Diamond's Recovery Diary (a.k.a Sugar)

Diary is updated from most to least recent events.

7/25/05 - 4:00pm - Special thanks to Dr. Cary and all the staff at Cave Creek Equine and AERO volunteers for helping us send Diamond off in spirit for Diamond's family.  When her spirit left her a single bird flew over her to show her the way and she is very happy now.  We were all touched by Diamond's time with AERO and she has inspired our Horses for Healing program.  This page will be moved to the In Loving Memory area in a few days.

7/20/05 - Noon - Diamond will be going in to Cave Creek Equine on Monday for her final good-bye.  She is doing well with the pain killers right now and receiving lots of extra minerals and special treats to make her time with us comfortable and special.  Those that have supported Diamond are welcome to come by the barn before Monday and spend time with her.

7/19/05 - 6:30am - Diamond is starting to show signs of discomfort so we've started her on painkillers.  Her body is showing signs of fatigue as well with some weight loss and fur loss.  The pressure in her sinus cavity is building to the point where we have decided we need to prepare for her last day.  Diamond will likely be taken in on Friday for her last day here.  If you are interested in joining us to send Diamond on to the great pasture in the sky please email and we'll provide the exact time.

7/18/05 - 6:00am - Diamond had a good weekend with lots of interaction and playtime with people.  Although the area around her eye and sinus are sensitive to the touch because of pressure, she is not showing signs of discomfort eating or otherwise.  Currently she is being treated as little as possible in that area in order to keep irritation to a minimum and comfort maximized.  She is still receiving all of the immune and mineral support in her feed possible.  The website was not updated lately due to multiple power outages.

7/13/05 - 7:00pm - Diamond has a new area above her sinus that has opened up but it does not have the typical drainage of some of the other areas.  Overall her eye area looks good and has minimal drainage and her nose is still draining.  She was playful and interactive today and is eating well.  She looks the same as her picture below and has not shown significant signs of illness.  However if her eye and sinus areas continue to reopen it will be difficult to manage keeping them clean without bandaging and it will be a significant change to her quality of life.

7/11/05 - 8:00am - Diamond is active and happy.  Her drainage is getting strong enough that we have confined her to her 50x50 turnout area away from the other horses again so that she doesn't transfer bacterial infections to them.  However her demeanor is active and happy....she is still receiving medicinal mushrooms and melrose essential oils (tea tree blend).  If you were to look at her you would never know she has anything going on in her body.

7/9/05 - 8:00am - Diamond received new visitors and carrots today.  She seems to be feeling better today and is actively grazing around her turnout.  Dr. Cary looked at her and said she looks good!

7/8/05 - 7:00pm - Diamond wasn't as perky today as she usually is....we cleaned her sinus area up well and she seemed to be more playful after that.

7/7/05 - 7:00pm - Diamond is still doing well today but not quite as playful and she had a little more drainage from her nose.  She is eating and drinking well and not showing signs that her teeth are bothering her.  She played with Chico in the arena for a little while but they were both hungry and ready for dinner!  Her sinus has two spots where tumor is draining now but the drainage is not significant.  She is rubbing her eye area quite a bit however.

7/6/05 - 7:00pm - Diamond has a strong appetite and we're starting to feed her additional hay again.  She has a little more drainage today and her eye area is draining a little blood.  She was very playful and wouldn't leave us alone during scooping time because she wanted her scratchies.  We must have scratched her all over for a good 20 minutes and she was in heaven!

7/5/05 - 9:00am - Diamond continues to be in good spirits and eating well.  Her drainage spots were treated with lemon essential oil and we've added colloidal silver (in a microbial form that does not build up in the body to cause toxicity) which will help with any infections caused by the tumors.  The tumor growth has been aggressive but Diamond continues to be in excellent spirits and very actively exploring her turnout and socializing with the other horses.

7/4/05 - 7:00pm - Diamond had a very good day today with little drainage and lots of playfulness.  The area over her sinus has formed a small opening allowing drainage and relieving pressure in her head.  She is eating and happy.  Dr. Cary looked at the lump in her chin and when her eye closed up the drainage went to the lymph node under her chin causing a tumor there.  Her prognosis is not good at this point and she is being monitored for quality of life.

