WE MADE IT.........!!!

Got home in time to feed this afternoon, which was a surprise.  We actually were only at the vet clinic a little over an hour, & that included visiting with our friend Nancy a little bit.  She retired from her job today & they had a going away lunch for her, so she didn't know if she'd make it to the clinic or not.  

I think Jenny was glad to see us, she came over to the fence as soon as she saw the truck & trailer.  They had just changed her bandage yesterday, so instead of watching the vet told me the layers from inside out.  I'm much better at visual lessons, but the main thing is to keep it clean, there's no medicine to put on it, so I should be able to figure it out.  The vet said I might have to sedate her, I guess she's been acting like Jenny & giving them a hard time when they would dress her foot.  I'd like to say she won't do that with me, but I know better........!!!!  (G)  Jenny can be VERY uncooperative if she wants to be.  

She loaded pretty good, for her & made the trip home just fine.  She was ready to get out when we got here & went right in the hay barn.  Since then she has seen all there is to see, she's been visited by most of the donkeys & is ready to go out.  She lets us know that by trying to knock the corral panels down.  SIGH!  She can't go out until I figure out just how much abuse a duct tape bandage will take.  The next bandage change is Monday, in the meantime I'll have to check it a couple of times a day to make sure she isn't wearing out the duct tape, even though the ground in the hay barn is really soft. 

If you listen to the video at the end you will hear John yelling.  I asked him what happened & he said BlackJack kicked him.  BJ is usually very careful about messing up, but in all the hoopla & donkeys milling around he didn't look before he kicked, caught John on the knee.  Sure made John cranky, later BJ came up & laid his head on John's chest, guess he was trying to make up. 

IT'S A GO.........!!!

Just talked to the vet & everything is a go for us to pick up Jenny tomorrow.  The vet said she's still laying down, but every day she lays down less.  So we'll feed early tomorrow & head out.  Lysa will come over, clean pens & let everyone out when they are done eating.  

Vic will come over & feed in the afternoon in case we don't get home at a decent hour.  They will show us how to wrap her foot, so we'll have to be there for awhile.  And a friend from Saudi that now lives about a mile from the vet clinic is going to try to come over & visit.  Nancy has come over before when we were up there, but it's been a couple of years ago.  It will be good to see her again, if she makes it. 

Mr. Boaz is in the dog house.  Last night when John did round-up for supper, everyone came in except Boaz.  We fed & he still hadn't showed up.  John went over to feed the neighbor's dogs, (long story) & guess who he saw over there?  When Boaz saw John & John called him, he came "arunning", stuck his head under the smooth wire that runs across the wash, & quickly was on this side.   Hmmmm, I told him he just ruined his fun, by showing John where he was going back & forth.  

This morning the bandage on his knee looked like he had been chewing on it.  I've been using Wonder Dust on it daily for quite sometime & it is looking better.  I wonder if it is starting to irritate some of the tissue that has feeling in it?  I try to not get it on anything except the proud flesh, but I'm sure it doesn't always stay where I put it.  

I've got some silver nitrate ordered & will change over to it, when it gets here.  

No races Saturday night.  The pump in the well where they get water to water the track "croaked".  There's no way we could race without the track being wet down.  It's dusty enough when they wet it.  

That's OK, getting Jenny Friday & racing Saturday was going to pretty much fill up our "dance" card.  Next Friday John is suppose to have an angiogram, which he is really looking forward to.........NOT!    We still haven't figured out the logistics, he's suppose to be at the hospital at 6am for an 8am procedure......!!!!  He's been having a little breathlessness & palpitations & has a lousy family history for heart disease.  The doctor saw something that caught his attention, so this is what he wants done.  

So John will load the race car Thur night, in case he isn't feeling real peppy Saturday.  I can drive to the track & our son & grandson will be racing that night, so they can do whatever needs to be done, like reloading it on the trailer.  I'm not into all that chain & tie down stuff.....!!! LOL

Talked to the vet this morning.  They are using Elastikon on the foot itself where it was opened up to get to the infection.  That will continue until the foot grows out completely I would imagine.  Patti said I need to invest in 3M company & I think she's probably right......!!! (G)  

They haven't helped Jenny up since yesterday morning, which is great news.  We were hoping by leaving her up there until Friday that she would be strong enough to make the 3 hour trip without problems.  Once she's here, hopefully she'll be strong enough to not need help anymore.  

We've decided to start her out in 1/2 of the hay barn.  She didn't like it when we put her in there 5 years ago, & I seriously doubt if she's changed her mind.  But it's a little cleaner in there than her pen will be, so a few days in there while we figure out the routine, won't hurt her.  

This morning I managed to catch Mocha, Tucker & Gus together.  Of course they were walking along until I showed up with the camera.  Somehow a video of donkeys standing looking at me, isn't as interesting as when they are actually moving........!!!

FRIDAY????

 

The vet called back before I went out to do chores.  Jenny had just gotten up on her own about 5 minutes before, but this morning she needed help to get up.  

