7 weeks of box rest felt like a lifetime and I didn't know how Jack or I would cope but in reality it is passing pretty quickly and we are almost halfway through it already.
4 weeks today we will be back at vet hospital which should hopefully signal the end of Jacks stable confinement if all is healing well and they are happy with the xrays etc.
We have settled into a good routine and this is helping us both to cope. I think knowing when to expect me/food is good for Jack and reduces his anxiety.
Luckily like a lot of men Jack is ruled by his stomach and this does help no end in keeping him calm and settled. When the other horses are being turned out as long as he has a haynet or a bucket of feed he barely notices they are gone!
I am continuing to have to clean his 3 leg wounds twice a day but they seem to be healing nicely, other than a little bit of concern about the foreleg at the end of last week. It swelled up quite a lot and was looking infected with some yellow puss bubbling out when I applied pressure around the wound. I was unsure whether to call the vet but as Jack seemed fine in himself and was still eating, drinking and behaving normally I decided I would clean it all up, give it a really good flush with some cooled boiled salt water and then see how he was in the morning. It seems that was a good decision as it looked so much better in the morning with the swelling reduced and no sign of any puss. That night it looked better still so I felt happy there was no cause for the vet to come back earlier than the planned visit tomorrow.
Here are some images of his leg wounds the left are last week and the right this week looking much better :)
I'm looking forward to the vet visit tomorrow as now we seem to have turned a corner with the leg wounds I am hoping they can give me the all clear to begin a bit of inhand walk exercise/grazing which I'm sure Jack will appreciate!
His back is still looking good but he is very cautious about you touching it so I'm pretty sure it must still be painful. I can't say I blame him for being concerned he's been in chronic pain for so long poor boy - hopefully once it is fully healed and he has had time to realise it no longer hurts him he will be ok with it.
He was only on pain killers and antibiotics for 10 days and 15 days post op respectively so he is on nothing at all now, he doesn't seem any different and without having to disguise the meds I have been able to reduce his food intake. He was only having molasses free alfa a and speedybeet anyway but I was having to give him a decent bucket full to get him to eat all the meds. He has always been a good doer so I do have to watch what he eats and carefully monitor his waist line so it went a bit against my instincts to give him a big bucket of food twice a day!
I'm soaking his hay now too - its another job to do on top of everything else but the hay I got this time seemed pretty dusty and the last thing Jack needs is a cough on top of everything else. It also cuts the calories so its serving 2 purposes albeit a bit of a pain to do!
I'm hoping to get another hay delivery today/tomorrow and with any luck that one will be better so I maybe able to cut out that job!
More news hopefully of the good variety tomorrow evening after the vet visit
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