6/29/05 - 7:00pm - Diamond is doing well and played hard with Chico today in the arena.  She is active and inquisitive and eating well.  Due to the fires Dr. Cary was not able to make it out to see her today but the lump under her chin remains unchanged and she does not have a fever so it is not an urgent matter.  This diary will not be updated again until Monday, July 4.

6/28/05 - 10:00am - Dr. Cary came  to look at Diamond's eye and the area we were concerned about.  Diamond is showing signs of the tumor regenerating and pushing out of her eye orbit and sinus.  It could be that the chemotherapy did some good but was not done enough, there is a slight chance that it is an infection but that will release quickly (which has not been happening), but is most likely the tumor growing back.  She is doing well for now so it is a matter of waiting to see how well she does for how long.  Additional treatment would cost in excess of $3000 - at this time the rescue and Linda have decided not to pursue more treatment.

6/27/05 - 8:00am - Diamond's eye was cleaned.  There is a tissue area that is having trouble filling in and although it is very small we have decided to treat it with an essential oil blend in case there is something infectious going on.  Diamond is moving well and even her feet are getting a little less sore.  We also put an EMF balancer on her to help her body's circulation to even out.  The extremely slow healing indicates a systemic imbalance that her boosted trace mineral schedule should have addressed by now.  She is still very happy and playful.

6/24/05 - 8:00am - Diamond continues to progress nicely with all of the areas that were open on her face closed except a small area in the surgical site itself.  She is active and enjoying her new oats and mineral mix.  We are investigating some additional immune system support for Diamond after consulting with some physicians who developed Lifewave patches.  These patches enhance cell function increasing circulation and detoxifying the body.  They were tested on racehorses with tremendous results and a veterinary research publication is about to be released this summer.  Diamond is also on her latest blend of medicinal mushrooms and will be able to go to maintenance on those after this month (which is twice a year).

6/21/05 - Noon - Diamond has been doing so well there's not much to report other than a healthy, happy horsie!  She was visited by Alex again today for a follow up check up and he said she is really loving life and doing well.  She's in the turn out with Solstice today because they seem to be the best match with each other (Chico can't be turned out on the rocky side because of his foot) - she enjoys having another horse to pal around with there.  Her eye is not draining (the skin on her surgical site has two smalls spots that don't have the outer layer but the rest is filling in with fur) and her nose has very little drainage.  Even though we haven't applied essential oils in over a week you can still smell the essential oils on her.  We've switched her to Select II by Select the Best products, a performance horse mineral supplement to help boost her trace mineral level.  She is also eating the free choice minerals.  We're also giving her a rolled grain blend with oats to build her calcium (the liquid calcium wasn't working well for her).  She is really looking great!

6/18/05 - 6:00pm  - Diamond was treated again with the cold laser and is healing really nicely.  She ran her heart out playing with Chico in the arena today!  She actually out lasted him in playtime.  Her feet are starting to shape up as well and she's staying very active.  The next couple weeks will simply be about maintaining the good stuff that has happened!

6/17/05 - 6:00pm - Diamond stopped draining out of her eye completely this morning and the healthy tissue is filling in.  Great news because now her face can finish healing without irritation.  She switched to draining from her nose this evening but it is very minimal and was expected.  A cold laser machine was donated to AERO today which will be used to speed healing in the surgical site.  A Rf machine was also donated and we will be able to use that to address some of the areas where Diamond is still showing signs of recovering.  Her next blend of medicinal mushrooms is being prepared and will be sent out tomorrow.  She is very happy, very active even though her feet are sore (there wasn't a time when she wasn't moving around the turnout with Solstice today) and she's eating well.

6/16/05 - 1:30pm - Diamond is enjoying her new freedom very much.  She has been eating Palo Verde flowers to her heart's content, following Solstice around in the turnout and just now was socializing with Chico in the main barn.  She's a big fan of being off of isolation precautions and is exploring every corner possible.  It's great to see her so alert and active and curious.  With her ability to graze on tree branches and weeds she will not be given a lunch today and we'll revert her to breakfast and dinner only.

6/16/05 - 7:00am - Diamond is slowing on her food intake.  The turnout has been reconfigured so she can be turned out with Solstice.  She has been navigating the tree branches like a pro and won't eat unless Solstice is near (Solstice is doing the same by the way - they are very good together).  She has switched to bermuda hay (which is healthier for her to maintain on) and has normalized much quicker than anticipated so we can start feeding her as we would any other healthy horse starting tomorrow.  Although her eye looks like it has completely filled in there is still a small amount of drainage so her face was treated this morning.

