Post Eye Removal Surgery ~ 14 Days Stitches Removed

Two weeks after Apache's eye was removed, I took her back to the Vet Hospital to have her stitches removed. It only took a few minutes and then we were on our way home.

Apache acclimated well to having her eye removed and acts just the same as she has acted for the previous 7 years I've owned her.

At first I was not comfortable about being on Apache's blind side and it surprised me that Apache preferred for me to stand on her right side. She often nosed me over onto her blind side and would 'check in' with me, by brushing her muzzle and face against some part of my body every minute or so.

I was fascinated that the eye socket hadn't already sunk in but instead almost looked as if she still had an eye underneath the skin.

She is still my sweet, affectionate Apache mare. But now she is also my One-Eyed Wonder Horse!

My Vet recommended that I wait to ride Apache again until after her sutures were removed...so......

To Be Continued.....

Post Eye Removal Surgery ~ Days 9-13

Just a few photos showing Apache's eye socket as it was healing.

Apache was scheduled to have her sutures removed at 14 days post-surgery.

Post Eye Removal Surgery ~ Days 1-8

One the way home from the Vet Hospital to bring Apache home after her eye-removal surgery, big wet snowflakes came falling out of the sky. When I woke up the next morning, I was greeted by a winter wonderland on April 28th!

There was about 8" of heavy, we snow on the ground...and coating everything it could stick to. Like my chicken coop.



I was relieved that I had checked the weather before picking up Apache and had brought up several sections of my portable camping corral. As per the Vet's instructions, Apache was not supposed to get her surgery site wet. Although the snow made that challenging because the wind had changed direction and blown in from the east, into the barn stalls.
Between the corral panels and Apache's fly mask I did a pretty good job at keeping Apache's surgery site mostly dry.

But Apache doesn't like being stalled and I rarely ever keep her stalled, so she was feeling pretty cooped up inside her small area under the barn roof.
At least she had a good view of everything.

I wasn't supposed to feed Apache much unless she continued to poop equal to the amount she was fed. The problem with that was that Apache doesn't like to poop in her stall. But it was cold outside and the best way to keep a horse warm is to feed them.

Apache's appetite was great, so I continued to feed her small amounts of grass hay and grass hay pellets mixed with applesauce and her powdered antibiotics, while I monitored her and listened for gut sounds.

But Apache would have rather been let out of her stall. haha!
She was a good girl, though. And thankfully, all that heavy wet snow melted by the next day. 

The Vet's instructions required me to check her incision site each day for any drainage or excessive swelling. Although, it was a bit shocking to see her surgery site for the first time, it was also a relief. Because it looked like the surgery was a success and the area was already healing.
This was taken on Day 4 after surgery.

Apache was a little sensitive at first about me being on her blind side and I had to continue to remind her I was there if I needed to do anything to that side. Sometimes she bumped her nose into me, but it was always very gently.

As soon as the snow melted, I removed the portable camping corral panels so Apache had a much bigger pen to move around in. Even though it had been 7 days since her surgery, I was a little nervous about letting her out into the main paddock which is just over an acre in size. There are many trees and branches and logs and even the fenceline and I could picture her hurting herself.
So, I asked my Vet if she recommended me letting Apache out during the day and she said "Absolutely!"
So, I did.

Apache was happy to be able to move about freely and eagerly went down my neighbor's shared fenceline to visit with her horses and alpaca.

I left Apache out all day to enjoy herself and acclimate to navigating her space with only one eye.
But quite honestly, anyone walking past my horse paddocks would have never known that Apache was a one-eyed horse. She moved around with ease.



The next day, I let the llamas out of their paddock and opened up both paddocks for Apache and the llamas to move about and explore.
The llamas are always happy when I let them into the larger main paddock. 
Catlinite is one handsome dude!



Apache tried to befriend them and hang out with them, but Cataleya would spit at poor Apache. Naughty Drama Llama!

Apache "helped" me repair some loose fence sections on the shared fenceline, but she made me a little nervous because she liked to rest her chin on my head or put me on her blind side. I was concerned that she might forget that I was still there and step on me or bump into me. But she never did.

Apache also enjoyed scratching her belly on this stunted juniper bush.

I'm so happy that my Apache is enjoying life again and just doing what horses do.

Emergency Enucleation Surgery

I am so grateful to my tribe for supporting me and caring about Apache and I during this very stressful time. While Apache was having the enucleation surgery, I left my truck and horse trailer at the Vet Hospital and my friends took me out for lunch where they tried to distract me from worrying about my sweet mare.
It mostly worked for a while, but my thoughts kept straying towards Apache and worrying if she was ok.

