Although this has been a daily ordeal for Linda, I have chosen not to burden you with the progress of CB’s leg injury.  And there has been progress, thankfully.  Most days I help Linda with his bandage change.  We’re both novices at this type of injury, so we don’t really know what we’re doing, other than the mechanics.  Oh, sure, we know to watch for infection, and Linda takes his temperature every day, and all those basic things.  But in terms of how exposed bone is supposed to get covered, we’re at a loss. 

Today the vet visited, so we were looking forward to what his reaction would be to how the wound has changed since he last saw it.  He was pleased when he watched CB walk out of the stall and around the barnyard.  He thought he was bearing weight and walking well.  Then Linda put him in the crossties and we got down to business.

Bearing weight is a good sign

Larry cut the bandage away.  CB is such a patient patient.

You might want to skip snacking during this blog

Peeling the bandage off the wound always looks worse than it actually is.  Larry tells us that the granulated flesh (“proud flesh”) has no feeling.  It’s pretty easy to pull away anything that sticks to the tissue.  You can see the large piece of black, dead tissue at the bottom that Larry pulled off.  He thinks that’s the last bit of tissue that will die.

check it out

Larry pronounced the wound in excellent condition.  Gee, whatever floats your boat.

checking the tissue below

Larry feels that the leg is warm below the exposed bone, which tells him that there is good blood circulation.  He’s optimistic that this means no more tissue will die.

CB does not mind us touching this

This proud flesh needs to keep growing to cover the bone completely.  Once that happens, Larry will perform some “cosmetic surgery” to reshape CB’s leg.  It’ll never be as pretty as the other one, but as long as it works …

Next it’s time to slather on some ointment to keep the bone moist and encourage the growth of new tissue.

the yellow goop

 

covering the bone with furazone

It’s just placed on the exposed bone, not on the proud flesh, because we don’t want to encourage any more growth on the existing proud flesh – that would just be more to cut away.  Then it’s time to put on the new bandage.

first layer

First comes the large white wrap.

second layer

Then the leg is completely wrapped with thin brown gauze.

third and final layer

The final touch is the oh-so-useful vet-wrap.

Early in this saga the back of CB’s pastern became very raw and blistered with all the fluids draining down over it so Larry suggested that Linda use Corona ointment for that problem.

saves the day!

 

this feels soooo good!

It’s very soothing and made an immediate improvement, so Linda continues to use it.

Next comes fly control.

cheap and useful

The flies hate this stuff!

first pass

Linda puts it below the bandage.

second pass

And she puts it above the bandage, to discourage the little devils from harassing CB.

helpful vet

As you can see, Larry was most helpful through all of this.  Almost as helpful as I was, taking pictures!  Linda is probably going to fire both of us!

UPDATE ON CB:

This is Part 2 in the CB Saga - read the other parts of CB's story here:

Part 1 - Horse Wreck

Part 3 - One Happy Horse

Part 4 - CB Cuts Loose

Part 5 - End of the Trail

NOTE:  I'm heading to Southern California for a wedding, so things will be quiet for a few days.  But guess what?  I'm going to take my camera!  I've never been to a Jewish wedding.  I've never been to a wedding on a boat.  This is going to be interesting ...