6/15/05 - 8:00am - Diamond was eagerly awaiting her food this morning...still eating 5-6 flakes a day but we'll start switching her over to mostly Bermuda now that her body is not working so hard.  Watching her this morning she was eating Bermuda first over Alfalfa which is a terrific sign that she's rebalanced herself.  Treated her eye area and will put a fly mask back on today for the first time in a couple days since the drainage is minimal.  She is very active this morning and feeling good!

6/14/05 - 7:00pm - Linda and Brian came to see Diamond tonite and found her in excellent spirits.  Brian spoiled her with Palo Verde flower grazing while her stall was being cleaned.  She has very little opening left in her eye socket and the drainage coming out does not have necrosis (the smelly tissue that is associated with squamous cell carcinoma)....in fact her drainage looks like perfectly normal granulation tissue drainage.  The few areas on her face that have not been able to heal from this drainage are shrinking and in the next couple days we should see her skin go back to completely normal around the surgical site. 

6/13/05 - 7:30pm - Dr. Cary stopped by and swabbed the eye socket (the area is healing so much that she can no longer fit her finger in the eye socket - only a thin swab) - she said that the orbit is filling in nicely and is starting to look the way she would expect it to look.  We retreated the bone area with some more sandalwood since it's closing up and we won't be able to get to it in the next day or two.  Her boots have been off and she's walking around quite well with only a little tenderness on one front foot.  She had a nice time grazing on Palo Verde flowers again this evening.  The drainage from her nose is almost non-existent and the drainage from her eye has reduced significantly and gotten more clear in color. 

6/13/05 - 6:00am - For those of you that are Quantum Physics fans Diamond has been repainted with her next set of words as the drainage has slowed to almost a halt.  We now have cleanse, renew, revitalize, circulation, love and fresh on her sides and will write them with henna soon which is more durable.  Lavender oil is and aloe salve is being used to keep flies out of the eye area and she was given 15 minutes of free grazing on palo verde flowers as her morning treat.  The key now is helping the body rebalance as it finalizes shedding the diseased areas.  This means better mineral absorption, detoxing out any residual sedation or unnecessary medicines, and strengthening the immune system.

6/12/05 - 6:00pm - Diamond's drainage is slowing.  Thanks to the help of a crew of volunteers we thoroughly cleaned her area, scrubbing the panels, scraping all old food and shavings out of the stall and putting in fresh everything while she played in the arena (she rolled three times).  She came back to eating lots of palo verde tree flowers and we took her boots off.  For the first time we see signs that her feet are no longer tender.  Her coat has a nice shine to it and she finished her anti-biotic treatment.

6/11/06 - 7:30pm - Diamond's face was retreated (she is cleaned, given aloe for her chafed skin, and fresh oil is applied to keep the flies off four -five times a day).  A Diamond look-alike came by today - another horse out of the same blood lines and it was uncanny to compare the two!  She is active still and in good spirits....we scratched her back (her favorite) for a good 10 minutes until my hands were tired.  The Baytril is just now starting to upset her stomach a bit so we'll add some detox tomorrow to help alleviate this on her last dose.

6/11/05 - Noon - Linda and Olivia (with her friends) came to visit Diamond and get some new pictures!  Diamond has been very active today and was let out into the arena to play! (pictures below of her cantering)  She continues to drain out of her eye and not much out of her nose.  We are keeping her eye open and continuing support to her immune system with supplements and trace minerals.  She enjoyed some palo verde flower grazing this morning and some back scratching.

6/10/05 - 6:30pm - Dr. Cary came over to check her eye and is very pleased with the progress.  The eye orbit is filling in nicely with healthy tissue and the external skin area looks fantastic.  The area of bone that is concerning remained unchanged so she put a shot of chemotherapy in that area (CESplatin) while there is still the ability to get to that area.  The idea is that between the sandalwood (which would normally show effect in two more days) and the chemotherapy the remainder of the sinus will heal up.  The eye orbit was flushed again and about half as much of the discharge came out this time.  Diamond is showing progress in all areas and is no longer considered 'at death's door'.

6/10/05 - 5:00am - Diamond is still weeping significantly from her eye (again expected weeping) and her skin is getting irritated from the drainage.  We will pick up some shea butter salve to help the aloe we've applied to this area but are not planning on applying a bandage.  More essential oils were applied to keep flies from the area.

