Moonie's Rough Day

 If you read Monday's post, then you are aware that Moonie, my Haflinger, developed a squamous cell carcinoma of his left eye.  Apparently (I learn new things all the time with my animals) Haflingers are prone to squamous cell, and some Haflingers more than others.   Hopefully, he's not in the latter group.

Dr. Becky paid a visit to the barn yesterday afternoon. (Perhaps we should just schedule weekly visits, as it seems to be working out this way of late.)   We haltered and led Moonie, unaware of what was on his schedule, into the stall aisle.  He is used to being here for grooming and farrier visits, so this was nothing out of the ordinary for him.  

Dr. Becky gave him an injection of sedation and he very quickly became sleepy.  

She injected his facial nerve, right above his eye, to temporarily paralyze his eyelids so that he could not blink.

 Then she trimmed his eyelashes.

 Next she applied a topical anesthetic to his eye ball.

All of this was done with Moonie standing up, his chin on a special sling.

I stood on the right side of him and helped to hold his head at an angle, while Dr. Becky removed the tumor.  Hubbs held Moonie's eyelids out of the way and illuminated his eye with a headlamp while Dr. Becky worked.

Of course, the peanut gallery had to see what was happening.

They just hate it when someone else is the center of attention, and so they spent the entire time dancing around in the stall next to us, whinnying their opinions.

In a matter of minutes, she removed a tumor from the sclera of his left eye that was about the size of a pencil eraser.  

Moonie tolerated the procedure well.  I tolerated it a little less well.  I am a mess when something is wrong with one of my animals... not an outward mess, but an inward one.  It is not unusual for me to feel like I am going to pass out while a procedure is being done... I am just a little too empathetic.  I am happy to say that none of us, Moonie included, ended up on the floor, so all in all it was smooth sailing.

 For the next few days (weeks?)  Moonie will be on a regimen of pain medication, eye drops and ointments until his eye has healed.  Once it is healed we will begin a regimen of chemotherapy drops to hopefully destroy any tumor cells left behind.  He will have to wear a UV protective fly mask for the rest of his life, and I will have to regularly check inside his eyelids for recurring tumors.

For now he will wear his regular fly mask to help keep any dust from blowing into his eye.

 Sadly, this may be Moonie's cross to bear for the rest of his life.  At almost 20, he still should have a good portion of his life to live out with his little equine family.  It will be my privilege to help him do so.  I love this horse.  He's just the best!

Yesterday brought strong, gusty winds, so spending a little time in my sewing room was lovely (when I wasn't tending the patient).  I made a couple lined, waxed canvas bags (with ample pockets) for my Etsy shop.