While we were at the restaurant, Apache's Vet called to inform me that the surgery was a great success and that Apache was doing extremely well. Her heart rate had dropped which meant that she wasn't in any pain anymore. The Vet also told me that Apache would be staying at the horse hospital barn overnight for observation and she advised me to bring a flake of hay and some of Apache's Timothy hay pellets to mix with her powdered antibiotics.
So, after picking up Apache's feed, we drove back to the Vet Hospital to drop everything off and visit with my precious Apache mare.

She was tucked into a cozy stall and was still groggy from the sedation, and her head was wrapped in bandages. She seemed very out of it and I didn't expect any reaction from her, but I still approached and stroked her and gave her a hug...or two.

But she surprised me when I spoke to her, by lifting and turning her head towards me and quietly nickering. I immediately knew I had done the right thing by her, because she wasn't suffering in extreme pain anymore. Her reassuring nicker and acknowledgment let me know that.

The Vet said I would be able to come back the next day after 11am to take Apache back home. I was relieved that Apache was staying overnight at the horse hospital barn overnight, just in case anything went wrong post-surgery.

I went home that evening, and at the wise advise of my friends, I took a hot bath, drank a glass of wine and went straight to bed. It was my first good night of sleep in a long time.

To Be Continued.....

Equine Eye Rupture

I felt a sense of relief and knew I had made the right decision for Apache as soon as I arrived at the second Vet's facilities. There were several helpful, and kind Vet Assistants to get us settled into the horse hospital and keep Apache comfortable and safe.

And most importantly, I realized that if Apache needed to have her eye removed, I knew that the first Vet was not up for the surgery. Plus that Vet does not have any overnight equine stalls for observation post-surgery, nor any assistants to help him with the surgery. And I was not interested at all in assisting a Vet with having my mare's eye removed. Assisting the first Vet with the Ocular Lavage surgery almost caused me to pass out.

The Vet arrived and gave Apache a sedative, so she could easily remove Apache's stitches and examine the damaged eye.

She immediately told me that the news was bad and that my suspicions were right.
Apache's eye had ruptured.
Her iris was even protruding outside of the eye.

No wonder Apache had been in such horrendous pain. Not even the pain meds were able to take any of that terrible pain away. The Vet also told me that Apache's heart rate was very high which revealed extreme pain.
There was only one realistic option to choose for Apache:
 Enucleation Surgery (Eye Removal Surgery)

The Vet and Assistants immediately prepared Apache for the Enucleation and told me they would call me as soon as Apache was out of surgery

To Be Continued........  

I Had a Bad Feeling

The ocular lavage was supposed to make things easier for both myself and my mare, but it seemed that every day there was a new challenge. I was supposed to be administering her eye medicines 4-6 times every day but that only happened for the first two days. After that, there were problems with the lavage tubing becoming pinched shut just above the port, followed by the port itself leaking. It seemed that every day, I was calling the Vet to come over and fix the lavage system.....and paying a lot of money each time. 

But worst of all, was that Apache seemed to be feeling more pain every day, even with the daily pain meds I was giving her, along with the powdered antibiotics that I fed her with applesauce through a syringe. She was starting to act a lot different than the calm, gentle, quiet horse I knew. Instead, her behavior involved spinning in circles, twitching on the right side of her face and neck, flinging her neck to the right, and pinning her ears. She even lost her appetite and barely nibbled her hay or pellets.

At this point I discussed, with the Vet the option of removing Apache's eye, again. I just wanted her pain to be over. But he wasn't comfortable with that plan of action and felt it would be better to save her eye at all costs, even if the eye lost most, if not all, vision, and even at the risk of her injuring that blind, or mostly blind eye, again, and even at the risk of future infections and more pain.

 

I cried every day as it broke my heart to watch her in so much pain. And I watched her a lot as I had driven my horse trailer up to the barn and set it up so I could sleep inside and be easily available to administer the meds to her right eye many times a day.  

But it got to the point that Apache wouldn't even allow me to administer any of the meds through her lavage system. She wouldn't permit me to touch her on her right side anymore. She even threatened to rear when I tried.

And then, when I checked on her that afternoon, during a storm, I noticed that her eye was oozing thick white fluid and the eye was greatly swollen. And most importantly, Apache was in terrible pain.

I immediately called another Vet, that I knew specialized in equine surgery, for a second opinion and I was told to bring Apache in the next day.

I don't know how I knew, but I had a bad feeling that Apache's eye had ruptured.

