Paris is having surgery tomorrow….. Sat 13th
Well, as I said earlier, we hoped the second surgery wouldn’t be needed. But going in to the rehab, we knew her deformity was major and the brace was a “first-ditch” effort. Nature just turned out to be stronger than the brace could deal with!
Saturday morning our dear Dr. Yarbrough of Loomis Basin Equine Medical Center will be doing surgery to fuse the fetlock joint into position. This is a much more complicated surgery than the first one, and involves much more risk of complication. The entire joint will be opened, cleaned out and repositioned. Because the need for after care is so critical, and the issues that can occur with the cast, Paris will stay at Loomis for about a week post op.
Beth and I will be there for the surgery, but unlike the last one we will not be able to be in the operating room during the procedure (infection control). The cool thing is that Loomis has a closed circuit TV setup so we will be able to watch what is happening, and hopefully we can ask someone to take pictures from in the surgery center.
Because she has to stay at Loomis for a week, in “intensive care”, this surgery isn’t cheap. Our initial estimate, barring complications, is over $3,000. If you would like to help with the expense of the care, you can either send payments to her account directly at Loomis Basin or via the Paypal button on our home page.
Some people may ask, why we are spending more money to fix her?
Paris has grown very dear to us. And when I’m talking with her every night as I clean her stall, I promise her she will never have to again endure the hardships she has encountered up to this point in her young life. Born in a dog run, her mother starved literally to death to save her life. Cared for, then ignored again. And allowed to have her leg get to this point when it could have been dealt with a year ago and been absolutely fine with virtually no effort. All this happened to the sweetest, best natured, most loving horse in the world. She could have been someones absolutely perfect horse! And I promise her every day that she is loved and that we will care for her, no matter what.
Wish her good luck and all the best thoughts and prayers for surgery!
