Ovary Free

Last Sunday Naners and I drove the 7+ hours to the north side of Phoenix to get her ovaries out. It was just above freezing when we left home, it was 84 there. We were both quite warm. I thought she was going to be really cranky about the drive because she wasn't allowed to have hay (no food for 24 hours before surgery.) She was oddly quiet, no banging at stop lights as usual. She spent the night across the street from the surgery place, a very convenient place to have a layup facility. I got to maneuver through traffic to my friend's house on the other side of the city. I hate city driving with the truck.

I didn't sleep well. The bed was hard and I found on the drive down that I really care for Naners more than I sometimes think I do. I was worried for her. With worry about the horse, and worry about traffic, I got up there far earlier than I needed to be. I let Naners run around the round pen for a bit, but she was scouring the place for anything at all possibly edible. At 7:55 we walked over to the Horsie Hospital. She was quiet until she saw their cool metal horse statues. She didn't know what they were and were suspect.

We found their people and Naners went into a stall. I went back across the street, got the truck and put my nose to the dissertation grindstone in their comfy waiting room. I actually got some stuff done. Then, when they started I was able to watch through a window.

She had a standing laproscopic procedure, so she was just heavily sedated, not completely knocked out. As a result, she would react to things, especially at first. And it totally unglued me. I texted my vet, asking if we were doing the right thing. She called me almost right back, assured me that yes, we were doing the right thing. I had a little cry, then went back in and watched. I watched almost all of her left ovary, as that's the one I could see. Not that there was much to see.

So, here's what they pulled out:

Horse ovaries are not supposed to look like that. Especially on the left, you can see a huge follicle, which is a fluid filled sac that would turn into an egg. Both ovaries had follicles, which shouldn't happen. These basically look exactly like what we saw on her ultrasound several weeks earlier. Things should have changed.

Here's what they look like cut open with the follicles drained

All the wetness is from the popped follicles.

After that, I was wiped. I was given the option of Naners spending the night there or back across the street. For my own mental health, I let her stay there. I needed to find food, thank goodness there are a ton of In N'Outs in Phoenix now (hello grilled cheese animal style no pickles) and got lost again trying to get to Greenway Saddlery, where I somehow walked out having only bought a new pair of spur straps. Whether we were going to be able to leave Tuesday morning all depended on how things went for Naners over night.

Tuesday morning I was on the freeway when the vet called with a cheery good morning and asked if I was ready to go home because my mare was. Yay! I went to pick her up and found out she needed to be stall bound for a month. My stall walking mare locked up? Yeah, no. It also sunk in that she was really, really shaved. Blankets were going to be a must when we got home. A week of bute meant more Gastroguard. But, my mare was okay.

I loaded her up and off we went. I stopped more than I usually would, partially because I kept having to pee and I figured she probably wouldn't mind. I mulled over the whole how to lock up my horse thing, my lack of gastroguard, having no idea where my bute was hiding, and left a message for my vet. She texted back that we needed to keep her locked up for at least 24 hours, longer if we could. I, of course, have no shavings because I don't normally bed. An hour from home the feed store has a big lot (and I had to pee) so we stopped there. Right before then though, I had this view:

With 8 bags of shavings in the truck, we got closer to home. I called the vet when we got off the main road, she was waiting for us when we passed her house so I could get the gastroguard and bute. My husband actually came outside when we got home and helped me close off the stall, find the heated water bucket, get the shavings in...

She's actually more okay with being locked up than I thought she would be. Cleaning the stall of a walker? That freaking sucks and takes forever. So, since the vet is okay with her going out in her corral tomorrow that's what she's going to do, because starting on Monday I'm back in dissertation research land and will not have the time to clean that mess twice a day.

I'm still tired from it. 8 hours of driving, surgery stress, 8 hours back in three days. But, now hopefully cranky mare will become a thing of the past and I can enjoy my horse again.