The vet asked if we had any help, & I told her it was just us.  We talked some more & I finally said at this stage a few more days isn't going to make that much of a difference to us, but might make a lot to Jenny.  So I said we'd see how it went for the next few days & plan on picking her up Friday.  I could almost hear the relief in the vet's voice, so I would imagine she was hoping we'd not want to pick her up ASAP.  

Hopefully she will have a good week.  I guess her foot is doing great, at least that's good news.  They will show me how to bandage it when we get up there.  I doubt that they realize how rough our ground is, hopefully the bandage can be strong enough to hold up.  I've made bandages out of duct tape before & they will last about 24 hours.  I'm still thinking about the hoof covering made out of the same stuff they make casts out of, at least I think it's the same stuff.  I'll take the web-site info when we go to pick Jenny up & see what they think. 

I'm waiting for the vet to call me back about Jenny.  They left a message this afternoon, saying that she can now get up on her own......sometimes.....but needs a little help sometimes...........So I guess they want to pick our brain to see if we can take care of her until she gets stronger.  

It doesn't sound like she would make the 3 hour trip comfortably.  Wish we lived closer, but we don't.

UPDATE......!!!

Vet clinic called this morning, said Jenny's still getting stronger, that it only takes one person to help her get her rear end up under her now.  So she's still not "on her own" yet...........SIGH.....!!!  But we'll take what we can get.  She said they go out & get her up during the day a few times.  So we probably aren't going to be going up to get her until later in the week.  

I finally got a picture of Boaz's leg this morning.  It's much better than it was, but I don't see it getting completely well without the vet scraping it down some more.  It's just too thick.  

Racing went pretty good last night.  Finished 2nd in the heat race & 7th in the main event.  Brought the car home in one piece, so that makes John happy.......!!! LOL

Also brought home a rather oversized end of the year trophy for last year.  I finished in 6th place in the Hornet class & this trophy is about 4 foot tall......!!!   Absolutely the biggest most useless piece of "memorabilia" I've ever had the pleasure of possessing.  Have no idea what the 1st place one looks like, but I bet it was BIG.......!!! 

There was a big mess at the end of the year, the promoter got locked out of the track, & it's all new people now.  I guess he left the trophies & the new people just got around to handing them out.  Too bad they didn't have access to the end of the year point fund money, he absconded with. 

Any ideas on what to use it for? 

GREAT NEWS.........!!!

Here is a picture I was beginning to think I would never see, Jenny actually standing on her own 4 feet.  

Dr. Voss called late this afternoon & said he really didn't want to put her in a sling, & listed a long list of reasons, which all sounded logical to me.  

So a group of them went out with the idea that she was going to get up one way or another.  He apologized for having to use a HotShot on her, but if that's what it took I can live with it.  He said as soon as she got on her feet she tried to kick them, so I assume she didn't think much of the HotShot.  

He said she was out walking around, so hopefully she'll be up in the morning & will stay up. 

Her foot is doing very well, so once she is steady on her feet, we should be able to go pick her up.  Keep your fingers crossed...........!!!!

Courtney & Martha came out today & trimmed & massaged.  Martha worked on Gus, Pepper & Frijolita.  Gus almost fell asleep & Pepper almost fell over.  Martha has worked on Pepper before & she said this is the first time she thought he really enjoyed it.  Always before he was so thin he was just skin & bones.  Now that he has a little meat on his bones she has something to work with & I guess he appreciated it.  

Courtney trimmed on 9 of them.  I'm anxious to see how Gus is doing in the morning.  He's been walking real good since he came back from Claire's, so hopefully getting trimmed won't mess him up.  

Boaz got trimmed again.  His front feet had bad crevices in them, but they seem to be growing out OK from the coronet now.  Hopefully with regular trimming his feet will grow out healthy.  I'm finally making some progress on his proud flesh place.  It's getting healthy pink tissue around the edges, which eventually should make it get smaller & smaller.  I'll try to get a picture tomorrow when I change the bandage if I think of it. 

I was really proud of Mocha.  She had never stood to be trimmed before without a lot of effort on the part of 2 or 3 people.   Today she stood like she knew what she was doing.  Of course stuffing animal crackers in her mouth helped.  Tucker was a good boy too, guess he saw momma stand & decided he could too. 

The vet clinic promised they will try to get Jenny up today & put her in the sling if necessary.  After being down this long I doubt that she will be able to stand on her own, but I hope so.  Haven't heard from them so guess it hasn't happened yet.  

This morning just before we were going to get up the driveway announcer went off at 5:45am.  Looked out & sure enough there is a pick-up coming in the gate.  I love the driveway announcer, gives you time to put some clothes on.  (G)  It is a young man named Wayne.  He's been working for an Arabian farm in Tucson, he has a quad that is being worked on in Tucson & the parts are back ordered.  So he was looking for something to occupy himself for a few days.  Found our web-site & said he had always worked with horses & cows, no donkeys.  Sounded like something fun to do for a few days.  Once the quad is fixed he'll continue on to Texas, but in the meantime John is finding things for him to do.  Not too difficult around here to find something to do, unfortunately.  He's already noticed how much different donkeys are than horses, said he thinks he likes them better.  They are easier to work with I think, especially when they don't know you.  

