I brought Copper Kid home from WSU today, and needless to say, he was glad to be back. Even though he turned out not to be a candidate for surgery because the areas of spinal cord compression weren’t visible on the myelogram, I thought you’d like to see some photos from the procedure. Kate F., the 4th year vet student who cared for Copper during most of his stay at the hospital, was kind enough to send these to me.
In the first photo, the team is moving Copper from the anesthesia induction room to radiology, where the myelgram is conducted. Here’s another view of the same process.
In this photo, Copper is in radiology and they are about to shave and scrub the back of his neck. The contrast medium is injected in a tiny hole in the spinal column at the top of the spine, and as the fluid moves down the column, the radiologist takes multiple images.
Copper made the trailer ride back to Montana without any problem. We stopped at Blue Mountain Veterinary in Missoula to pick up Roy the old mule. I had to unload Copper first to get Roy in, and Copper managed to turn completely around inside the trailer so he could come out head first. For a second I thought he was going to go down … he swayed, his rear end dropped, I held my breath … but he pulled it out like a champ and then headed for the exit.
While at the clinic our equine vet, Dr. Erin Taylor, showed me the X-rays she took of Roy’s joints yesterday. My oh my. It was just heartbreaking to see what he’s had to endure. The good news is that he was dramatically improved today! When I led him out to the trailer, he had such a nice gait I couldn’t believe the difference. It’s amazing what some good trimming, shoeing, and joint injections will do for an old, arthritic mule!
(Click on photos for larger image.)
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