Miss Queen Bee

Gem was supposed to stay in ICU for the entire 2 weeks to avoid the walk to the medical barn on her casted foot. This would also make the local perfusions, daily IM antibiotics and check ups easier on the staff.

Gem had other ideas.

She was a nut case in ICU. To give her credit, ICU was pretty scary. The walls were solid concrete blocks from floor to ceiling. She had a small window that overlooked the sheep pasture. Out front of the stall was the corridor where the other horses in ICU would get treatments. Not very feng shui.

Sunday morning they decided to move her over to the medical barn to let her have neighbors as well as horses across the aisle. The windows are large and without sheep. They put her in a middle stall so she could have horses on both sides and in front of her.

Gem had other ideas.

I'm not sure what her issues were with this set up, but apparently she also weaved, stomped, and in general was a very unhappy mare in her new stall. They gave her Ace and tried to get her calm, but she stayed too anxious and upset. They tried a stall on the other side of the aisle thinking maybe it was the window she didn't like. Nope, still angry Gem.

She must have made reservations for the penthouse suite and was angry they had her in economy.

When I arrived Wednesday morning, she was in the first stall on the right. This stall is a large, open and airy stall with a big window that overlooks the entrance drive so she can see all the comings and goings. She has a gigantic black TB neighbor to her right. To her left is the treatment area that is open and large enough for a truck and trailer to drive into to unload a lame or down horse. In front of her is both the entrance from the hospital as well as the staff office, feed room and supply room. She has a front row seat to it all.

Now, the Queen Bee is happy.

Other than her moving around until she was perfectly content with her digs, she is doing ok. She has stopped pounding the cast and it is surviving. Tuesday afternoon was her last local perfusion. I stopped by right after it was completed to find a super doped up mare who just wanted snuggled. I hugged her neck and told her it was all ok as she fell asleep with her head on my shoulder.

She was switched from IM to oral antibiotics Wednesday morning and is continuing on the bute for now.

Hurry up and wait is the order of the day. We will know a lot more when the cast comes off in a couple of weeks.