting.  I worry that you will not put your horse through the surgery because whatever she is going through right now may discourage you.  Every horse is different.  All respond in their own way.  I hope my next post is 10 years from now and tells you that she is fine.  Picture us riding off into the sunset.............................

Thought I would throw in another update.  It has been quite a while since I last posted.  Recently, Truffles was diagnosed with Cushing's Disease and an under-active thyroid.  We have her on medicines for that.  She seems fine with the medicines and should shed out a little better this summer.  I had suspected this diagnosis because she has not shed her winter coat out completely in the last couple of years.  I do not feel that this new stuff has anything to do with the temporohyoid osteoarthropathy.  This is just another bump in the road.  She would have probably come down with this no matter what. She is holding her own and munching down all her medicine which is carefully hidden in Solid Gold powder. Since I had to take away all of her feed containing molasses and grain, she thinks this stuff is gold!  If she only knew..........

Just an update...

It has been almost two years since this disaster struck.  I want everyone to know that she is doing pretty well.  If you didn't know that she went through all of this, you wouldn't be able to tell.  I can, because I know the little things that still show.  I just want you so see how well she is doing.  It is still pretty chilly up here in the mountains in February so she is still a little fuzzy. She is doing well.  I hope this finds you with your own story of success with your horse.  It has been such a long, long road.

Some things bring people together

As I check my stats on this blog site, I find myself in wonder at the number of people in different countries around the world who are researching this condition.  I notice that this condition does not recognize borders or geographic locations.   l see that people around the world care deeply for their horses.  I see searches from as far away as Russia, South Korea, New Zealand, Ireland, Columbia, Germany, Canada, and Switzerland.  I would love to hear from you.  We share a common bond.  We love our horses and they are sick.  Our languages may be very different but grief is similar.  I hope that this blog has given you hope in knowing that you can get through this but it does take swift action and time.  God Bless you.

All's well that ends well

Things are going well.  I put Truffles through her paces today in the arena.  We trotted and loped, side passed, backed, changed leads and did all manner of things. She performed without a hitch.  We even took a little trail ride. (she hates trails) She is back to normal and that makes me glad I went through with the surgery.  She could probably be shown again after she gets back in shape.  I am  still riding her in a hackamore and she seems to like that a lot.  I don't know if I want to try her bit anymore.

CHOW TIME

Truffles decided to be a little camera shy as well as a little dirty from rolling around in her shavings, but I wanted to add a new post.  She is wearing a fly mask because the flies get a little pesky around this time of year.  Her legs are wrapped because, when she lays her large frame down, she scrapes up her front fetlocks a bit and I hate that. I keep her legs wrapped to keep her from having scabs all over her fetlocks.  With that information out of the way, I can give you the update.  It has been a little short of a year and my vet pronounced her 100% sound.  No more MRSA, no neurological damage, her eye blinks, she makes tears, and her ear swivels.  She lets me ride her bareback or with the saddle and everything is as it was before all this happened. Actually, she has gone from a silly filly to a mature mare.  She is a little more serious about life, now.  We have all noticed that change in her.   It was a terribly long road. It was one of the most stressful things in my life.  It was worth the work and worry. It was expensive to treat but my horse is not just a horse, she is family.  I am glad she is back.