More about Stella
Update 06/10/2022
Stella finally got to come home from the clinic 3 days ago on Tuesday June 7, 2022.
She spent a total of 23 days there.
There was so much drainage and pus coming out so they had to change the bandage daily and irrigate it well. The second reason why she had to stay so long at the clinic was because the culture they sent to the lab came back with the result that the bacteria she's been fighting is resistant to all normal antibiotics so they had to inject her Baytril. Now that the stitches are pulled she doesn't need a bandage anymore but there is still pus and drainage coming out. She's also been switched to Enro which is the oral version of Baytril so we were able to bring her home. We have to clean up her face a couple of times a day to keep the drainage flowing.
Otherwise Stella is happy to be back home. The donkey Rosie gave her a big greeting when she saw her :-)
We don't have her vet bill yet but it's not going to be cheap. Donations are still at $925. Please consider helping us with this cost. Even $5 can go a long way! Thank you and God bless!
Update 05/21/2022
I dropped Stella off at the clinic May 16 because she was scheduled to have another sinus surgery.
However things took an odd turn.
A couple of days before the appointment the foul smell in her left nostril just disappeared. However, 2 weeks earlier I noticed that she had a bump on the right side of her face which slowly started to get bigger.
It didn't seem to bother her much by touch and I was curious to find out what it was because I knew they would x-ray her whole head.
Turns out, somehow Stella has a skull fracture and sequestrum that was surrounded by pus/abscess. They cleaned out all the fragments and flushed out the pus.
They left a corner of the surgery site open so drainage or small particles can come out without causing another abscess. What caused this skull fracture is a big question mark in our heads, too.However she is fully blind. It can't be determined if she got kicked or hit her head. There is a possibility her left sinus/ nostril might start smelling again. For now, her sinuses were left alone. The next few days will show if we have to take further actions. There is a chance Stella might end up with a crooked nose caused by facial nerve damage. However this is not going to cause her any problems, it's just a small blemish which makes her even more special.
On May 19 I got the following text from my vet:
-- "Hey Nadin - Quick update on Stella. The bandage was changed today and she does have a significant amount of drainage and foul odor coming from the surgery site. We irrigated it well and rebandaged it. I think it may be smart to leave her here for a few days so that we can get this cleaned up a little more. We have to change the bandage daily for now." --
Stella is still at the clinic but I went to go see her yesterday. She seems to be doing ok considering the circumstances. We hope she will be able to come home soon.
Any small donations towards her vet bill are greatly appreciated! So far we received $925 in donations. Every little bit helps! Thank you and God bless!
Update 03/04/2022
Unfortunately, we are still working on Stella's sinus infection.
On January10, we had some more x-rays of her sinus taken and decided we are going to keep her on Doxycycline for two more weeks and then take her off to see what happens. Yesterday Dr. Johnson took another swab to do another culture because the smell is slowly starting to come back. Once we get the results back for the culture we will know if Stella has to go back to the clinic for another sinus surgery.
By now we exhausted all possibilities with antibiotics that Stella can handle. She can't handle the really strong ones. They make her very sick. The little pony also received her vaccines yesterday.
Otherwise Stella is a happy little mare!
Her vet bill from January 10,2022 was: $317,50
Her vet bill from yesterday was $306
(The complete vet bill from yesterday for the rescues was:$2430) Please consider a small donation towards these costs! Thank you!