Re: RC: Diagnosis

[Tivers@aol.com]

In a message dated 7/24/00 8:51:52 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
ribbitttreefrog@yahoo.com writes:

<< Hi Tom, here is the official verdict on Donte. His bones,
 joint itself, tendons, tendon sheath and suspensory are all
 in excellent condition. Above the sesamoid there is a mass,
 possibly granular in nature or scar tissue. Dr. Foss is not
 exactly sure which. It is restricting Donte's movement and
 is painful. He gave a 5 ml. IM injection of Adequan (sp?)
 and sent another one home to give in 1 week. Also gave a
 cortizon injection into the affected area. I have Donte on
 2 scoops of your GAG combo per day as well as 2 oz. of MSM.
 Handwalked and massaged the area yesterday. Dr. Foss
 measured the fetlock - 27 cm. or 11 3/4 inches. He said the
 muscle stimulator wouldn't hurt, not sure if it would help.
 I'd rather try it before I determine if it doesn't work. He
 called what was wrong, 1 of 2 things: RETINACULITIS  or
 GRANULOMETOUS. Now that you have the whole scoop, do you
 still think your treatment is an option that you are still
 optomistic about? >

I'm less sure, but still think it's worth a try. This growth is an improper 
response to some kind of tissue damage--typical of the horse's overactive 
injury-response system. It wants to quickly lock everything in place so that 
it at least has a leg to stand on when the lion jumps out of the bush. 

What you don't want is further growth of this mass, and if you tell the 
system where you do want growth and repair, it is possible that the focus 
will be redirected. Meanwhile, the paper I sent you sugests that this kind of 
tissue can be reduced by this treatment, at least in some cases. Still worth 
a try. The gizmo is cheap, but the time spent setting it up every day may get 
annoying. Try 30 days and another look.


>Thank you so much for your time Tom.
 Donte may have never been an endurance champion, but that
 is my fault, not his. He is a wonderful horse who deserves
 a chance. He has cost me a grand total of $60 in a vet bill
 in over 5 years. So it's not like he's a continuous money
 pit! Dr. Foss said he'd love to discuss this with you if
 you wanted to contact him. Oh yeah, one other little thing.
 The tendon that is being bound up is slightly smaller
 (circumference?) than the good leg. Maybe from trying not
 to use it? 
  >>

That is likely. And the protiens that might have gone into strengthening are 
instead going to the mass of tissue in an attempt at immobilization of the 
joint. The electrical stimulator might just reverse that process. Sure be 
interesting to find out.

ti