Working things out

Louie has decided he does not like his molasses bute sandwiches after all. So, for two feeding, I resorted to putting the bute into his grain with molasses added. Now, he has decided to get fussy about his grain. So, I have had to go back to the standard bute mixed with carrot baby food in a syringe. He wasn't too thrilled about this either but I think he was glad that at least I did not ruin his breakfast. And, I only have to give him bute once a day now. The bute is definitely making Louie more confortable. He is bearing weight on his leg now and looks quite good at a trot though I'd rather he was NOT doing any trotting right now!

In my frustration over all this, I did send a letter to the four vet's involved with Louie's care so far. They are all good and experienced vets. I've also spent a lot of time researching on the Internet into the possible problems that Louie might have for the symptoms he is presenting. I just feel a better job could have been done to figure out what is going on with Louie before having me spend $$$$ on diagnostic work. I think there were enough signs pointing to Louie's hip being the problem that I think some time and money could have been saved on diagnostic work had that been investigated first. And had it not been for the physical therapists observations, I would have spent even more money on disgnostic work before the vets figured out for sure where the problem is. So, we now know where the problem is but still don't know what the problem is.

Two of the four vets did call me today. I missed the call from Dr. Myhre as he called during the day when I was sleeping. He left a long message full of encouragement. He seems to be a very nice man and I appreciate that he cared enough to call. Dr. Lund called me in the morning before I went to bed. I had a nice conversation with her. She does not feel things are hopeless. She agreed that the most likely diagnosis for Louie was either Osteochrondrosis (OCD)or still possibly a soft tissue injury. Louie is showing a lot of the classic symptoms of OCD. This is a congenital disease and if this is what Louie has......well, it stinks! Though Louie is on the upper end of the age you would see this problem as it happens while they are growing.

Dr. Lund feels at this point a nuclear scan would not be beneficial. Not that it was an option financially anyway. She said a nuclear scan would show us where the "hot" spots were. But would not likely help much on what exactaly the problem is. With the nerve block, we have already identified the "where" as Louie's hip joint which is inflamed. We discussed further diagnostic work. Radiographing his hip should show if he has OCD, but, it will not be cheap to radiograph his hip. The advantage being if I could confirm or discard the diagnosis of OCD, it would really help in knowing just how to treat Louie and what his expectations will be for the future. If he has a soft tissue injury, with proper rehabilitation, I might expect him to return to full use. If he has OCD, I should not even try to use him for something as strenuous as endurance riding. Though rehabilitation for either is much the same except joint injections might be beneficial for OCD. So, for now I will continue to treat Louie as if he has a soft tissue injury and I will continue talking with the vets about doing radiograpsh on Louie's hip.