The Bones of You

When we last left off, Leo was in stasis, waiting for his June 7th vet appointment at the University of Missouri, where fancy diagnostic tech will be used to determine the source of his lameness (in theory). There was also the slight but terrifying risk of an infection in the joint from a misplaced needle.

At 8:30 this morning, I got the call that every horse owner dreads. Leo seemed to be lame at the walk, and three separate people felt that his right leg was hotter than the left; he was possibly exhibiting signs of an infection, and I felt like my entire world was crumbling around me. I immediately contacted my vet, threw on some clothes, and headed to the barn.

He was still putting weight on the leg when I arrived, which was a very good sign, but it did feel slightly warm. I spent a tense 30 minutes waiting for the vet to get there, running through every possible scenario about a million times. I remembered at this point (I was pretty sleep deprived after an overnight shift and interrupted sleep) that we had pulled his shoes the day before; hopefully the lameness was a result of that.

The vet confirmed this, and that the heat was most likely coming from the recently healed scratches flaring up after a crazy amount of rain/mud overnight. She took a few x-rays "for her own curiosity​" and left, assuring me that she would call if they gave any indication that the joint was developing an infection.

Above: a clean, infection - free joint.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), the x-rays showed something else as well. Leo appears to have a bone chip near the fetlock joint, and that may be the cause of his lameness. If it is, vet is recommending surgery.

The tiny light grey speck just above the joint on the right side

Surgery is expensive. Surgery may not be financially possible for me. Surgery is terrifying. And we are back, again, to waiting. The vet offered to come out and take more x-rays, but he would likely still have to go to the University anyways, and waiting another 2 weeks is not going to make anything worse.

So, we wait. And I try to find a way to come up with the money to pay for multiple lameness exams, stall rest, and a potential surgery. And try not to cry, because I've been doing a lot of that today. 

The only silver lining​ in all of this (aside from him not having a joint infection, which was fantastic) is that once the ground dries, he can be outside again. He's so much happier when he's allowed to be outside.