I felt a little disloyal for calling another Vet, but my job as a dedicated horseowner is to make sure my horse has the best care possible and everything is being done to help keep her healthy, comfortable and pain free.

And at that point, I didn't feel like the first Vet was doing any of those things. So, I needed to be pro-active and make some very tough decisions, and deal with any uncomfortable consequences later. 

Most of all, I just wanted my mare to not suffer from severe pain anymore.


To Be Continued....


 

Equine Lavage System Research

I spent many hours doing research on Equine Ocular Lavage to educate and prepare myself for Apache's upcoming lavage surgery.

I found the following copied pages very helpful and informative.

Apache's lavage surgery would be the next day.

To Be Continued......

Change in Circumstances

Apache was cooperative with having the ointments and serum applied to her eye 4-5 times a day at first, but after a week, her tolerance waned and she started balking and struggling and making it difficult to even get close to her injured eye.

I called the Vet and discussed the situation with him and it was decided that he would install an Ocular Lavage System to her eye, so I would be able to administer the array of medications into silicone tubing that would carry the meds directly into her damaged eye.

Before doing the lavage installation, the Vet wanted to stop by my house to examine Apache and see if her eye had improved any from the week of medication.

We both agreed that there didn't seem to be any improvement. But the eye itself appeared to be trying to heal itself with it's creation of many blood vessels. So, we were hopeful.

Apache was even able to open her injured eye wide enough for us to actually see her entire eye. Until this time, she had kept it closed or it was too swollen to open all the way. It was weeping very heavily by this time, though. Apache's right side of her face was wet all the time.

My Vet set up an appointment for the surgery to install Apache's Ocular Lavage System for the very next day.

To Be Continued............

Equine Eye Injury

In early April, a friend invited me to join her as her guest for 4 days sat Geronimo Trail Guest Ranch in the Gila Wilderness. I eagerly accepted her invitation and enjoyed several days of riding and exploring the incredibly beautiful scenery in the Gila. (More on that trip in a future post)

The day after I returned from the Gila, I walked up to the barn and noticed that Apache's eye was swollen and weepy.

I immediately made an appt. for Apache to get examined by my Vet.

Upon examination, my Vet could see that Apache had recently injured her eye, probably while I was away from home at the guest ranch. The Vet suspected that a sharp object, like a piece of fence wire, branch,or even a stiff piece of hay could have punctured her eye.

Apache's eye was definitely painful, but she was very cooperative and stayed calm.

Me, on the other hand, was a different story.

 My Vet assured me that the chance was good that her eye would heal up with treatment, but she would probably have a lot of scar tissue that would affect her vision.

He stained her eye with a special green dye and shone a special light to show the damaged cornea.

The Vet started us off with several topical eye ointments and serum to apply at least 3-5 times a day.

And thus we began our journey into the heartbreaking nightmare of equine eye injuries.

To Be Continued.......

Series: How My Mare Lost Her Eye

On April 28th 2017, my Apache mare had emergency surgery to remove her eye. My next few posts will be part of a series to tell her story.

Stay tuned.

I’m Not Back……..

 

But I just felt the desire to share some HUGE news that happened to me (and my mare Apache) last week!

For all of you that have been following along with my tangled and twisted horse journey, riding along with me over the bumps, the bruises, broken bones and spirit, up the mountains of challenges, through the rivers of tears, and into the boundaries surpassed while celebrating the joyous triumphs…….well, I just want you to know that last week I was able to conquer another obstacle that has been holding me back from my goals and dreams for the past year and a half.

Some of you might have realized that after I suffered a kick to my eye from my mare Apache, two summers ago, that it took me a year before I could trust my mare again and feel confident enough to be able to ride her. I finally did ride her again at a group lesson with my instructor, Jessica. And then just a few days later went on to ride Apache in a 7 mile ACTHA CTR. And I’ve been able to ride her in lessons, on trail rides and in another ACTHA CTR in Santa Fe last September. That’s all well and good, right?

But something was missing:

My ability to ride my mare in my own backyard.

I know what you’re thinking. How odd that I would feel confident and safe with riding my mare anywhere else but home.

I agree with you. Even I couldn’t grasp what the problem was and why I wasn’t able to do one simple thing. Ride my mare at home. What was the big deal?

Well, for those of you that have followed along, you’ll remember that all five of my horse related injuries/events have happened at home:

1.Being dumped from my first horse which resulted in surgery for a severed ACL.

2)Breaking that same knee just 4 months later when my first horse pulled back and broke the welds off of the steel pipe railing she was tied to, resulting in the steel rail slamming me into the ground.

3)Getting kicked in the eye by my mare, Apache, which resulted in a broken eye socket.

