Jetblue and Whisper

Life is complicated.  A life with animals, my life, has always been about trying to find balance.  More often than not I've put the critters first, their needs always preceding mine and sometimes those of my children and husband.  Doing so has exacted a cost.

Wednesday, Dr. Barb Crabbe and Nikki James came to tend to Jetblue, to remove the surgical staples and ultrasound her vein near the still swollen catheter site.  Nikki commented that whoever put the staples in should have been a surgeon.  They were that straight.  The duo ultrasounded the still swollen catheter area, the area where there is a clot, and determined that the vein was not affected.  So far, Jetblue is recovering with flying colors.

While Barb and Nikki were here, I asked them to do a quick check of Whisper.  Nothing elaborate.  Just two more sets of eyes.  What they saw wasn't good.  Both of Whisper's rear tendon sheaths were swollen.  Nothing remarkable about that.  Whisper's rear tendon sheaths have been swollen at various times over the past two years and at some point early on, I even had Barb ultrasound them.  Back then, there was nothing more than swelling.  I've always doctored Whisper back to health but two years ago, I made the decision to decommission her.

Since then, she's woo-hoo'd in the pasture or paddock occasionally and the tendon sheaths have become swollen again.  Each time, I've medicated and wrapped the mare's legs until she recovered fully.
Wednesday, Barb initially thought the swelling was nothing more than cosmetic, but when she picked up Whisper's left rear leg and flexed it, the mare just about buckled to the ground.  In anticipation of the vet's visit, I hadn't given Whisper any pain medicine for two days.  She was obviously lame and Barb thought it was imperative to determine the source of the problem before asking Whisper to do any work. 

What that means is X-Rays and ultrasounds with a price tag of around a grand.  Barb told me she's confident that the findings will not be good.

So , as I have so many time with Whisper, I'm thinking about options. There are four approaches:

1. Get a diagnosis.
2. Return Whisper to stall and paddock rest only.
3. Continue a light conditioning program with the use of anti-inflammatories and wraps.
4. Euthanize Whisper.

It's a dilemma.