Heard from Bijou's foster mom.  She said he still isn't moving around much, & is still ouchy.  I asked if he's still wearing his "Air Jordan's", but haven't heard back yet.  

Courtney & Martha are suppose to come out today.  Courtney wants Martha to do some massage work on Gus.  Actually he's been walking really well for him, although looking at his feet just gives me the "willies".  But they seem to work for him, so who am I to judge.  We tried getting his feet to look "normal" & it made him sore because the insides are NOT normal.  So if he's comfortable with high heels & stovepipe feet, I guess that's the way it will be.  

We are suppose to leave for Tucson at 4:30pm to go to a birthday/going away, welcome party for the Oasis Exotic Bird Sanctuary people.  I hope Courtney gets here on time, I don't think she owns a watch, if you know what I mean....!!! (G)  The ones that need to be trimmed are having to stay in their pens.  Needless to say, they are not very happy, especially when they see the others going out. 

Heard from the vet this morning.  Jenny is still down, still trying to get up, & now is talking whenever anyone comes within sight of her.  I guess all that attention is going to her head.  They are still talking about getting a crew together & trying to get her up, but so far they haven't tried it.  They still say she is stronger & perkier every day.  And her foot is healing very good.  Sooooo  here we are.  There's no way we would do anything different, but it is certainly frustrating, especially when they really have no idea why her hind legs won't support her.  

I noticed this morning that Tucker was laying down more than I thought he usually does.  I checked his "abused" area & it felt OK, a little damp, but no heat & no swelling.  I decided to take his temperature & hose off the area & was getting all my toys together, when John yelled from the neighbor's to bring him a halter.  Hmmmm, it seems Boaz had found a spot in the fence to go thru & was having a great time looking around & grabbing mouthfuls of weeds.  There is very little left on our property to eat.  I put the halter on him, hook the lead, started to lead him, & "away we went".........!!!!  Well he went, I sort of spun off the end of the lead.......!!!

 About an hour later we finally got him back on the property.  HE CAN MOVE IF HE WANTS TO.........& he did.  We both saw areas of various neighbor's property we'd never seen before.  John actually grabbed the lead a couple of times, but Boaz wasn't having any of that..!!!  (Gloves are a good idea in these situations, which John didn't have)  I guess he finally decided we weren't going to leave him alone, so he "allowed" us to herd him in the driveway gate.

 But, he decided that we didn't need to get close to him & he took off for Burroland to find the other donkeys, with his halter & lead flying.  Of course when they saw him & his flying lead, they all took off with him in high pursuit.  By this time I had lost any sense of humor I might have had.  The others circled around & headed for the pen area, he followed & we got him in his pen.  I exchanged the soft cotton lead for a stud chain & we did "learning to walk calmly with human" lessons.  He tried to pull away a couple of times & then decided it wasn't as much fun & quietly walked along for a couple of minutes & I let him go.  Grrrrrrrr!  

Finally got around to taking Tucker's temp which was normal.  Rinsing him off started out a little "squirrely" with a couple of very swift kicks, not in my direction.  But John stuffed a couple of animal crackers in his mouth & he decided maybe it wasn't so bad after all. 

And so our day goes...................

Finally talked to Dr. Voss this morning.  Their schedule to makes calls seems to be when I am out feeding.  So it had been 2-3 days since we had really talked, rather than leaving messages.  

Jenny's still down, still getting stronger, but is weak enough in the rear legs that she can't make the final rotation to get all the way up. I asked if her rear legs were working OK & he said they work just fine to kick real fast when she wants to.  He said they had thought about maybe her neck or back being injured while she was under anesthetic.  They shackle their pasterns & literally haul them up in the air with chains to move them around.  Someone usually carries the head, but stuff happens sometimes.  He said no, her head & neck are working very well.  In other words she's using her head as a weapon, which is an old trick of hers, I warned them about.

Her muscle enzymes are coming down, white blood count a little high, possibly from stress of trying to get up.  We talked about things that never happen that might have happened, such as botulism.  He said her foot was a cess pool, who knows what was in there.

She's always in shade, they are turning her side to side several times a day.  He said when she sees someone she starts trying to get up.  She's eating & drinking good, kidneys are working well.  Some problems with muscles release "Yuckies" (that's a technical term) into the bloodstream that ends up in the kidneys.  If the kidneys get clogged from too much trash, it can cause renal failure.  But he said everything looks good.

So we are still on Wait & Watch.  When she does get up, I don't know how long it would be before she could travel, so this epic isn't going to be over anytime soon I guess.  SIGH!

Everyone else seems to be doing good.  Tucker hasn't even acted like anything happened.  Yesterday I was looking out the window & most of the donkeys were within sight.  Tucker was roaming around almost by himself with Mocha in sight of course.  He walked over to where old Pepper was standing & they smelled noses for awhile.  Maybe he thinks Pepper's his grandpa..!!!