Colic surgery this and that

The staff at Littleton Equine Medical Center is very kind and very professional. No one is expected to pay for colic surgery. It is so excruciatingly expensive, they know that is beyond the means of many horse owners.

Still, I could tell Dr. Williams wanted to work on Olive. He told me she was a perfect candidate: young, strong, small, healthy and fit. I laughed at the fit part. 

"She's mostly been out of work for months," I said. "She's a little bit fat."

"No," he explained. "She's going to need those reserves. She'll come through this much better than a thin horse."

Just that morning, Olive had "told" the animal communicator she was a good weight, not fat. I guess she knew what she was talking about.

definitely not fat anymore

A lot of people have asked, and there was no real reason for Olive's colic aside from the obvious one: She's a horse. Horses colic. It sucks, but that's the way it is.

Olive's colon was displaced, and she tried to twist. However, it was so swollen, her surgeon said it was like trying to twist a mattress. Everything turned a little, but there were no tight kinks. This meant there was no necrotic tissue. He did have to make an incision to manually evacuate her gut, but that was it. She did not need a resection. Truly, this was best case scenario.

That said, she would not have made it without surgery. She was well on her way to rupturing. She was so, so, so swollen.

It's been a tough week, but Olive is scheduled to come home tomorrow. 

I feel so blessed.