After a late night, the gosh darn hotel alarm clock went off at 6 am, then after I pushed a button it must have been a sleep button that went off again at 6:10 so I unplugged it. It was wakeup time after 9 with a shower, dress and a coffee with creamer enjoyed in the room thanks to a few sample bottles I packed. We then headed down to meet the rest for breakfast. Once we ate and visited it was time to pack up. Jarrod took the one bison head to donate to a local fundraiser.
It was -8 as well left the hotel and headed to mall. A few quick stops at Saje and Lululemon and we were then of to Costco. This took a bit longer to full a cart, pay and get it loaded in the car. The next stop was to check out the sander I narrowed it down to at Lee Valley. I ended up getting it and a few accessories while S waited in the car with a sore back. And the last stop was to pick up Cooper's raw food for B.
As we headed out of the city it dropped to -16.5 then -22!!! BRRRR The Glenmore trail was still a sheet of curling ice with slow traffic down to 35 KPH. Hwy 817 was much better as we turned south. We were back at the ranch around 4 the the arduous task of unloading and putting all away. H was happy to see us, B had left her here after she fed horses and put blankets on the oldies after lunch.
S went to soak in the hot tub while I checked emails and did accounting. He had a shower and nap on the couch then as the sun was disappearing took a run to check out the gate power box and bring the cats in to the garage to spend the night. I air fried the other half of the sweet potato fries with the stuffed salmon in the oven for a delicious supper.
S had a hockey game to watch as I continued doing accounting. He moved into bed to watch with a back massager as I did a facial mask/ treatment. I was finishing it up when I heard banging on metal. Bang and bang. I opened the bathroom window and it was coming from the deck or south. S thought it was wind and a downspout but I said I see no wind. I pulled my coveralls over my nightie and ran out The metal banging was coming from the shop wall. I could see horses shadows with one pawing then laying down and rolling. It was Pepper. I tried to get him up and away from the wall but he would go back to rolling. I ran back to get my phone and call B and grab a toque and raced back. I got a halter on him and brought him out of the pen. The wind cut to the bone in -24. The poor guy was completely sweat up and after rolling covered i ice balls with gravel frozen in his fur and mane. S had come out, gave me his gloves then started to hook truck to hose trailer as I walked him on the road. He continued to drop and roll and thrash, the poor guy was in pain. S had troubles hooking up the truck to the trailer damaging the hitch and end gate but once hooked up he went back inside the house.
It seemed like forever but B arrived and quickly gave him a shot of banamine once we took him into the barn. He was up and down, we walked him around the stall then out in the arena. The roads were sheets of ice as we had experienced earlier which slowed down Dr Jordan but she arrived at 12:30.
She gave him a sedative which helped relax then did a rectal cavity exam and found displaced organs. She then flushed his stomach with warm water B had ran to get. This showed old food still in his stomach. Next up was ultrasound that showed thickening of the small intestine walls with all 3 things not good. His sedative wore off fast requiring multiple doses to do the testing which is another sign of pain and distress. The belly tap also showed blood which all tests confirmed that he was in pain with strangulating lymphoma. Surgery at his age is very hard on them so we made the very hard heart wrenching choice to say good bye. I called S to come out and say goodbye and we were all with him when he passed after 1:30 am.
We helped Jordan load up all her stuff then she was off. Britt and S took small squares to the other 4 who had stayed on south side of barn while I brought the buckets and vet kit back in. B and Cooper headed for home and we headed to bed after 2 am requiring a sleeping pill for me to get to sleep after the last week of terrible sleeps.
No comments:
Post a Comment