Off to surgery

Dr. Williams said we may not find a thing, or we may find something they can not fix, but that he sees no other option than to open him up, and look around. Hubby is out of town, and I call him and tell him what is happening. I then go over to Hanks stall. He is laying down, and is asleep with his lips on the ground. His eyes are shut, and he is so sound asleep. I sit down on the ground next to him, and softly pet him on the neck. He starts to kind of nicker / whinny as he sleeps. Kind of like a dog whining when it sleeps. I have never seen a horse do this, and I wonder if he is dreaming. He is tired. They have not even given him any drugs yet for the surgery. He sleeps about 10 min., and then they come to tell me that things are ready for him. It took a second to wake him up. Had to say his name, and nudge his neck. Hope he was having a good dream.

We get him up, they give him a few shots, and head in to prep him. First they shave his tummy. He is a good boy, and stands as they are almost under him with the clippers. Then, they start scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing the area. When all that is done and ready, they move him into the room that they knock him out. This is where I give him a kiss on the nose, and go outside for awhile to call a friend. Talking to her really helped keeping me from having a total melt down.

When I go back in, I can look into the surgical room, and see him on the table as they start. I pace around awhile, and once and awhile come back and look in. They have him open and I can see part of his intestines out on the big silver tray where they sort through it, looking for problems. It seems like forever, but I know he is getting the best of care. He has TWO surgeons who have done many colic surgeries, and an intern vet who has been his main vet, and I know has some great experience already with colic surgeries.

I try to watch a little TV to take my mind off my horse in the room behind me with three vets looking around inside him. Finally the vet comes out to explain what they found. His cecum, small intestine, and colon all did sort of a twist around themselves. Because they were around each other, nothing had closed off tight, thus he was still getting things passing through. After he had a larger meal, it seemed things would get stopped up, and he would gas up, and be painful. After he was off feed, and on fluids, things would ease up, and then pass on through, and he would feel better. They told me that unless they had some sort of unseen complications, he should heal up just fine. They did not have to cut into any intestines etc., just rearrange things back to where they go.

After they staple his incision up, he headed to the "wake up" room. This was the toughest part for me, as some horses are a tad more violent than others when they come out of anesthesia. Leave it to Hank to be one of the more violent ones. I would hear him crashing and banging around in there, and had to go outside so I would not hear that, and worry. Finally they get him to his stall. He is still very groggy, and they have hosed him off, so he is wet. After he dried off, they are to bandage him up. I stay awhile, and pet and scratch on him, and talk to him. Finally, I decide that he is doing OK, and I really need to head home and get some rest. This is the longest day. I find the vets to thank them again, and get in the truck and head on home.