another setback

I was just starting to breathe normally and feel relieved, thinking we were through the worst of it, when I arrived at the barn yesterday to find Lucy's front right looking very swollen around the tendon. In fact, it looked like a classic bow to me. I immediately felt sick and panicky. I brought her inside and inspected it from every angle, feeling for heat and any other injuries I had missed. I wracked my brain, thinking, "how haven't I noticed this before?" All of my standing wraps were at home in the washing machine so I gave her a gram of bute with her dinner and ran home to get supplies.

At home, I grabbed my standing wraps, pillow wraps, and all the ice I had in my freezer. I was absolutely beside myself so Kenny came with me to the barn so that we could do our best to bring the swelling down. I poured the ice in a big Home Depot bucket, filled the bucket to the brim with water, and had Lucy stand with her leg in there for 25 minutes. The leg looked a little bit better but still not great. I decided to leave it unwrapped for the night because I didn't want to do more harm.

This morning, the leg looked about the same. I cold-hosed it and iced it intermittently throughout the whole day (I had the day off of work for Veteran's Day). At 4pm, I did a Furazone sweat to try and draw out some fluid. The tendon never really got hot - it was a bit warm but nothing crazy.

I believe this is actually a bandage bow so now I have another thing to beat myself up over. I think I caught it very early and after the Furazone sweat, the leg looks quite good. There is some localized swelling on the tendon but very limited heat. I am going through bags of carrots like they are going out of style, but Lucy is an excellent patient and her cooperation makes all of these therapeutic tasks a lot easier to get through.

Photos:

Last night (11/11) when I noticed it initially

11/11 PM from the inside of the leg. Notice the
fluid build-up above the ankle, too.

11/12 AM - after being iced for 25 minutes. the swelling
on the tendon had gone down but the lower half of the
leg had increased edema.

11/12 PM. 

After I iced the leg in the morning, I put Sore No More poultice on it and wrapped it lightly with cotton, then secured the top and bottom of the cotton wrap. That stayed on for about 6 hours. When I got to the barn in the afternoon, I wrapped the leg with this Ice Tape cold therapy wrap (click here to see it on Dover's website so that I didn't have to stand there and cold hose her for another 25 minutes.

Instead, she could graze in the dark while the
wrap did its thing.

After the cold therapy wrap was finished, I did the
Furazone sweat and left that on for four hours. This is
what the leg looked like after I washed all of the
Furazone off. Much better!

I left the leg naked for the night so the tendons could have a break from being wrapped. She also got another gram of bute with dinner. This is such a nightmare and I am running myself ragged trying to do as much as I can to prevent further damage, but if she's sound at the end of it, it will be worth the effort. I called my vet today to keep her in the loop but decided not to have her come out just yet.