A Little Good News...

We made to Cornell and back this afternoon.  Ramsey had a new set of x-rays and got to visit with some of his fan club.  The x-rays looked good, there are no significant changes from his last set.  The recurring abscess that had me so worried is actually caused by his heel bulbs rubbing inside of the bandage.  Now that I know that there is not something terrible going on inside his foot causing the pain and swelling I kept seeing, I can address the issue separately.

They told me over and over again when Ramsey came home that I had to keep his foot absolutely dry.  Well, I guess I am nothing if not diligent, because his heel bulbs are too dry.  I am going to apply some ichthamol to that part of the foot when I do bandage changes to help soften it up a bit.  I just have to be careful to treat it separately from the surgical site and not contaminate that area.

The surgical site itself looks good and is forming granulation tissue as it should.  The daily bandage change rather than every-other day has been beneficial and helped stop an incipient infection.  It is a pain, but I am going to continue with the daily changes for a while yet until I am sure everything is OK.  Barring further trouble, he goes back for another checkup in four weeks.

Cornell's farrier trimmed the foot a little and said his other feet look good, which I was very glad to hear since I have been trimming his feet myself.  I keep trying to figure out how this happened and blaming myself is the easiest answer.  However, there is no evidence of that.  In fact, there is no evidence of anything, his feet are in good shape.  I don't think we will ever know what precipitated this.   It could have been something as insignificant as a sliver of hay pricking his coronet band.  All I know is that bacteria got inside his foot and that is that. 

Regardless, Ramsey got a good report card from the vets today and I feel better about where we are at and where we should be going.  I am glad I took him in as I have a much clearer sense of what is happening in his foot and what needs to happen.  I am even more glad that he got to come back home and didn't have to stay.  (Oh, and just wait till you get to see Ramsey's new footwear, it was all the rage at Cornell.)