My Huck Friend: In Which Kwik Dodges a Bullet

This Wednesday night found me heading up to Athens, not for a football game or a visit with friends, but for emergency care at the UGA Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

I was heading home from work on Wednesday afternoon when L called to let me know that Kwik had cut himself in the fetlock area, and she suggested having Dr. P come out and take a look. I immediately drove out to the barn, and when I arrived, Dr. P and her assistant were cleaning up a wound that didn't really look all that bad. After she got a good look at everything, Dr. P explained that because of the location of the puncture, the tendon sheath may potentially be damaged. She used a probe to determine the length and width of the puncture and then distended the joint with sterile saline and inspected the wound for fluid leakage. Thankfully we didn't see any leakage, but Dr. P explained that a damaged tendon sheath is a life threatening condition, and she recommended transferring him to UGA to be certain.

My heart fell out of my chest as I looked at Kwik's semi drunk face still begging for cookies. I knew I'd never forgive myself if I didn't do all I could for him. I don't own a truck or trailer so I spent the next ten minutes calling everyone I knew that owned a rig and lived relatively close. I don't know how I'll ever repay them, but the JKs came to the rescue as soon as I called. They pulled up about thirty minutes later, Kwik hopped right onto their massive, fancy rig, and we were on our way to Athens. The trip only took about 40 minutes, but it felt like eternity. I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Kwik might not make it through this, and to be honest, my brain was racing trying to figure out how I was going to pay for all of this if he ended up needing surgery. I had already decided to use a portion of my tax return to purchase insurance, but I was waiting for the return to come to make the purchase. I'm sure I'll see the direct deposit in my account in the next few days. Go figure.

Once we arrived, Kwik politely walked off the trailer and into the hospital. He walked over the scale and stood for blood draws like a perfect gentleman. After the initial evaluation, the lead emergency veterinarian talked me through each tier of diagnostics that may be necessary and what each tier would cost and explained that they would work within my budget. Then they began the process of probing the laceration and distending the joint, and I watched that wound like a hawk for fluid leakage. Nothing! The crippling panic began to subside as they pumped him full of antibiotics, stapled him up, and bandaged his leg. Kwik also managed to pull his left front shoe during his pasture shenanigans, and the clip punctured the white line. His hoof got bandaged as well, and the team lead explained that they would probably keep him in the hospital for a few days to monitor the laceration. She didn't see any reason why he wouldn't make a full recovery!

I helped tuck him into a stall in the hospital for the night and drove to a friend's house to spend the night. The hospital called in the morning to give me an update (everything looked good!), and I went to visit Kwik. He was happily munching his hay when I arrived and definitely had a fan club- all of the students taking care of him were excited to meet "Kwik's mom!" Dr. Shearer came out to talk with me, and I was on cloud 9 on my way back to Atlanta. Kwik could come home the next day!

I took a half day from work on Friday afternoon, and one of the boarder's, LV, graciously offered to haul Kwik home. The trip home to Ashland was uneventful, and Kwik immediately rolled in his stall when he got home. It was such a wonderful feeling to have him safe and sound at home! He gets 1 bute tab today and tomorrow, his bandage and hoof padding will get changed by Dr. P on Monday, he will need to be on stall rest for two weeks until his staples can be removed, but Dr. Shearer cleared him to return to regular work if all looks good after that!!!! Big smile!

I'm so grateful to so many people for their support during this whole ordeal: L for recognizing the laceration warranted an after-hours visit, Dr. P for making all of the right calls, the JKs for dropping everything at 8 o'clock at night to haul Kwik 40 minutes to Athens, Jen for packing Kwik's feed and supplements, the UGA emergency team for their great work and upfrontness (not sure if that's a word) about procedures and cost, Kwik's team of vets and students (he got so much attention- he probably didn't want to leave!), Mrs. Great Indoors for letting me crash at her house, LV for giving us a ride home, and all of my friends and family for their concern and well wishes. I'm so glad this turned out the way it did- it could have been much MUCH worse. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery!