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Sarcoid help please... ASAP, vet coming tomorrow...

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So Lacy has the sarcoid in her ear. We were going to leave it alone if it stayed the same, but it's getting bigger and bigger. I've been warned that these things can come back with a vengeance if not handled properly. My vet wants to tie a suture around it and keep tightening it every few days until the lack of blood supply kills it and it drops off. Is this a good method? What are the other methods? Which seems the most successful? How long do they take? I was hoping to show her soon, but this thing is way too obnoxious to enter a ring with so I'd like it to be something that works quick but I'm very worried about it coming back. She's also got a new one forming inside the tissue of the ear pinna instead of on it so now it looks like she has a big bump changing the outline shape of her ear. :BH :BH :BH Don't think that one can be removed without taking the pinna. Luckily it is only small right now. Let's hope it stays that way. So... thoughts?

accphotography Thu, 05/28/2009 - 22:49

Just a photo update:

05/22:
[img]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w65/…]

05/28:
[img]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w65/…]

It's still not standing despite our attempts to train it and we have decided that it won't without surgery, which we probably won't do. However, we're all quite confident at this point what's left of the top half won't fall off at least. :lol:

I've gotten used to it I guess. I still get sad when I really think about it, but I know I don't have a choice but to move on and be grateful we're getting it under control before it gets any worse.

accphotography Fri, 05/29/2009 - 01:34

Well at least it's got healthy, pink tissue coming in in most places (and covering the cartilage that was showing).

The red stuff that is left is ALL sarcoid tissue according to the vet. She's pleased enough with how healed all the normal tissue is that we will likely do another round of Xxterra very soon to see if we can rid it if the remaining sarcoid tissue (before it has a chance to fight back). She doesn't expect another bad reaction as there's so much less sarcoid than there was. We'll make that decision next week. Hopefully it will be even healthier by then.

The more we've learned about what was under there that we couldn't see, the more convinced I am there was no way to avoid this result and the Xxterra has done it's job. The only thing that might have helped the situation was catching it before it had a chance to spread this much (freezing, ligation, etc. wouldn't have worked at this point). However she has always acted like that ear has bothered her from day one so we wonder if it wasn't brewing under there alot longer than we knew.

Andrea Fri, 06/05/2009 - 23:44

I've totally neglected coming to this area of the forum and totally missed this whole drama! I'm so hoping Lacy come through this OK.
Did you remove the pictures? I'd like to see how the ear progressed through it all. Poor Lacy.
And hindsight is 20/20... There's always what ifs. So don't let it get you down. Just deal with what comes up. It's all you can do!

accphotography Sat, 06/06/2009 - 00:15

Yeah I reorganized my Photobucket last night and lots of stuff is broken. They're all in here:
http://s173.photobucket.com/albums/w65/…" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don't have any recent photos of the inside of her ear (vet hasn't been out in 9 days and I usually do it when she's sedated) but I've got two head shots from today:

[img]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w65/…]

[img]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w65/…]

accphotography Sat, 06/06/2009 - 13:49

It's growing on me. It really kinda suits her. Unfortunately those of you that haven't met her in person probably can't understand that as her personality does not come through on photos. She's a very cheeky and social sweetie. She's exactly the type of horse that if she were a dog she'd cock her head at you all the time. She's always asking questions "whatchya doin'?", "whatchya got?". I don't know why... but the ear just goes right along with her personality. :laugh1

accphotography Fri, 07/10/2009 - 12:02

Nope because she hasn't seen it since it went crazy. The only reason I am not concerned about it at this point is that the big nodule is separating from the ear (quite visibly in person) and seems to be splitting up into many smaller pieces which are barely connected. I think it's swollen from the irritation and basically dying. I think. On the other hand it could be just getting angry and growing again. My gut tells me that's not the case... but it's possible.

accphotography Fri, 07/10/2009 - 15:48

It comes and goes. In the beginning I couldn't get within a foot of the ear. Then she slowly got better. Then she got where I could do pretty much anything with it without her reacting. Then more ouchy. Now I have to twitch her and she's still pretty reactive so it's definitely hurting her again. Because she has gone back and forth I don't know what that really means.

bolana Mon, 11/23/2009 - 14:54

ouch that looks nasty, she is such a lovely mare.
I realise you are treating but just thought I'd offer a suggestion as heard of people treating sarcoids through vets with little success.
We have treated sarcoids very successfully with Milk Thistle Sap. Don't know if you have it over there but would presume so, its a weed. Have had a couple of mares with large 3-4cm sarcoids, one on the point of her shoulder, her rugs rubbed on it and it was ugly like your mares, rubbed milk thistle on it 2-3 times a week and it dissappeared within 4 weeks never to return, had the mare here to visit the stallion this year, I treated her sarcoid aprox 3-4 years ago now and another my buckskin filly had one appear on her shoulder and treated it the same , again gone within weeks. You can also add it to their feeds for extra asistance, from my understanding it helps the body eliminate the toxins which create the sarcoid.

:flower
Pray it gets sorted for her.