12 Hour Shift

It is 4:30pm, I've been up for 12 and a half hours after a 4 hour sleep and right about now craving coffee. I've been told to be strong, don't give in, but I'm so tempted. The 10:00am IV meds were given and the colt's temperature taken and things did not look good. He is running a temp of 103.3 and is lethargic not wanting to get up and nurse. His IV line is starting to clot and perhaps infected. Dr. Pallen was called while driving to work and guess what, he must go back in today and she wants him there by 1:00pm. That meant less than an hour to work at Meisters, then a quick stop at TSC for 24 more needles, drive home as fast as possible without exceeding the speed limit, load them back into the trailer and head to Morton.
His white blood cell count is down from 159,000 to 33,000 but normal is ONLY 500. The IV meds are not working as well as expected, the IV line was pulled and he was put on 3 different medicines, one of which Dr. Pallen gave IV before the line was pulled and 2 that I will give starting tonight. The very expensive bottle from yesterday must be thrown away. With the white blood cell counts still so high after 4 days straight of strong antibiotics, Dr. Pallen feels he must come back tomorrow. Sheila, the receptionist was asked how much we have spent on him since Monday and not including today's work, we were already up to $880.00. The only good thing about today was once back he jumped off the trailer and actually trotted, he must be feeling better after all of his treatment today.
Mark's pond pump arrived at the shop, he asked if we had gas available meaning a trip to Fast Stop in Hanna City for 5 gallons. He wants to start draining the small farm pond tonight. He has big plans for that small pond. Draining it, deepening it, expanding it, and putting in a sand beach. The Meister compound doesn't really need another swimming pond but Mark feels this one has potential and is just going to waste. It would be really nice to have a nice gradual sandy beach to walk the horses into the water to keep cool instead of hosing them off with expensive city water. This month's water bill after the extreme heat spell was $148.00, about $48.00 higher than usual, what a small price to pay for live horses. Good news is Jane the puppy is going to be picked up tomorrow, a family is driving down from Chicago on Saturday morning to look at a male and Wednesday a female is suppose to be picked up.