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Hi...sorry, I haven't updated you. My monitor died, I was without one
for a few days. I guess the "back lights" died.

Friday, I took Huginn to Dr. Toby Sheely at Stillwater Vet Clinic in
MN for a 3rd opinion, acupuncture, complete blood profile and his
first Eqstim IV injection.

Huginn's white blood count looked a bit better, still in the "high
range" but...at the low end!  <;]  It was 14.82 K/uL and the normal
range is 5.40 - 14.30.

Other low or high CBC results.

Low:
RBC (red blood cells)
HCT (hematocrit ??)   anemia ??
PLT (platelets) may be low due to high temps ??

High:

MCHC (mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration ??)  anemia ??
WBC (white blood count)
NEU (???)
BASO (basophils)  I think these are white blood cells and may indicate
inflammatory ??

On the blood profile, the calcium was again high.  <:[   15.5 (normal
range 10.4-12.9).

He had no Lows on the blood profile, but did have other Highs:

TP (? ? )
GLOB  infection ??
CK I'm really concerned about the CK, it was 1634 (normal range 10. - 350. ).

Dr. Sheely gave Huginn an acupuncture treatment and his first Eqstim
IV injection.  One of the side effects of Eqstim is high temps, so I
am taking Huginn's temp daily.

Friday: 6pm 102.2, 10pm 101.8
Sat: 6am 99.8, 6pm 101.2
Sun: 6am 99.9

GOOD TEMPS!

I asked Dr. Toby Sheely many questions, one was what his clinic would
have done differently if I had presented Huginn to them instead of the
U of MN.

Dr. Sheely told me that his clinic would have "worked up" Huginn in
the very same manner as the U of MN did.  That the U followed
"standard protocol" for the symptoms that Huginn was presenting. He
also said I should feel confident with all the U of MN vets who are
working Huginn's case.  He said Dr. Wilson, who is the head vet on
Huginn's case.. is one of the top equine vets in the Midwest. The
other vets are Dr. Tan, Dr. Ward and Dr. Tinker are also great vets.

I asked Dr. Sheely about Huginn's high calcium levels. If it could be
medicated induce hypercalcium and he said no.  I asked him what could
be causing the high levels and he said cancer... lymphoma.

Dr. Sheely believes that begin exposed to the woman with the sick
horse at the endurance clinic, gave Huginn a "bug, cold, flu. etc" and
it triggered his immunity system into going haywire. If Huginn does
have cancer, this is why he can not fight off the "bug, cold, flu.
etc" that the woman passed on to him via her hands in his mouth. He
also said if Huginn has cancer...that it may have been years before
the lymphoma kicked in, but being exposed to that nasty curd from the
woman's horse was not good.

I asked him IF Huginn does have cancer what are the prognosis.  Dr.
Sheely basically told me the same thing that the U of MN has told me.
That if  the lymphoma does not go into remission, I am looking into
weeks, months....not years. There really is no way to treat equine
lymphoma; as radiation, chemo is very expensive and  really does not
work on this type of cancer.

I know that many of you have asked why there has been no biopsy to
check for cancer. The reason for that is that the vets have found no
masses. Huginn has been ultrasound and x-rayed. And there is not blood
test to check for equine cancer.

The reason that his lymph nodes have not been biopsied is because they
are hard to get too. There are many blood vessels, nerves, etc that
would be in the way. And there are no masses on the lymph nodes to
biopsy.

The plan is to help Huginn fight the "bug, cold, flu. etc" that he is
currently fighting. And once he "gets-over" that, wait and see if
cancer does develop.

Huginn goes back on Monday and Friday for his 2nd & 3rd Eqstim
injections and additional acupuncture treatments.

Huginn received the last anti-B's injection Friday nite. The swelling
he had on his butt cheeks is almost gone....but now he has swelling on
his neck sides. I am done with anti-B's.

So...that is all I know.

THANK YOU for all your support!!!!!!!!!!   Please keep Huginn in your
prayers, thoughts and please send healing energy.     {{{ HUGS }}}
and horsey kisses sent your way!

Raven
Lucy & Molly, the Girl Doggies
Huginn & Dixie Chick, the Back Behind the Barn Ponies

Respect ALL Earthlings. We are all animals of this planet. We are all creatures.

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