Space Date 111502: Docking Bay OSU VTH, 0900-1200 hrs
Today I once again caught the end of Grand Rounds. After that I watched a treatment of Sarcoid Growths. There are two medications used to treat Sarcoid. One is Sysplatin (I'm not sure on the spelling), and the other is Regressin (again, I'm not sure on the spelling.) Sysplatin is used to treat the sarcoids directly, and it is just hoped that they don't come back. With Regressin, it is used in a series of 3-5 injections. Regressin triggers the horse's own immune system to fight the sarcoid, and this method may be slightly more effective. Side-effects for the horse may include fever (as high as 104 degrees F) and loss of appetite, a bit like they might have the flu. These symptoms are not apparent in all horses and should disappear within a couple days. The injections are put directly into the sarcoids themselves. After the 3-5 shot series (I forget how long it is in between shots, couple weeks, maybe) there is a six month waiting period to see how the horse does. It's six months because this is how long it might take the horse's immune system to kick in. After this time, the series may be repeated if necessary.
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After this I took a horse for a brief walk, then wandered around until I found another group of people doing something interesting. With the horse they were examining, she had a large swollen area on her right stifle muscle (I'm not sure the name) and it was progressing down the leg and along the abdomin. It was at this time that I had to leave, so I'm sorry to say I can't tell you any more about this case. So that concludes today!
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