Interesting conversation about the Perfect Man/Woman. The top qualities desired in a partner from the four of us were: Attractiveness (at least to us as individuals) in some way, no irrational jealousy, lack of argumentativeness (ability to talk things out logically without yelling), some selfless behavior here and then (wanting to do things for others just because it is right)- which I guess can almost be summed up as morality, and a good sense of humor. Thus, the perfect significant other. Do they really exist?? I think not... Well unless they are a horse!
The calls for today were pretty simple- a couple wellness exams (checking weight, ears, eyes, teeth, hooves, etc.) and vaccinations, a recheck on a horse that had brain surgery last weekend (the horse is like a poster child for the worst case scenario- reared up in a trailer, fractured it's skull and drove pieces of the skull into it's brain and then seizured a couple of times- luckily Doc and a local neurosurgeon were able to do on-site surgery, and the horse has been doing great). The most exciting call today was to do some x-rays on the lower leg of a 29-year old horse, looking at it's pastern and fetlock joints to see how bad the arthritis was, and whether cortisol-type injections would help to relieve the pain/lack of mobility. The X-rays from this old girl were pretty bad- her joints were very messed up and some mineralization was seen around the joints on the tendons, where her body was trying to compensate for the lack of mobility by hardening more structures (or something like that!).
These are pretty much what her ankles looked like (another google image). Bad arthritis! Well, we decided to inject the lower fetlock joint/pastern joint and see if we could get at least a little cortisol in there. Cortisol helps to decrease swelling and inflammation in the joint. I volunteered to hold the sedated horse's leg and hoof up, while Doc injected the lower/back of the fetlock (between the "ankle" and the "heel" of the horse). I, unfortunately, only weigh 135 lbs, and the horse weighs about 1100 lbs. Well this old girl was both sedated and ornery and decided to lean all her weight on me right as Doc got the needles in and was ready to give the injection (for this type of injection, you put the needles into the spot, then attach a syringe filled with your injectable- kinda opposite of normal). I almost went down with the horse, of course dropping the leg and sending needles flying everywhere in the process. Yay me! So Doc, taking it all in stride as usual, angled himself in there, held the horse entirely up with his burly six -foot-plusness and tried to inject it. After 4 syringes of cortisol that he just couldn't get in- whether from the inaccessibility of the joint or the movement of the horse- he ended up only getting about 3 cc's in and around the ankle. Hope at least a little of it diffuses into where it was supposed to go! What really sucks (though not as badly as it would if cotisol was super expensive) is that he won't charge that owner for anything but the 3 cc's he got in- the rest of the 4 syringes that were used are just costs that he has to absorb. In case you don't already know this, equine medicine is not very profitable unless you have a lot of clients with a lot of money. This area is not exactly bursting with those type of people.
At seven I was hopeful we would be headed home and I would get to see my lover boy (by that I do actually mean my boyfriend), but alas, it was not to be! We got an emergency call up in Gettysburg for a horse that had a swollen hock- not limping or anything, but just swollen. The horse was scheduled to be in a show on Sunday and so the owner was quite worried and wanted us out right away. So we drove about half an hour up there. By the time we got there, the hock was hardly even swollen. Doc looks at it, takes the horse's temp, does a basic lameness exam just to make sure it is not the start of a bowed tendon, and gives his verdict that it was actually just a bee sting. Gave it some Tri-histamine to help with any reaction, and another Tri-drug which had some Cortisone to reduce the swelling. Finally, we were back on the road to home- singing maniacally the entire way (it is one of Doc, Ms. S and I's favorite things to do- sing and dance to oldies and newbies at the top of our lungs and/or in funny voices). I think it was mainly the exhaustion coming out. I shudder to think what passing cars heard when they drove by...
An hour and a half later, I am finally home! And exhausted. Manage to burn my hamburgers for dinner, get in a mild argument with my testy loverboy who misses me and find the rest of the mouse which my cats so pleasantly hawked up for me under the piano. Thankfully, they did at least kill something (first time ever!) so I guess I can't complain too much. Off to bed- tomorrow is my day off!
~Rich With Life~
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