4)Getting clipped in the hip by Apache when she ran up beside me, which just resulted in a big bruise.

5)Watching my son, Jax, get bucked off when he was trying out a potential horse we were considering buying.

So, in my mind, it just felt like everything bad and dangerous happened at home and I just didn’t feel safe and didn’t want to risk life and limb to ride at home.

But I did want to ride at home.

And I didn’t realize this fact until I started riding a friend’s horse back in early January. I’ve been riding Splendor almost every week for the past 3 months. I’ve enjoyed my time on horseback and have learned so much while rebuilding my confidence, too.

But it’s an hour and a half drive to ride my friend’s horse, Splendor, and most of all I missed just being able to walk outside to my own barn to ride my own horse whenever I wanted to.

(I missed this view from atop my mare’s back!)

Well, my friend Kendra, who is a fellow ACTHA CTR Competitor and who sometimes rides down at San Acacia knew this, too, and offered to come up from her ranch in Mountainair to help me move past this obstacle while enjoying some pony playtime. Kendra wants to bring her horses up for some llama desensitization and ACTHA obstacle practice since I have my own Obstacle Course set up in my pastures, so we’ll be getting together again soon.

(My llamas kind of freaked her out. They sure were checking her out! Or maybe they were just checking me out….they’ve not seen me ride Apache at home for the past year and half!)

So, last week, Kendra came over and I got my mare tacked up and I hopped on, and Kendra led me around for a couple laps around the pasture until I felt comfortable. Then she just let me go and I was riding my mare just the way I do when I’m not at home. And it was fun!

Although I must admit that my mare sure was lazy…but that’s the way she always is. I can let Apache sit for months…heck, even a year, and she’s the exact same horse when I finally get back on her back again. I’m sure grateful for that! She sure made me work at getting her to trot, but that’s her thing. Always has been. Even when I took lessons on her last year, I had to use a quirt to get her to speed up. She has a sweet little trot, though and I do enjoy riding her. We also went through all of the obstacles I have in my pasture (the mailbox, vines, cavalettis, and trampoline tarp) and she did them all willingly…and even gave me a side pass to the mailbox, which is something we had been working on last September in our lessons, but hadn’t practiced since then. Apache was also very soft and willing when backing up, too. This is something else we had been working on last year because she used to brace when I asked her to back up. This time, I just alternately squeezed the reins and told her “back” and she backed up for me as often as I asked without bracing or me having to pull on the reins. Nice!

Kendra wanted to see if she could get Apache into a trot a little easier and even to see if Apache would canter, so I invited her to jump up for a ride, too.

Apache was a good girl, but just as lazy with Kendra, although she did manage to get Apache to trot almost the entire perimeter of the pasture.

We both tried to get Apache into a canter, but it was a no go. All the kicking, squeezing, clucking, kissing, swinging of the reins and tapping her butt went ignored.

(Even my neighbor Fantastyk Voyage’s Arabians couldn’t tempt Apache into running around, even though they ran along the fence as we rode by. Then they just gave up and watched us instead. lol!)

Next time I will use my quirt because that was a pretty useful tool when I used it during lessons. But Kendra and I both had to admit all our efforts had us laughing like little kids.

(It’s amazing to me that Kendra is the same age as me, 46, and already has 2 toddler aged grandkids!)

(I think Kendra enjoyed running Apache through a few of the obstacles in my pastures, like the vine obstacle. It was a warm…but very windy day!)

But before I resort to the quirt, I’m going to wait and see what results I get from the MSM, Glucosamine, Chondroiten supplement that she’s started for her shoulder, which has been on again/off again lame since I took her horse camping in the Carson National Forest 2 summers ago. The vet and chiro/massage therapist have nerve tested Apache’s leg from hoof to knee with no problems revealed. And the chiro and massage therapy hasn’t solved the problem either. They believe that Apache’s stiffness is arthritis related, and is in her shoulder. I’m hoping that this joint supplement relieves her stiffness the same way as it has done for my own knees and hips.

But enough of that.

Hey! I rode my own horse at home!!

(A funny video of my friend Kendra riding my mare Apache, trying to get her up into a canter. lol!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m not back…….

But I hope y’all enjoyed me sharing my exciting news with all of you blogger friends who have been there for me with your kind words, encouragement and support in the past. I shared this news on Facebook the other day, so some of you already know and have left me such awesome comments. Thank you! I wasn’t going to bother with posting this news on my blog, but Sherry of Fern Valley Appaloosas said I should consider it, so here it is!

And what a long post, too, eh? lol!