Recheck Number 6

Well we finally reached this point. Ben had his 30 day recheck for the Succeed Fecal Blood Test & the results are fully negative. I have been crying off & on like a baby at the joy of finally reaching this point. This is going into month 6 since he was first officially diagnosed in February. I am so beyond proud of Ben for getting here after everything he has been through. I feel so thankful to everyone who has helped us throughout this whirlwind of a journey. I had to change everything for Ben to get to this point. I changed his feed, his living arrangements, his activity schedule, & every supplement he had previously been on. He was so sick for so long. Colicing every week sometimes twice in the same week, stall walking himself until lathered in sweat, not eating all his feed, an attitude that wasn't him, not drinking enough, & those are just what I saw slowly creep in overtime until it was out of control. I was to my breaking point in trying to help fix him in any way that I could but it never lasted he went straight back to being sick. When I was told that this is just going to be something I would have to manage myself his colic well anyone that knows me knows that it was the turning point. I would not I could not accept that if I could do something about it. The phone call to my regular vet where she recommended he go to the hospital to be thoroughly checked saved his life. Those days where he was bad still haunt me. Its like a dark place locked in the back of my mind. Until that day we went to the hospital a small light started to flicker. A flicker of hope that maybe just maybe we can get through this. I have people tell me that if I hadn't done what I did when I did they didn't know how much longer he could have gone through. It shatters my heart & breaks my soul to even grasp that. It's the truth though as much as it pains me. I will never ever give up without giving it my entire self. So I didn't & here we are.

I had someone say wow that's a long time to treat ulcers, but in reality ulcers can be that bad & he was that sick. Most horses go around with ulcers & they show you signs but you may not think that ulcers are the cause. It's not an easy or fun injury to deal with. Its expensive, time consuming, you have to change everything from what you are doing because its not working. You either put your heart into it or you will never fully heal them. Don't let it get to the point that it did for us. I was blindsided & felt like I was smacked in the face with a bat. I had a feeling he had ulcers but no one agreed with me for awhile & I began treating him but it was too severe at that point. He needed a major intervention.

For this months medications he will be continuing his Sucralfate for another 30 days & is now able to stop the Misoprostol. I know your probably wondering if he's better then why are you still medicating? That is an easy answer. You cannot I repeat cannot just stop medications cold turkey with ulcers you have to slowly wean them off everything. Reoccurrence rate is very high for horses who have ulcers if you stop medications too soon, do not find the secondary cause as to why they happened in the first place, & do not make some serious management reevaluations. I still remember another comment I got when Ben was first diagnosed. It was oh well that's easy enough to treat.... people are very ill informed about how badly ulcers can effect horses & just how complicated treating them really is. I am speaking from experience & for everyone who has a horse with ulcers & going through this roller coaster of a ride. One of my main reasons in starting this blog is to raise more awareness about ulcers. They are there whether you see them or not. I bet if you called up a hospital & asked just how many they diagnose in a week you would turn pale. Stop turning a blind eye & start listening to what your horses are telling you. They speak in words we should learn to understand.

Again thank you to everyone for your help. We are not finished this journey we are simply closing a chapter to start a new one. I can only hope he continues improving & inspiring me & anyone who he touches.