Garnet Comes Home: Surgery/Recovery Days Eleven through Seventeen

Read about Garnet’s previous days in the hospital here.

Days Eleven & Twelve: Monday 10/4 and Tuesday 10/5

We spoke with the doctor who said Garnet was healing well, but her breathing was still very labored. While it wasn’t as bad as it was before the surgery, it was still obvious that she was not comfortable. She had been on bute as a pain reliever and was not responding well to that medication, so the vet put her on a steroid to help with the swelling in her larynx/surgery site.

Day Thirteen: Wednesday, 10/6

We went up to visit Garnet again and were pleasantly surprised to hear- well, almost nothing! The steroids worked! She was obviously much more comfortable, and she had almost no wheezing at all. Her wounds were healing, but we still weren’t sure at that time when we would be able to take her home.

We groomed Garnet and stayed with her a while, but when we left we were very happy to think that we were on the other side of the healing process, and were hoping that we would be able to take her home the coming weekend or maybe Monday.

Day Fourteen: Thursday, 10/7

The hospital called and told us that everything was fine, but that they needed more money (the original estimate was that Garnet would be in the hospital for 5-7 days) and her stay was far beyond that. Still, what do you do? It just took more time for her to heal than they originally thought.

Day Fifteen: Friday, 10/8

The hospital called early in the morning and I wondered if they needed money again, but no- they said that Garnet could come home that day!

We weren’t expecting her to come home on Friday, and we were concerned- should we let her stay in the hospital for a few more days and continue to heal, or bring her home? After hemming and hawing for a while, we decided it would be best for Garnet to come home where she could see her horsie friends and not be in the hospital environment. We all heal more quickly when we are in our normal surroundings.

We arrived at the hospital, and they brought Garnet out. The vet tech cleaned up her wounds and we went over the discharge instructions with the vet.

Then we tried to put Garnet into the trailer.

Getting her into the trailer, well… let’s just say she was not enthused about getting into the trailer. It only took about 15 minutes (which seemed much longer), but we finally got her to calmly walk in and we headed home!

Garnet trailered very well and her breathing was nice and quiet when we got her out of the trailer. When we brought her up to Hanaeleh, all of the horses were very excited to see Garnet- Rio began grooming her almost immediately! We made sure her stall was set up appropriately- we needed to put a different feeder into her stall as the vet wanted her fed on the ground. Overall, however, she settled in very well!

Day Sixteen: Saturday, 10/9

Garnet looked great! She was very good when we cleaned her wounds and was tolerant when we gave her the steroids. She’s not allowed to have any treats, which we’re assuming made her sad as the other horses were getting carrots and cookies, but she will be able to soon.

Day Seventeen: Sunday 10/10

The vet wanted Garnet to get out and walk everyday, so we took her, Sierra and Rio out on a one-mile walk. She did really well. While her breathing sounded a littler louder about 3/4 of the way back home, overall she did great- no spooking, no shying, and she seemed to genuinely enjoy getting out! This was probably the longest she has walked in a very long time!

It will take about two months until she will be healed enough for her to run around in the arena, but we are eagerly looking forward to that day! (which of course we will document so you can see it too!)

Thank you for supporting us and helping Garnet live a normal life.

Given the narrow airway she was breathing through when we took her in, this really was a life-saving surgery! It was very likely that she would not have survived if the airway had swollen much more. So a huge thank you to everyone who helped with allowing us to give Garnet this opportunity at a new life!

The vet is coming out Friday 10/15 to adjust her medication and we will continue to have after-care vet visits, so we are very appreciative to everyone who has helped continue to sponsor her.

This is the last update we are going to write in regards to her surgery, but please be sure to watch for other random Garnet updates!