05 April 2011

How Now, Brown "Cow"(?)

I've been digitally rifling through some of my favorite photos and thought I'd trot them out here.

And it brought on an interesting Then:Now juxtaposition for me.  To start with we have a then of Ele, Zoe, and I during my final year in vet school.  That was then...








This is now.  At least for Ele it is.  She still likes to go out to visit the horsey.  She still gives me snarlys and inspires me with her ability to snooze at basically any time of day.  And she's still the Best Dog in America (at least in my heart).












This?  Now.  She still loves to rest and roll over.  It still makes me smile every time she does.  :)

This is also now.  This not only makes me smile, it makes my heart squeeze in the way that only your baby loving your best doggie friend can.

But that is also then, now.  Because that pic was actually taken, I think, 6 months ago now.  It just flabbergasts me how quickly my little Gabey grows up.







This was then.  Relatively speaking.  This was in the 25 seconds that Gabriel wore his Halloween costume which I spent 12 hrs+ sewing for him.  Regardless, he was the cutest baby dino in the world for those 25 seconds.


Speaking of wonderful thens...  This is another one of those memories that makes my heart squeeze and fill me up with joy.  We were able to take Gabriel to meet my Grandpoppy in January.  It is hard to describe how precious it was to have my little boy meet my Grandpoppy.  I just wish that Gabey could soak up all of the love and wisdom that Grandpoppy has, but he's simply too young.  So they giggled together.  Grandpoppy made faces and laughed and Gabriel laughed back.  And I will cherish that in my heart forever.
Now for a little more recent thens and nows.  We have begun our garden here at the Gallant Fox Vineyard.  The first here is about 4 weeks ago shortly after bud-break for our vines.



 About the time they came out I planted some potatoes.  These are red Kenniac and Yukon Gold.  A week or so after them I planted fingerling potatoes as well.  Some lovely ones with names like Purple Peruvian and La Ratte.  As it turns out, I'm not sure where the pic of now is, but imagine if you will (until I can find it) the mounds have now been scooped around little trunks and the plants spread across the rows in leafy abundance.  If I'm counting correctly, I should have about a month to go on them before harvest.  I can hardly wait to try them!
 I sent these cute little seed packets to my friend K in Dallas a few weeks ago to start her garden.  Our seeds are already in the ground and we have a lovely little stand of corn sproutlings as well as a multitude of different squash, a couple types of cucumber, a couple kinds of watermelon, a few beans, and some peas.  If we only could get a couple of rainy days things would be going like gang-busters.






These are the tomato transplants.  I started them in the house in early Feb and have now moved them all outside where they are very happy.  I learned from last year and every sunny day I could had them outside so they could gain strength in the wind before having to stand up to it all the time.  I also intentionally started with the dirt about an inch down in the transplant containers then once my seedlings were up about 2 inches I added dirt which allowed them to grow more roots along their stem and become even more secure.  We are learning great new tricks every season with this fun gardening adventure.








***Warning, mildly gruesome/icky pictures of my horse's leg wound, not for the faint of heart.***
Now if you carry on, it's all on you. ;)



This is a little old and a little new at the same time.  My horse, Zoe, got tangled in a fence and this is what it did to her leg.  Needless to say, as both a horse owner and a vet, I'm not a fan of barbed wire. Ugh.

This pic was actually about 2 weeks into her recovery.



 And that brings us to now.

This was today when I performed a skin graft on her wound.  It has taken a month to get the infection under control and a healthy looking bed of granulation tissue to grow across the wound.

This pic shows the prepared area on her lower abdomen/flank where I took the donor grafts and her wound on the front of her hock where I placed them.
 Here is the wound where I placed the grafts.  I did two kinds of grafts - a tunnel graft and a series of pinch grafts.  This is quite a tricky spot because of the motion of the joint which will likely disrupt the formation of connections of the grafts.  That's part of why I tried the tunnel graft.  I was able to suture the top of it to the nearby skin, but one of the areas where I attempted to tunnel it through was too delicate and fell apart.  Fortunately, the lower part held the skin I placed in it almost like a little pocket.  The pinch grafts you merely try to get to stay in little pockets made in the granulation tissue.









Here is what the flank/donor site looked like after I took the grafts and had begun closing them.  The long area was for the tunnel graft and the circles were the pinches I took.  Fear not!  The bumpy looking skin in an upside down u around the shaved area is an anesthetic block so she didn't feel a thing.










Now, here is what we have.  A nicely bandaged leg.  Crossed-fingers and a prayer.  I'll post again in 5 days when I remove the bandage.  The textbooks say there is about a 65% success rate in pinch grafting, so there's a chance, although under our sub-optimal conditions I'll be happy if any of them succeed.  






Sort of like life... To be continued... ;)  

****Blogger's note: I am actually a trained, licensed professional.  I am a veterinarian and do not recommend trying this at home.  Unless you are also a veterinarian, enjoy surgery, and have the misfortune of having a horse that like a horse tangled with a fence and lost. Then, by all means, try this at home. ;) But remember, the books left out all the blood, it will definitely get in your way. ****