Ronnie's PSD update - with pics, * one gruesome one *

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BeckyD

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So, Ronnie has his PSD op 2 weeks ago and came home on Tuesday last week. They'd kept him in a bit longer as one of the wounds was discharging, but he didn't seem to be infected so home he came. He travelled very badly, kicking out the whole way home.

His activity levels led to bandage sores, so he had to have pressage bandages on - but being Ronnie, he could whip these off in no time at all. So pressage bandages were abandoned and normal bandages reinstated...together with a bib:

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...which led to its own problems:

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So the bib was left on at night but off during the day. He was still managing to dislodge the bandages, and the wounds were by now breaking down quite badly - well, the one on the right wasn't looking great, one of left ok-ish:

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He's been put on Baytril antibiotic (which he hates), 2 butes a day, plus 20ACP a day. The vet swabbed the wound to make sure no nasty things in there, and he hasn't got MRSA apparently (thank god!!!) but has got bacterial contaminants from the environment.

However, the bandages still weren't staying put to last more than a day, so yesterday the vet found Ronnie lying down and realised that the getting up and down wasn't helping, and was explaining the amount of bedding that was getting inside the bandages to the wounds. So the decision was made to cross-tie Ronnie. So last night I sorted out his stable, my YO lent me some hook-over manger buckets and the poor chap is now tied to the front of his stable. He lies down a heck of a lot so it's going to be very hard for him.

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Some of you may remember him doing this to a rug 3 weeks ago:

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So he's been punished with this
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We have now hit the £5,000 vet's fees limit for this condition, the daily bandage changes are not far short of £300 each, and I don't quite know how I'm going to pay for all of this!
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Feeling a bit miserable, sorry for Ronnie and myself, and my bank balance.
 
Oh you poor thing! huge (((((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))))) for you!

Poor Ronnie, but you have to do whats best for him. It's so bloomin hard though isn't it? PSD is a horrible and frustrating lameness at the best of times, withough all this to go with it.

Have you seen my thread in vets? Manuka honey looks great with breaking down wounds.

I feel for you with the money situation too. Thats why we have insurance to take that part of the tress away, yet this hasn't has it? I prob have enough for 2 scans left (one of which is today) and thats it.

If you ever need to vent/whinge/cry/scream I'm here, do pm.

Loads of love x x x
 
Thank you for the hugs, they're much needed. I'm going to speak to the vet about manuka honey. The sooner I can get this wound clearing up the better. The problem was it cost £2k just to get to diagnosis, so the surgery on top at £2k, plus then £1k of vets' fees for 4 days of visits to change bandages, and we're at £5k.
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On top of the £2.5 k I had to spend on his SI injury at Christmas! Who'd have horses?! Pot plant next time.

GOOD LUCK for the scan today, will be keeping everything crossed for you. xxx
 
Thankyou I will let you know. not expecting much improvement after only 4 weeks, but as long as it's not got any worse!

I'll see if my vet recommends anything for wounds too. 3 heads being better than 1 and all that.

x x x
 
Oh gosh B - not pretty!
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Reminds me very much of how Rage's wound broke down post op, very, very similar.
He had IM penicillin as the oral ABs weren't touching it, but he then reacted to it so we went back to the powders.
In terms of treating the wound - he had Fuciderm cream applied twice a day. It was intened to be done once daily but we were having issues with keeping the dressing in place. The wound then started to granulate and grow proud, so he was put onto Flamazine cream (contains steroids) instead until the granulation receeded, and then back onto the Fuciderm.

Manuka honey is good, but messy, I used it on a horrid growth that Boo had and it worked well. Have pics if you want. It was the 25+ stuff and I spread it onto melolin dressings and applied it that way. Speaking to a district nurse that other day about it though and she said that the pull of the honey was too strong and affected the fluid content around the area (the sugar draws fluid out by osmosis) so could actually be detrimental. Might be worth looking into in more depth. The nurse said that they use various silver products now instead.

Really atm it is it growing proud that you need to worry about. The pressure of the bandages will hopefully keep it in check though, so just keep an eye on it.

Thinking of you both, and my reply to your PM will be with you later on! X
 
I used manuka honey which worked well but have been using something called Equaide on a cut on my grey horse that he keeps banging the scab off. So far it's working really well and seems to be keeping the proud flesh at bay.

Here's the link:- http://www.equinefirstaid.co.uk/

It looks like mud but it really seems to work!
 
Yes we've been using flamazine on the bandage sores on his legs and chin. I didn't realise that we could use that on the wounds as well. I'm not really sure what's supposed to happen and when with wounds like this - I'm grateful to have been lucky enough to have not experienced this before. In searching for info on wound breakdown I found your posts about Rage. That sounds far worse than what Ronnie's going through. Ronnie was on powdered antib's but moved on to the baytril liquid when the wound really broke down. He doesn't *seem* infected or unwell, he's relatively upbeat, bless him. He thought the cross-tying was hilarious yesterday, was penduluming (sp?) between them and trying to chew the ropes. Typical Ron really!
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Will be wary of the manuka and will be sure to research it.

xx
 
I am sorry... but I had to laugh at him in his new rug! Poor Ronnie
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When my friend's PSD wound broke down it was quite a bit worse than the one on his right leg. It took a reasonable period to heal (our horses had the op a week apart and I think he ended up on box rest for a good couple of months more than Grace) but on the plus side, you cannot see the scarring at all.

Once you no longer need the pressure bandages, I used the Eskadron liners during the night and left it open during the day: http://www.farmvet.com/ps-797-9-eskadron-climatex-bandage-linings.aspx
 
Hehe but you know he deserves it. He tried to lick it so I think he likes it
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Sorry to hear your friend's horse's wound broke down even worse, but glad also that Ronnie's not as bad as he could be. I'm not too worried about it, other than the time set back - he's already been in 7 months + and I feel so sorry for him.

I already have 2 packs of those bandage liners - I used them when he did his tendon last summer. He's ripped holes in some of them (surprise surprise) - hence why I have two packs, but they're so much better than normal fybagee (sp?).

Grace's success story keeps me going.
 
When mine had the op the vet gave me these kinky black stocking type things with little zips. They were so neat, they didn't budge or slip. They had 2 little bobble things to fit inside the hock which stopped any slippage or twisting. Don't know if they are worth a go if your vet has heard of them?
 
They are the pressage bandages that Ronnie can whip off in about 2 seconds flat. He's good with zips, velcro, buckles etc. Although I think he just pulled the pressage bandages down rather than anything more fancy.

They are a bit kinky aren't they?!
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My Mare also got her bandages off. This stomping caused sores at the top of her hocks which now look worse than the wounds. Because her wounds were stable the vet told me to take the bandages off.

The hock wounds have scarred, the PSD surgery is noticeable but the scars are tiny. There's just a raised area which is getting better with time.

Daisy had the surgery mid March and she has been turned out during the day for six weeks now. A huge relief for both of us. I have been riding at walk for a month and we have just got the green light for trotting after she's been seen by Tim Jarman ( Mctimoney ) on Tuesday.

Luckily for me the diagnosis and shockwave came to about 1400 leaving me plenty for the rest of it.

I hope he stops pressing the self destruct button, but you are lucky he's behaving. Daisy would have brought the stable down if I had pillar tied her.

I would advocate some kind of physio as well before you start riding. Daisy was tight all over from being on Box rest since last December.
 
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