Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple (His body) and in three days I will raise it up." John 2:19

The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, & be crucified, & the third day rise again. Luke 24:7

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    Warning these are graphic surgical photos

UPDATED PHOTOS ON THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE TAKEN MARCH 2010

Anima Delicata  "Mandy" awaiting surgery on her broken leg at Chino Valley Equine Hospital. 8-09.

Mandy, unconscious on the operating table, intubated, and ready for her surgery.

A shot of her prepped leg. Her hoof was washed and wrapped in blue sterile draping and then the yellow sterile wrap was placed over that.

Dr. Klonnen making the initial "J" shaped opening incision on Mandy's leg.

The skin flap is peeled back and the underlying tissue is exposed. Dr. Klonnen is going to make an inverted "Y" incision over Mandy's upper and lower pastern bones. Here the tissue has been cut so that he can begin to deal with the broken bones.

From left to right:  Blue towel is where Mandy's hoof is, then there is her lower pastern bone, a space and then her upper pastern bone and some of the tissue that was cut to expose the bones just above that.

Dr. Klonnen had to dig out the cartilage between the upper and lower pasterns. That took some serious muscle and digging and quite the sight to see.

The vet had to grind down the ends of both pastern bones to help expedite and foster bone growth between the two bones. The object is to get the upper and lower pasterns to fuse.

The joint between the upper and lower pastern bones has been cleared of cartilage, ground down to promote bone growth and being cleaned and its now ready for the 2 steel plates to be put into them. 

The vet clamped the plate in place and he would take multiple x-rays from different angles to make sure that it was correctly and optimally positioned before putting each screw in.

Hole being drilled into the bone where the screw will be placed into.

First screw in place in the lower pastern bone.

Both plates have been screwed into both the upper and lower pastern bones.

Dr. Klonnen sutures the subcutaneous tissue back over Mandy's plates, screws, and newly joined upper and lower pastern bones.

Now the skin is placed back over the sutured tissue and it will be sutured back together.

The "J" incision all closed up with Mandy's new hardware enclosed beneath it.

Cast material is put over the well placed padding.

The completed cast.

 A photo of the bones Mandy broke and description of her injury.      

Mandy has had 4 cast changes and she is now at home. She has been vet checked still SAFE in foal at 6+ months along! X-rays show bone fusing as hoped and all is healing as optimally as we could hope and pray for.

She was in a soft wrap for the next 30-45 days. She spent several months learning how to walk again and she is coming along nicely.

Mandy has some cast sores both on the front of her leg just below the knee and on the back of her fetlock. Now I have to clean and care for the cast wounds to make sure she does not get proud flesh, infection and to try to minimize scarring.

In the x-rays below you can see the plates and screws which were used to fuse her small pastern bone together as well as fusing it to her large pastern bone. You can also see the coffin bone in her hoof and its rotation. X-rays were taken December 2009.

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