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Post Op Day 5

12/23/2021

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Swelling is worse than yesterday, thankfully attitude wise he seems less depressed.  Walking around more etc.  Saw him eating a bit on camera, he also drank almost a gallon when I refreshed his water.
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a little poll RLT - no it's not choking him.
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Only the freshest water for the girl!
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Eating with Daisy, he still hasn't touched that treat ball! They're made in Belgrade, nothing against the maker, he genuinely just has a weird appetite right now.
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Post Op Day 4

12/22/2021

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Rocky's swelling is pretty good now, the vet warned me that day 4/5 would be the worst.  It looks pretty bad, his entire sheath is swollen along with a pocket in front of it.  His incision looks good though and his PU site looks ok - not getting weird, just ok for what it is.
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Grass definitely perked up his appetite!
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Daisy is still annoyed that they're separated.
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Coming around for some face hugs.
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Doing some RLT on Rocky's belly incision. He also got a little on his PU incision.
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Bug getting her RLT on her hips. She just cruises around the house wearing it.
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He's home! - Post Opp day 2

12/20/2021

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We picked Rocky up, he jumped right into the trailer.  I got my run down of all my meds I need to administer.  The roads were slightly better than going out.  Our road has a decent incline with a turn involved and I just didn't know if the truck and trailer were going to make it all the way.  My husband walked down and I hand walked Rocky up and he drove the truck and trailer up, no problem of course.  I just didn't want him bouncing around in the trailer too much, or worse loosing traction and ending up in the ditch, overprotective donkey mom?

​yea....
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Donkeys are super particular about their water, he seemed happy to be back to his 'home water'
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Eating pellets while Daisy makes faces in the background
Daisy went from thrilled Rocky was home, to just mad....Probably because he's acting differently than before and she doesn't know what to think of it.  She busted out her old OCD behavior of licking things.  When I bought her, the prior owner kept her in a 12x12 pen for TWO YEARS! She developed some stress coping mechanisms, one is licking the fence a bunch.  So while its cute I see it potentially as a sign that she is feeling stressed.  
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We get to visit - Post Op Day1

12/19/2021

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Sunday we met up with our vet and got to visit Rocky.  He was a little out of it, but VERY into going for a walk! We were allowed to take him for a short walk and see if he wanted to eat any grass that was around, which mostly was covered by snow.  His appetite has been depressed, and it had been a little before going into surgery as he adjusts to his PPID medication.
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excited to be out, go button was fully engaged.
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He nuzzled a little hole in the snow and found some grass to nibble on.
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He even found a 'walkie snack' LOL
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Looking alert despite the circumstances.
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Back to the stall
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Daisy waits..

12/18/2021

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Rocky and Daisy have been together since 2012.  Never really being apart for more than a few hours.  I had to email the neighborhood letting them know that Daisy may bray more than usual.  And she did.  She never leaves her post.....
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enjoying mash under the heater
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We took her on a walk to hopefully distract her and give her some exercise, but she wanted to stop often and scan for Rocky.  She did say hi to the neighbor's mini donkey.

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While on our walk we recieved some text updates from the vets office, Rocky was doing well...than we finally got this!
It's out!
and it's HUGE!

​
After that I went and passed out, between this and my day job stresses my brain was like 'ok we're done here'.....
​
I woke up to a call from my vet saying Rocky was done with surgery, all stitched up, awake, up and doing well.  If you've never seen how they put an equine to sleep and wake them up, you should check it out.  Being flight animals (horse more than donkeys) it can be very eventful for them to wake up ....have you woke up from anesthesia before? Its not super fun....imagine you're a 1000lb animal, whose main resource is your four awesome get-away sticks, which are now 1000% drunk....There is a high risk of injury as they come to and try to get up.

The vet and I agree Rocky should stay overnight for continued IV and antibiotics.  I ask her if I can visit him the next day even though it is Sunday. She says yes....

​
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Rocky's bladder 'pearl'
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We're off to surgery!

12/17/2021

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Not super jazzed that I'm leading him away from the barn at 7am in 2* weather.
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The road is there....somewhere...
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Road conditions improved a bit 'in town'.
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Settled in at the vets...
Surgery is set for later in the day, he's all settled in, they'll get his IV going and prepare him.  Meanwhile I head to work and try not to overthink everything, I know he's in the best hands and we're going to be feeling alot better soon!

I received an update from the vet, they worked on Rocky for four hours and could not get the initial procedure to be successful.  Due to his donkey anatomy it just didn't work like it should (PU surgery).  They decided it was best to do an traditional abdominal surgery tomorrow, allowing Rocky and my wonderful vets to get some rest.
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Surgery is set.....

12/7/2021

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Rocky's surgery has finally been scheduled for December 17th, I am feeling confident that we have the best vet attending to him.  Because Rocky is older, the vet recommended doing bloodwork to ensure he didn't have cushings or another disease that would impede his healing progress.  We got the bloodwork back this last Friday, he does indeed have cushings.  He has been started on medication (let me tell you trying to figure out ways to get him to take a pill has been interesting), he will be on it for the rest of his life. Here is a link if you'd like to learn more about cushings.  Looking back I can see small signs that I did not pick up on prior, while Daisy does not have similiar symptoms, I will be having her blood panel done this month as well since she will be nineteen this year.  Thank you for keeping up with Rocky's progress!

If you enjoy podcasts, here are a few about PPID/Cushings

The Podcasting Equine Vets

Ask The Vet

Straight From the Horse Doctor's Mouth
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    Here to share all my donkey related adventures....why? Because they're basically the best thing ever. 

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