Well poo

 Well damn.... I kind of knew it was coming but... really... damn. 

I had made an appointment with Keelin awhile ago.. because she can inject lower cervicals. And because she's awesome. I was originally thinking I'd take Dan because I figured he was do for neck injections... and then with his stifle stuff and Liz not thinking neck... I figured I'd take Lyric because... of her weird neck/neuro/wobbler/stifle concerns. But then... Dan got worse again.... and I sort of felt like I needed to get him seen RIGHT NOW. Because.... honestly... this roller coaster SUCKS. I'm exhausted... he's exhausted. And I figured that if i didn't get a second opinion and didn't get an answer quickly... I might just start hoping again. And... I finally felt like maybe I was ready to admit defeat... so... I decided (the night before... very last minute) that I needed to take Dan. I just... needed a second opinion... needed to know sooner rather than later... and... I don't know.. maybe it really was his neck or his SI joints... I just... kind of want off the crazy train. Except I don't..... I just want to the train to be "thomas the tank engine that could"... not the crazy train. 

(He got a bath last night because he was FILTHY! plus all the nasty seed sap all over his legs and face. The photos do not do the amount of dirt and color of dirt justice!)

So... That morning I caught him and was walking him down to the barn and as we got close, he reared up and pawed the lead rope! NO SIR!!! I honestly think he surprised even himself because the lead rope got caught under his leg so he could have easily torn free, but he didn't. Grrr.... (In retrospect... I think he hurt so bad he really didn't want to go anywhere, but in the moment I was pissed at him!).  Kelli had hauled over here with Marvin and we put both boys on my trailer so I could haul to Aiken. We got to see the video camera of how silly Dan was. He's like a kid..... "are we there yet?". ....entertains himself briefly.. then he gets bored... picks on marvin.... entertains himself... snacks... picks on marvin. Poor Marvin. 

We got to Aiken and Kelli went first. Marvin got his lumbars injected and while they were doing his workup and treatment, I stuck Dan in a stall. He found a cobweb and I looked over and that crazy tongue of his was wiggling all around trying to get the cobwebs out of his nose. Ha ha. I only caught the tail end of it on tape, but he was hilarious. 

So then it was our turn. Keelin heard my story and then we jogged him. He was crooked but we managed to get a good look. She didn't think he looked too terrible so we flexed him. The left hind limb flexion crippled him. The right hind limb flexion wasn't actually too bad.... but it could also be because he wasn't as tolerant of it so she didn't hold it as long. I also wonder (now...) if it's because he had to stand on the right hind for the left, although I'm assuming he was lame on the left hind. So she still thought sacroiliac joints... and that fits with the inability to canter on the right lead a bit. So we took him inside to palpate him. And he definitely palpates sore on the sacroiliac joints. BUT.... she noticed how fat his stifle was. Okay.. I'm not crazy... I was thinking it looked swollen to me too. She said it was crazy effusive. Then I showed her the xrays and ultrasounds from before and she was like "what's this weird opacity in his medial condyle?". Ugh... I don't know. We didn't really appreciate that earlier. So... we decided given the effusiveness to reradiograph. So we did. And ugh... it's awful looking. The arthritis is terrible, but we knew that. But... there does seem like there's a massive hole in his medial condyle. Which... where did that come from?? And why now? And why the medial condyle and not the lateral when he got kicked from the side? So we talked about how... yes, he probably needs his sacroiliac joints injected but.... this stifle was alarming and could be career ending... She made it sound like... even potentially catastrophic. Like... no one said it outloud, but... fracturable. So... then Kelli, bless her, suggested we ultrasound too because we had talked about sending the films to the surgeons at Ocala to see what his thought was. Maybe it was treatable... osphos? Maybe it wasn't a big deal... ??? But if there was a ligament tear or serious damage in the soft tissue... that would help me make treatment decisions. So we did. And jeepers it looked awful. Grossly swollen... full of fibrin chunks.. maybe even an adhesion. I think she saw a tear still/again??? And then you add in the awful arthritis.... sigh..

So we didn't do any treatment because.... we just didn't know what the bony cyst meant. And maybe that's not even causing his pain.. maybe it's the effusion?? I don't know. Sigh... poor guy. So, I am putting the butacort cream back on him.. keeping him on previcox and.. .going to send images around and see what the consensus is with Dr. Tull.. Dr. Eggleston.. maybe even Dr. Grizel. Oh, and Dr. Barrow of course. And then in the meantime... no riding. Give him time. Shockwave him again... 

But ughhhhh.... He's just so miserable. Although I'm hoping/guessing most of it is the effusion. I don't know. I just want him to feel better....