Bob is up and about, and I think he's not laying down at all for fear he won't be able to get up. :( He's also very sad to be alone, but I can't put anyone in with him. But he's darn cute, and I love to hear them call back and forth to each other with their foghorn voices. I'm going to try to get through my work week before I have to make any decisions. We'll keep a close eye on him.
I gave in and went to get some x-rays of my hip today. No bone chips or anything but there is evidence of chronic inflammation. Bone thickening? I'm confused. He didn't show me the x-rays. I'll go talk to my regular doctor about it at some point. If I could get it treated or do physical therapy so I could ride more comfortably, that would be awesome. This hip has been bad for a long time now, but of course now it's much worse. Glad to know I don't have to baby it and I can just move on! I have some stretches I'm supposed to do.
I'm unstable on rough ground, so I've just been petting the horses when I feed, and that's about it. They're cool with that.
Glad it isn't broken or anything. But bone thickening? What causes that?
ReplyDeleteHe said "chronic inflammation" and "like a callus" and a few other things. I think it sounds like bone-on-bone damage, which makes me wonder what the heck is going on with the soft tissue in and around the joint. He didn't think it was bursitis. The sharpest pain was IN the joint, not around it, when he was putting me through the paces. Ouch.
ReplyDeleteAs an expert on pain due to inflammation from lyme disease, I can suggest sauna (we built our own near-infrared setup but even one infra red lamp shone on the right spots can help) baths in epsom salts or bicarb soda and seasalt, alternating ice packs and heat packs, and trigger point massage. For that last one, get a tennis ball or similar and put it between your sore spots and the wall and roll it around between them. Work the area to quite a long way away as sometimes trigger points can refer pain. Even if the actual injury is in the joint or bone, muscles around the area begin to spasm due to weird usage and it can make it worse. Roll the ball across each really sore spot as hard as you can bear, about ten times, then move to the next sore spot. Do it as many times a day as you can stand. Spots to try for hips/sciatica are the centre of your buttock and the spot where your thigh joins your hip but up the back/side and down the thigh also are good. You'll find spots so painful you'll wonder why you didn't notice them before, but it is because they are set so deep in the muscle it is hard to feel them with usual pressure.
ReplyDeletePs. Poor old Bob. I wonder if some anti-inflams and a blanket would get him through the winter?
ReplyDeleteKeechy - thanks for the tips! I did have a nice bath with epsom salts yesterday and it made a huge difference! I think I'll try that tennis ball trick too. The dogs have a ball around here somewhere. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm going to double Bob's anti-inflammatory dose, which will still leave him slightly below his max dose. I pondered the idea of a blanket, but I'm afraid it would be more of a risk than a help. He might get caught up in the straps while he's struggling to get up. Luckily we're having a very mild winter in terms of temperatures, but I think the dense fog this week isn't helping any. Wet cold is so much worse than dry cold.
I second the epsom salt baths. That helps me as well. I do them often and sometimes just leave the water and rewarm it with fresh hot water later (the water coming from our boiler is extra hot so I don't have to replace it all). I have a big tub so I can soak deeper, but filling it takes awhile, hecne the trying to reuse the water.
ReplyDeleteOne thing to think about with a blanket is that you could put loops of bailing twine (or even a thinner twine or string) on the leg straps to break if needed. Keeping the straps adjusted short will usually keep them out of the way just fine though. A blanket can provide some protection to their skin if they are falling or down near a fence or wall. It also would keep him warmer if he is stuck down overnight.
I know a old horse who has lympingitus (not spelled right...), and he gets down and has a hard time getting up sometimes. He has learned, when he has a blanket on he is comfortable leaning aginist the wall of his stall, if he needs too. It's saved his life a couple times, both from keeping him warm if he is down at night or in the cold, and from protecting his skin from being cut during falls of leaning (which would not heal well for him at this point). He still is feeling good most of the time and even trots around and tries to buck. So he is kept in a tough blanket or sheet year round and he's pushing 34 right now.
I hope you and Bob both get through the week as well as you can! Good luck!
Yeah the trigger point massage thing is a life saver so do give it a go. I know it is hard to give animals anti-inflams because we know it can have side effects but my old dogs have a new lease of life when I start them on it and even if it shortens their life, it is a much better old age for them.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that Dancing Donkey said on her blog that donkeys don't do well with wet as their winter coats are a bit open so maybe that is why he is struggling right now. She's just done a post on blanketing so might be worth a look. LOL, feel funny saying 'blankets' because here in Oz we always say 'rugs'. You'd LOL to think of us here rugging our horses when it rarely even gets to 0 degrees C!
I feel the same way about the meds. They're going to die of something someday anyway, so why not feel good while they're still alive?
ReplyDeleteIt hasn't been raining, just foggy, so they're not wet at all but the cold is very penetrating.
One thing I found very surprising about these donkeys when I got them was how much they really want to be inside if it's raining. The horses are the opposite, so the donkeys usually have whichever stall they choose completely to themselves. I don't think they need blankets. In fact I'd worry if I blanketed them. It just seems unnatural to mess with their heating system like that. What if it just smooshed down all their hair and made them cold? I'm kind of a pansy when it comes to the idea of blanketing.
I guess it's what you are used to. I can't seem to get through winter without rugging, even when I bought a woolly young guy from Victoria (other side of the country and much colder). First storm and I was off buying his first rug. :)
ReplyDeleteMind you, it is so warm here that they really don't grow much of a winter coat so if it does get wet and windy cold they aren't protected against it, so maybe rugs do make sense here. :)