6/9/05 - 7:30pm - Diamond is allowed to have nothing on her head for the first time in a month...no fly mask, no bandage, no halter, no eye protection.  She was extremely happy to be a horse after so much time with all that gear on her head.  Her eye orbit is still oozing significantly (we expected this) but the rest of the area has healed significantly and her spirits were very high.  She was running around in her area, playing and being very affectionate.  It's hard to tell she's missing an eye when you look at her...she has a beautiful head and gracefully handles the change to her face.

6/9/05 - 5:30am - Diamond is oozing lots of yellow matter from her nose and eye but the tissue around the eye continues to look good.  More oil was applied but with the amount of drainage we'll be putting a bandage on during the day to keep flies out of the area.

6/8/05 - 6:30pm - Dr. Cary came over to flush out the eye socket and was able to feel healthy tissue filling in which is a good sign.  There is still one area that does not have tissue over the bone where the cancer was originally scraped during surgery.  In the flushing process significant yellow matter came thru from her sinus which indicates the cancer is still in the sinus cavity or she has a bad infection.  The healthy tissue inside the eye orbit will create some drainage as well.  Dr. Cary started her on Baytril (a broad antibiotic) as a precaution.  The area was treated with Helichrysum and the area inside the orbit was treated with Sandalwood which seemed to reduce the cancer over the weekend.  The area was kept open without bandaging overnight to promote the healing. 

6/8/05 - 7:00am - Diamond's bandage had come off in the night so she was rewrapped her this morning.  She is alert and very active today.  She is still draining light yellow and clear from her eye socket even after the removal of diseased bone.  We cannot keep her eye area sterile given conditions in a barn so we have to hope that this area starts to heal itself with frequent cleaning.  We will retreat her eye socket tonite with Dr. Cary.  We took her to the arena for a good roll (she only rolls on her side with the eye) and took her to the barn to visit her friends before handing out breakfast goodies.  She has been given free choice minerals and started on liquid calcium to build up her mineral content with the intention of building healthy bone in the eye area.

6/7/05 - 1:30pm - Dr. Cary changed her bandaging today and still has a heavily guarded prognosis. The area on her cheek has healthy bone and she feels it is not related to what is going on in her sinus.  However her eye socket is still not healing on the inside.  There were four large pieces of diseased bone that she pulled out of the eye socket which could be from the cancer progressing (if this is the case it is close to her brain and continued deterioration of the bone could cause a sudden death), the bone could have had an infection, or she could have rubbed her eye and broken some pieces.  Getting the bone out and flushing it will allow it to heal if it is not the cancer spreading.  Dr. Cary will be coming out again tomorrow to flush it out again.  The areas on the outside are healing nicely but the eye socket needs to stay open until it starts to heal on the inside.  If progress is not made in the next couple days Linda will be consulted on the course of action for Diamond.  We place more sandalwood in the back of the eye socket. 

6/7/05 - 5:30am - Diamond's boots were taken off last night for the first time in a week and though her feet are still a little tender she is moving around.  So much in fact that she opened her stall door and decided to go down to the main barn and hang out with the other horses for a bit!  Other than causing us panic no harm was done and she had some social time.  However due to the drainage continuing in her nose we still have to try to keep her isolated for now so she was led back to her area. 

6/6/06 - 6:00pm - We came back from our trip today in time for Diamond's bandaging and had a VERY pleasant surprise.  According to the folks who took care of her bandages over the weekend she had very little drainage on Friday and Saturday she had a tremendous amount and things looked extremely bad.  However Sunday it started to look better and this evening the tumor had RECESSED over a 1/4 inch in her cheek and looks as if it is drying up.  The area in her eye is a very small opening and when the bandages were removed yellow and then clear material drained significantly and the tumor that was obvious on Thursday night was recessed to the point where it could not be seen.  This is a significant change for what seems to be the better so we suspect the sandalwood oil has made a change and we're planning on reapplying sandalwood and clove tomorrow in the bandage change.  In the meanwhile the eyelet stitch system was fatiguing so we removed them to let those areas heal and we put on bandaging (not Diamond's favorite) until we come up with a non-stick system tomorrow.

