Izzy's Leg: Update 5

I love that I have such a boring post to share. Izzy's leg has reached that point of s-l-o-w-m-o-t-i-o-n ... Now that the proud flesh is officially under control (knock on wood, knock on wood, knock on wood), the wound just needs to continue closing. I foresee a lot of practice on my part in the art of demonstrating patience. We'll see how Zen I can be ...

The first photo is from the first day I saw the wound, four days after it happened. The next three photos were taken at ten day intervals. The last two are from yesterday. Click on each photo for a caption.

I included the close up shot because it shows such good progress!  All of the gray or white areas on the wound edge are new skin. And next to the new skin is skin that has healed and now has hair growing on it. If you're brave enough to enlarge the earlier pictures, you'll see how deep this wound really was. In the beginning, I could have laid my thumb in that lower tear drop portion. Now, it's completely filled in and getting closer and closer to be completely covered with new skin!

If you've just stumbled on this page, or you missed a few episodes, Izzy scraped his leg while at a trainer's barn on January 6th. He was seen by a vet who stabilized the wound but felt as though no stitches were needed. Since I was told the wound was minor and would heal within ten days, I waited until that weekend to bring him home. When I unwrapped the leg, I realized it was a much more serious injury than I had been led to believe and immediately called out my vet. Dr. Tolley felt the wound should have been stitched.

Here's a timeline of procedures so far:

1. January 6th, leg is injured and treated by a mobile vet with a pressure bandage.
2. January 10th, Dr. Tolley sees the wound and recommends a wet dressing of Biozide gel every other day for ten weeks.
3. January 24th, the leg develops substantial proud flesh and needs a debridement. The wound is covered in a calcium alginate pad, instead of the Biozidd gel, in an effort to slow the proud flesh.
4. January 26th, the wound is re-wrapped with another calcium alginate pad.
5. January 30th, proud flesh returns in full force and a second debridement is necessary. Dr. Tolley suggests using BVH's White Lotion, a lead-based astringent, instead of the far more expensive calcium alginate.
6. February 15th, the wound has been re-wrapped every other day with a telfa pad saturated in White Lotion. The proud flesh has not returned.

Until the wound is completely closed, Izzy's activity level needs to remain limited, and the leg must be re-wrapped every other day. The wound is definitely shrinking, but it will probably be at least another month before it has closed completely.

I speak with my vet every Friday and email him photos. So far, we haven't had to go back since the last debridement on January 30th. I hand walk Izzy each day, do some ground work exercises, and change the bandages every other day. So far, it looks to be healing at a steady rate. Dr. Tolley's initial ten week time frame is looking like a good estimate for complete healing. 

I am feeling pretty optimistic!