Puncture Wound X-Rays
I don’t feel much like writing. So, instead I’ll share a series of X-Rays from when my last horse caught her leg in a metal fence panel. She crushed part of her long pastern bone, and got a pretty deep puncture wound. Her recovery was a few days at the clinic on a DMSO drip (DMSO is fucking weird), and then 3 weeks of stall rest with daily hand walking.
On DMSO:
“When applied topically or by IV, DMSO goes into the blood quickly and is excreted through the lungs, giving the breath a garlic or burnt-almond smell,” says McCarroll. “People need to be aware of this when they use it, so they won’t be surprised.” — http://equusmagazine.com/article/dmso-for-horses-8468
But seriously, the smell of a horse being administered a DMSO IV drip is so intense and distinct. Something, I will always remember.
The needle in the images show how deep the puncture wound is. This first image shows best how much bone was crushed.
This next image looks to see if the puncture wound cut into the deep digital flexor tendon. This tendon helps the toe curl. My notes from the exam say the puncture wound doesn’t effect the tendon…but it kinda looks like it did.