6/2/05 - 6:00pm - The area of Diamond's eye not healing has now shown the tumor is inside and the tumor on her cheek is starting to protrude.  If we were wondering what all of the changes meant it has simply indicated activity for her tumor.  She still shows no signs of discomfort, is eating and drinking.  We are focused on her comfort and trying a different set of oils (each type of cancer responds to different oils and squamous cell cancer has not been fully studied yet with the oils).   This diary will not be updated again until Tuesday June 7.

6/1/05 - 6:00am - Diamond's eye is weeping significantly and we're not sure what that indicates other than it's a big change from before her healing with Alex.  The area of her eye that is not healing looked as if it lost a mass of tissue that looks like cancer cells and behind it the area had filled in significantly.  The area on her cheek is staying about the same - neither inflamed nor the cancer reducing.  We stepped up some of the oils used today - tea tree oil has been shown to kill the anaerobic bacteria, clove and rosemary as anti-septics, and helichrysum to help numb the pain and promote tissue regeneration.  She continues to be very happy and we're sending her pure love.

5/31/05 - 6:30pm - Diamond has much less drainage from her nose today.  Too early to tell what that indicates.  She is eating and drinking well and asked to go eat palo verde flowers.  She is actively walking around her larger turnout even though her feet are tender still from her trim.

5/31/05 - 6:00am -  Diamond is very active and alert today - noticeably feeling better and eating ravenously.  We will enlarge her pen area again to 60X36 so that she can be more active.  She had significant oozing from her eye last night.  The sides of her surgical site are completely sealed and have all layers of skin filled in.  There is an area of her eye that is still deep and open directly in the center but it looks as if that area is trying to fill in. Her cheek open tumor area looked the same today.  We continue to treat with essential oils and Copaiba oil from Amazon Herbs.

5/30/05 - 2:00pm - Linda has asked that we rename her Diamond because 'Diamonds last forever and are a girl's best friend' so you'll notice we are officially changing everything to Diamond.  Upon rebandaging today the eye socket and flesh around the cheek tumor looked much healthier and showed significant progress.  Diamond received a special healing today that has improved her mood and condition significantly.  We expect to see Diamond make a full recovery based on the work that was done today and many great friends of Diamond showed up to support her in this.  It was a special day and she is feeling very good and strong.

5/29/05 - 10:00am  - Sugar's real name is Cinnamon Sugar and Sugar feeds cancer (literally) so we've all decided to start calling her Cinnamon.  Her wounds and cancer site look much less inflamed today when we changed the bandages so we treated her with the same oils, gave her a bath, and some visitors helped us paint positive words on her.  There is a special healer that has agreed to come to AERO tomorrow to work on Sugar.  We hope to see significant increase in her progression once he has completed his work.  She is still eating and drinking well and Linda cleaned up her mane and tail today.  She experienced a toxicity when she was young that almost killed her (around 5 mos) and it is felt that that illness is related to what she is experiencing now. (we should be receiving her latest pictures to post to the website soon!)

5/28/05 - Noon - Just changed bandaging and Sugar needs extra prayers and positive thoughts.  The spots not healing are very obviously the cancer growing.  We will be changing her bandaging twice a day to directly apply frankincense oil (shown to kill cancer on contact) in an effort to stop the progression and kill the existing cancer.  We also have an acupuncturist coming today to treat Sugar.  She is eating and drinking well and in good spirits.

5/27/05 - 7:30am - Dr. Cary stopped by to check on Sugar and said that the area of concern is showing signs of healing.  The bandage was changed and Sugar is being given as much hay as she will eat.  We'll be adding as many omega 3's as possible to her diet to discourage the cancer growth.  She is not draining as much from her nose today and the culture results are expected back today or tomorrow.  Sugar is much more active today and was beautifully decorated with loving words last night by Linda and Olivia.

5/26/05 - 5:00am - Sugar is eating again!  She had stopped eating bermuda but has regained her appetite and cleaned out her stall last night of all extra hay.  She is in much better spirits and eager to eat more.  We are giving her extra helpings to ensure her body has enough food to work on healing.  She still looks forward to her mushroom formula and carrots soaked in lavendar and carrot seed oil.  Her nose continues to drain....you wouldn't think that much stuff could be up there!  We are consulting with some additional holistic doctors on her to see if there is any other support we can offer.

5/25/05 - 1:00pm - Dr. Cary changed the bandaging and there is still one area that is not healing properly.  It is on the bone where the cancer had metastisized and been scraped away.  Other tissue around the eye is healing nicely.  She took a scrape of the area for the culture to make sure it is not a simple infection but it is likely to be an area where the body is still fighting the cancer.  Her bandaging has been changed so we can freshen it every day and antibiotics were applied to the area as a precaution. 

