Wedding belle

With our daughters wedding last saturday, it's been a full-on fortnight. In between the ceremony at Glastonbury, and the reception in our village hall, we had a champagne reception in the garden. We couldn't afford the Three Tenors, so instead we had the Four Gazebos - ones we erected, not the name of a performing troupe. We did have a fine duet in the form of Nils and Dave on piano and trumpet. Remarkably, in this last month (or 2) of changeable weather, we had a lovely afternoon. Being very much a Do-It -Yourself wedding, we had to get the garden ready, and the hall for the reception, so everyone was running around like headless chickens in ever-decreasing circles.

It was during this, on friday afternoon, the day before the wedding, that Autumns drama unfolded. She had been limping five days earlier, so I had been treating for mites between the toes, having found crustiness. This didn't improve, she kept all weight off the leg (front right), and when I saw her sat apart from the grazing herd, just before a wedding and Bank Holiday, I decided we needed the vets advice. The vet found her thigh to be swollen, and advised an x-ray, so amidst all the wedding preparations, I placed her in the back of the estate car, and took her to the surgery. X-ray revealed no break (phew!), but a bone infection, Osteo-myelitis, and the concern is that it may leave sequestered (dead) bone tissue. So she is on injected anti-biotics (Rosflor) for a month.



The good news is that she has responded well, using the leg again, has chased a chicken, and the swelling has reduced, but remains, and she still keeps a bit light on it. We assume that the leg received trauma such as a kick, though there were no external signs, other than a tiny red spot. Have considered a snake bite (there would be two marks? and presumably that wouldn't affect the bone in any case). One night when injecting sub-cu, I penetrated muscle tissue, which she didn't like, went all wobbly and rolled on it due to soreness - it scared the living daylights out of me, wondering what I'd hit.


Meanwhile, I am still battling with Minnies mites - while her face has improved in some areas, there has been another wave of hairloss and crustiness.







The next job is to extend the shelter.