Posts by Jonah

…like one of Sparkle’s foal, Creation’s ___________ Courage (suggestions welcome) under “Foals.”

Michele had outpatient gallbladder removal surgery today.

Late this morning I called Penrose Hospital Outpatient Surgery a couple of times to see if Michele was out of recovery yet. On the second time a nurse asked suspiciously, “Is this a family member?”

I’ve seen enough TV to know that the correct answer to this question is always yes, no matter how true it is. “Yes,” I answered without hesitation.

“Okay!” the nurse replied in a much friendlier tone. “She just came out of recovery and is having a little snack. Are you her daughter?”

Who else would I be? “Yes.”

“Well, your dad gave me a phone number to call about 30 minutes before she’s ready to go home.” It was Duncan’s cell, so I gave her the home line number so she could call me, since I was assigned to pick her up.

THREE HOURS LATER she called back. Michele had taken a painkiller as soon as she woke up that put her back out again for a nice nap. “Gina” told me to come on down and pick up my mom. “If you call us on your cell phone five minutes before you get to the hospital, you won’t have to wait for us to bring her down.”

Traffic was horrendous, being the Friday of a three-day-weekend and raining, and Coloradans having no clue how to drive in the rain. I called from the Interstate offramp and asked for Gina. “Joanna!” she said, “I just sent your mom down with one of our nurses. Thank you for picking her up and for taking such good care of her!”

Sure enough, Michele was waiting in a wheelchair when I drove up. She got into the car by herself without any trouble at all. “Hi, Mom,” I said as we closed the doors.

She rolled her eyes. “They told me my daughter was coming to pick me up, and I thought, ‘Okay, whatever.'”

Having watched many patients be put under for laproscopies but none wake up, I was amazed at how fine Michele was. She chatted all the way home. I was going to help her out of the car and inside, but she marched in without me after telling me where to park the car.

We’ve got a new foal this morning, and he’s a boy! Sparkle finally delivered her foal early this morning. He’s a very light chestnut with one defined stocking, although all of his legs are white. Sparkle is VERY protective of him, so she had to be caught and tied to a hitching rail before we could give the colt an enema. The two fillies had stayed RIGHT next to their mommas, but he likes to wander off and explore. This makes Sparkle whinny loudly at him in worry.

I’ll try to remember to bring my camera tomorrow to take a picture of him… if Sparkle lets me get close enough, that is!

We’re not sure if Abbey is pregnant, but if she is, she’ll probably deliver sometime in February.

I got to the Bremers’ this morning to be met by Duncan saying, “Michele went back to the hospital last night.” She’d had severe abdominal pain.

This morning her pain was down to a 1. I talked to her on the phone and gathered a list of things to take down to her in the hospital. The doctor came in while I was there and delivered the results of the ultrasound. “Gallstones,” he said. He told us he had to find a surgeon to break them up, hopefully today. Gallstones are a known side effect from the antibiotic Michele takes to fight the Lyme disease. Michele asked the doctor if this could wait until next week. Max, Tamsey, and the grandkids are coming in tonight for five days. “This needed to be done yesterday,” the doctor replied. It was at least good to know what was wrong, and gall stone surgery is a very ruoutine one. Michele felt fine other than not being able to be with her grandkids. She was busy working on a quilt a brought her when I left.

I got back to the Bremers’ to find that Kyrie’s foal had died. She had been acting normally, then laid down and just died. The vet said it was either a liver problem or an antibody problem with her mother’s milk (like the Rh factor for humans). The latter is incredibly rare for horses, so no one bothers to test for it. We had to wait until Kyrie gave up on her and left her alone to bury her. After that Kyrie went crazy, running all over the pasture and whinnying.

How do you like that exclamation point?

More photos in Photographs.