5/25/05 - 8:00am - Sugar has pulled her bandaging loose and Dr. Cary is scheduled to come out and re-wrap her eye this evening.  Sugar received raindrop therapy, carrot seed oil, and a homeopathic tincture to help her heal.  Her nose is continuing to drain constantly.  She is still eating and drinking well, no temp, and in good spirits. 

5/24/05 - 6:00pm - Dr. Cary checked Sugar's bandaging.  She continues to drain from her sinus and it's not clear if that is a good or bad indication.  The bandage has come drainage but no blood this time.  Dr. Cary will continue to check her bandaging and is generously donating her time on all of these rechecks.  Sugar does not have a temp, is eating well, and she is curious and in good spirits.

5/24/05 - 9:00am - Sugar continues to enjoy her boots.  She is draining from her sinus significantly in a yellow fluid.  Dr. Cary believes it is cancer related but cannot make an assessment whether that is a good sign or a bad sign.  After re-bandaging her eye we agreed to do that at least every other day.  Her eye is not healing normally and that could be from the cancer.  Her prognosis remains uncertain and today we will add vitamin B17 to her diet for the cancer.

5/23/05 - 7:00am - Sugar's feet are hurting from her trim so we've put boots on her.  She has been refusing all forms of painkillers and continues to bleed.  Her bandaging will be changed tomorrow by Dr. Cary and in the meanwhile we have cleaned up the area and added some essential oils to help repair the tissue.  Her nose has started draining clear fluid again which indicates more cancer is coming out.  She is showing marked improvement in demeanor and health.  She is slowing down on her vitamin intake but still consuming Vitamin A - another good sign that her body's immune system is boosted.

5/22/05 - 6:00pm - Sugar's cancer was causing a strong decay odor to come from her sinus.  In the last couple days we have noticed it decreasing and today it was so reduced we could barely smell it on her.  We take this as a significant sign of improvement as well as the fact that the drainage from her sinus is much less.  Her surgical site continues to bleed so Dr. Cary will be called to check it tomorrow.

5/22/05 - 9:00am - Sugar is continuing to rub her eye so we've given her some pain killer, a thorough bath and rubbed her down in Rosemary which is a wonderful antiseptic and anti-tumor oil.  It also keeps the flies away.  Aloe Vera was applied to her bandage area to cool the incision and hopefully relieve some of the discomfort.  Special mantras are playing in the barn for her today to help her relax and heal.  Her family visited last night and could already see improvement in her condition.

5/21/05 - 10:00am - Sugar had somehow compromised one of her stitches and caused the entire area to open.  Dr. Cary re-sutured the area at 8am and added several layers of stitches to help hold the area.  The good news is that it looks like the area is healing well, did not get infected, that the cancer remains localized to the sinus and that there may be indicators that the cancer is dying out of the nasal cavity.  Dr. Cary will be leaving the bandaging on longer and changing it frequently over the next couple weeks to make sure the healing continues.  Sugar's attitude was terrific thru the trailering, the procedures and returning home....she's been a real trooper and it looks like she hasn't given up.  Before bandaging Helichrysum was applied to the area to speed healing and stop bleeding.  We will be playing mantras to help with pain and calming for her over the next couple days and continuing all the protocols we're doing currently.

5/20/05 - 2:00pm - Sugar has eaten her mushroom formula and some lavender oil for inflammation.  She has been resting most of the day and does not have any flies bothering her face NOR does she have any sign of bleeding from her eye.  Dr. Cary said it is unusual for an eye to continue bleeding for so long and is concerned that the tumor is playing a role.  She will come by this evening to check on things.  Special thanks to Jon Thomas for trimming her feet and holding Sugar while we treated her eye.  Special thanks to our holistic practitioner for her counsel as well this morning.  Sugar definitely is a community effort!

5/20/05 - 6:30am - Rough start this morning...Sugar  had bled badly again and her bandaging needed to be removed/changed.  Dr. Cary had a surgery so she suggested we remove it and see how it did.  Upon removal of the bandage Sugar scraped any scabbing off that might have been there and began bleeding but would not let us retreat the area.  She was exhibiting symptoms of being in pain so we rushed to the clinic to pick up sedation.  After she was sedated we were able to get an essential oil that kills pain and clots blood onto the bleeding areas around the surgical site.  We then applied Aloe Vera and gauze soaked in mushroom tea to the area and instead of bandaging we are using a special eye patch that racetrack horses use provided by Cave Creek Equine.  The eye patch will prevent itching that the bandaging was creating.  We thoroughly cleaned her face and nose.

