I think that we may have have turned a corner in the last 36 hours.
Reuben suddenly developed a tremendous amount of swelling in his chest, legs, and ventral abdomen. Apparently, this is not uncommon, and it results from all of the inflammation in Reuben’s body. Amazingly, with time and walking, the swelling rapidly abated, and while still present, it’s not nearly as bad as it was even 24 hours previously.
Reuben still looks pretty scorched (as you can see) but he’s eating and drinking well. Happily, his urine, which had been the color of reddish coffee, is normal in appearance, so the concerns about his kidneys are certainly less. His eye is fine, but we’re still medicating it and waiting for the swelling in the eyelid to come down.
He’s also starting to act a bit more frisky. When coming back to his stall after his paint job with the SSD and honey mixture, he turned his butt to the stall of another horse where he’s stabled and acted like he wanted to kick. Annoying behavior to be sure, but given the circumstances, it’s nice to see him becoming a bit more aware of his surroundings.
Some skin is going to peel, but the depth of the peel is still to be determined. He’s getting daily bathing, and it’s taken 4 baths to get all of the char out of his coat. Even at the third bath, the water was still running black. But we’re getting there. Reuben used to have a heavy mane but that took the brunt of the fire on his left side, so it got roached. Happily, the mane protected his left neck: gone, but not forgotten. The skin on his left neck is totally normal.
I got three different shipments of donations yesterday, 12.9.2017, from Zoetis, Patterson, and Henry Schein. It took me a while to sort through everything, but it’s all getting put to good use. We’re going through at least one canister of the SSD + honey mix a day. Another manufacturer, Kinetic Vet, is sending along some skin care products which will be of great use later in the treatment cycle. The generosity of people and companies who want to help is truly overwhelming. Reuben is a lucky horse in many ways.
Anyway, for now, things seem to be going in the right direction. I’d say we are two – three weeks out before we know how much skin healing we are going to have to deal with, but I don’t think that losing him is an option anymore. Hopefully, as he starts feeling better, he won’t become annoying to treat. Stallions can be like that.
Stay tuned.
