I headed back to Washington State University's veterinary teaching hospital today to see our blind foal Brynn and bring her back home to the ranch tomorrow. She has been in the hospital for an entire month now! I took these photos this evening of Brynn and 4th-year vet student Prudence Jurica, one of the wonderful team of people who have provided such fabulous care for our little girl. Prudence is graduating in May and has already passed her boards, so she's about to begin her new career as a veterinarian.
By the way Brynn was carrying on with Prudence, it was clear she had really bonded with her caregivers here. In the second photo below, Prudence is scratching Brynn's back in her 'sweet spot,' which feels so good that Brynn makes funny faces with her lips and mouth. We always know when we hit that sweet spot because Brynn's mouth starts going into overdrive.
Brynn's surgery was a success ... this evening we watched as she peed three times like a normal mare! I could not believe how great her backside and thighs looked. Where once she had been covered in urine scalds, with the skin raw and peeling, she now had smooth skin. I was thrilled to see her squat and thrust to pee like any regular mare would do. In fact, Prudence said she had never seen Brynn pee so many times so quickly, which made me wonder if Brynn was just showing off ... "Look, Dad, I can really pee now!"
The surgeon, Dr. Claude Ragle, told me last week that Brynn had sprung a small leak in her urethral extension, but that we could fix it in another month or so. Because her sutures are still present and the tissue is healing, going in now to fix her leak might cause some of those sutures to rupture. So the best course is to let everything heal up and then bring her back to close up the hole. Prudence said Brynn appears to be leaking when she's lying down and sleeping, and then it kind of pools a little under her flanks. But that is much easier to deal with and clean than the constant dribbling she used to do, which ran down her rear end and legs and between her thighs.
There is still a risk that the urethral extension could cause urine to start backing up her ureters into her kidneys, so we will need to run weekly blood panels on Brynn for the next few months to check her kidney values. But so far her blood panels -- including one they ran today -- show her kidney values remain normal.
What I saw this evening is a 100% improvement on what she was like when she arrived a month ago -- so we are incredibly relieved at the outcome and thoroughly impressed with the world-class medical care Brynn received here. We wanted to thank Dr. Ragle, Dr. Kristin Gablehouse, senior vet tech Teri Olson, and the rest of the WSU team that cared for Brynn. She was in great hands for the past month.
Alayne and I also wanted to thank everyone again who contributed to Brynn's medical fund. Without those generous gifts, Brynn's surgery would not have been possible. We called her fund "A New Day For Brynn," and those donations accomplished exactly that. On behalf of our blind girl, thank you so much!
And when Brynn gets back to the ranch tomorrow afternoon, she'll find a little buddy waiting for her ... blind baby Cash!
(Click on photos for larger image.)
This is a very powerful, moving and inspiring post for me; to hear that Brynn is peeing as she should thanks to the assistance of people's financial genersity and shared medical talent and wonderful caretaking from the staff at WSU; her outcome has miracle in the making.
We're so happy for her success!
Posted by: Leilani | March 12, 2007 at 07:34 AM
it is wonderful to hear that brynn is back at the ranch and i hope she continues on the path towards recovery. she sounds like such a sweetheart and i am so glad that her quality of life is going to be significantly improved by the procedure. :)
Posted by: m | March 11, 2007 at 01:33 PM
I'm delighted that Brynn has gotten such great care & is doing so well. I know that you & Alayne are so relieved that the surgery was a success! (& no more suffering for her hinny). It will be interesting to see how she reacts to Cash.
Big congrats hugs to Brynn & thanks to all at WSU that helped her while she was in their care.
ginger & Tobias
Posted by: ginger & Tobias (the greythound) | March 09, 2007 at 09:58 AM
Wonderful news that Bryn's plumbing has dramatically improved! I am sure she will be thrilled to be home at the ranch again!
Posted by: Nina | March 09, 2007 at 07:06 AM