5/19/05 - 2:30pm - Sugar has knocked her eye again and it bled pretty badly this time. Dr. Cary left the bandage on for another day to keep flies from bothering it.  Her holisitic evaluation was completed and her body is now rebalanced and optimized for healing.  Sugar was significantly more relaxed after the work she experienced and the flies reduced significantly.  We have ordered essential oils and rainforest herbs for Sugar to help get clean her body from the inside out.  After 10 days of this regime we will likely move to homoepathics.  Special thanks to Amazon Herbs for giving us very special pricing on products for Sugar! 

5/19/05 - 6:25am - Sugar is in good spirits but has increasing amounts of clear fluid drainage from her nose.  The biopsy on the cancer came back as squamous cell moderately aggressive.  She started aromatherapy yesterday to try to stop the cancer from spreading in her sinus.  She enjoyed the smell of the essential oils we used (Thieves Blend which is clove, cinnamon, lemon, eucalyptus and rosemary).  Her holistic evaluation was rescheduled for today.  Her temperature is still normal and Dr. Cary will be coming by this afternoon to remove the bandaging.

5/18/05 - 7:10am - Sugar's temp is still normal and she is slowing down on her vitamins.  She was a little off this morning so we've given her some Buteless in her grain in case she is feeling some pain.  Her nose is having clear discharge on both sides.  She still enjoys her medicinal mushroom formula and is eating well.

5/17/05 - 7:40pm - Still has slight draining from nose of mostly clear fluid and some blood.  Her temp is still in the normal range and she is still eating well.  Bandage is itching badly but we've told her only until tomorrow and then she won't have to deal with that.

5/17/05 - 9:00am - Sugar is in great spirits today.  Her temp is normal and she is eating well.  We took Sugar for a walk at Linda's request - she lightly bumped her side going out of her stall on her blind side which scared her so we had her try again with more clearance.  Once she was underway she enjoyed the walk down the road but was ready to return to the safety of her stall for today.  The hoof trimmer is scheduled for Friday to clean up her feet.  (Picture is from Sunday when Sugar was enjoying attention from Linda and Brian.)

5/16/05 - 8:30am - Dr. Cary changed Sugar's bandage and only one area is has not started to heal fully.  She said this is normal given the extent of the surgery for Sugar and she recommended the bandage stay on until Wednesday.  Sugar's temperature will be monitored for the next several days to make sure there is no signs of infection since this is her last day of antibiotic shots.  Lump on stomach is normal and nothing to be concerned about.

5/16/05 - 7:40am - Called Dr. Cary to change the bandage because Sugar has bumped herself again.  She is eating vitamins A, B and C like they are going out of style.  She is very happy and social.  This is her first morning on mushroom therapy and she likes the taste of them which is an excellent sign.  Noticed another lump on her belly and will ask Dr. Cary to check.  Overall she is extremely relaxed and happy, drinking and eating well.

5/15/05 - 12:30pm - Linda and Brian came to visit Sugar and she was very happy to see them.  She's in good spirits and no further bleeding in her eye area.  The shipment from Mycosphere arrived today with Sugar's custom blend to combat cancer.  For more information on medicinal mushrooms visit this site.

5/15/05 - 8:30am - Went out for morning feed and Sugar has blood on the eye patch area of her bandaging which is new.  Suspect she knocked her head or tried to get bandage off.  Demeanor is good and calm so called Dr. Cary and she thought it was fine to leave alone.  Sugar is gobbling up her Vitamin A and Vitamin B mixes - appetite and attitude are excellent.  Will keep her fly mask on 24/7 until bandages come off on Tuesday to keep flies from bothering her.  She has learned from the other horses in the barn to winny at us when we come out!  It's a great sound to be greeted by all your friends in the morning!

5/14/05 - 11:00am - Sugar's mom came today to spend time with her.  Linda took her for a short walk and treated her for flies.  Sugar was extremely happy to see Linda and called to her when she saw her walk up.  Sugar had her antibiotic shot and started her supplements to boost her immune system.  She is having slight bleeding from her nose but that is expected and was confirmed by Dr. Cary today.  She has settled in really well to the new environment and even took a nap this morning.  (Pictures of Sugar at AERO below provided by a volunteer!)

5/13/05 - 6:00pm - Sugar has eaten the hay from when she arrived and ready for more.  She is pacing so Allay is given to her for calming and to keep her stomach functioning properly.  Her medicines are on order.  She has occasional bleeding from her nose due to the surgery which is being closely monitored.  Overall she is curious and in good spirits.  (Pictures are not turning out so we'll get some tomorrow).

5/13/05 - 11:30am - Sugar is doing extremely well and gets a fresh bandage on her eye today.  She is discharged with instructions and medication to AERO.  AERO has offered to do some specialized rehab on Sugar for a month to beat the cancer.  Sugar loads into the trailer and arrives at AERO around 12:30pm to her new stall.  She is in the isolation stall for safety reasons and all sharp objects are removed as she adjusts to see on one side.

5/12/05 - 2:30pm - Dr. Cary has shared with Linda that although most of the cancer in Sugar's eye area has been removed successfully it did go into the bone and there is still a mass in her sinus that cannot be removed without further diagnostics.  The cancer removed from Sugar's eye is as big as the eye itself (approx. the size of an apricot).  This was pressing against the bone and certainly caused significant pain for her.  The surgery has bought Sugar some time but her prognosis is guarded.  AERO will make contact with alternative therapy resources to assist in beating the cancer that remains.  Sugar will stay at the hospital overnight and go home tomorrow. 

5/12/05 - 1:30pm - Sugar is in the recovery box recouping from her operation.  Her eye is completely removed, the orbit sutured shut and carefully bandaged.  She has some trouble standing up after anesthesia but after a couple tries she makes it up.

5/12/05 - 11:30am - Sugar is on the operating table being prepared for surgery.  She is doing well under anesthesia.

5/11/05 - 4:30pm - Sugar arrives to be evaluated by Dr. Cary.  Dr. Cary was planning on doing an eye exam, an ultrasound to see where the cancer was spreading to, and then hopefully treat the cancer in the eyelid.  Dr. Cary initially numbs the eye and examines it closely.  It's not good news for saving the eye - the cancer has eaten away the lower eyelid and spread to the cornea of the eye.  The only prognosis for saving Sugar is to surgically remove the eye.  Sugar is showing signs of being in extreme pain and the cancer has a terrible odor.  The lower eyelid is very swollen (see pictures below).  Dr. Cary reviews the possible complications of the surgery with Linda and the surgery is scheduled for tomorrow at 11am.  Sugar is to stay at the hospital overnight.  Linda can't stop thanking everyone for helping her with her horse and prepares to tell her 9yo daughter the good news.

5/11/05 - 3:15pm - Soleil, Fred (a wonderful volunteer) and Linda pick up Sugar to take her to the surgical center. Note that the AERO trailer had a flat and Fred had to change the flat in record time.  In addition Sugar had not been loaded in some time so hopping into a trailer was not her idea of a good time.  It took quite an effort to get her in but finally she safely loads.

5/11/05 - 11:28am - Friends of AERO have pledged enough funds to cover Sugar's expenses.  AERO notifies Linda and calls Dr. Cary to schedule an appt for Sugar at 4pm.

5/11/05 - 10:30am - AERO receives first donation for Sugar's surgery and the phone starts ringing off the hook.

5/11/05 - 10:27am - AERO sends out special fund raising request to friends of AERO describing Sugar's special needs.

5/11/05 - 8:30am - AERO checks for latest financial status and confirms that funds are not available for Sugar's medical needs.  Notifies the owner of current status and requests photos to send to friends of AERO for special fund raising effort.

5/10/05 - 5:00pm - AERO has fax in hand and reviews with Dr. Cary.  Upon reading the report Dr. Cary believes there may be a chance to save the eye but needs to evaluate current condition before making final determination.  Confirms estimated surgical expenses.

5/10/05 - 2:30pm - AERO receives call from Linda about Sugar.  After an assessment is made AERO requests the veterinarian report to be faxed for evaluation by Dr. Cary.  AERO does not have funding available in current medical fund to cover Sugar's surgery either.  Linda is distraught at the thought of euthanizing Sugar.

Please feel free to contact us for more information on Diamond at (623) 465-1519