Rio Update!

Every day last week I got the same report from the hospital about Rio, "He seems a bit worse today." Sunday couldn't come soon enough for me to visit him. While most people were celebrating Easter, I hopped in my car and drove to Cornell. It's amazing how much quicker the trip is in a car than when hauling a sick horse! (4.5 hours versus 6!)

I was really worried about what I would see when I got there. I was pleased to see that he really hadn't lost weight, and he was relatively interested in what was going on around him. His interest increased about 40 fold when he realized I'd brought cookies...

Today I finally heard the results of his spinal tap. He does in fact have EPM, which I spoke a little about here. As crazy as it sounds, this is the diagnosis I was hoping for. Had he not had EPM, he likely had a brain tumor. We have been treating him for the disease since Tuesday just in case, so I'm glad we went ahead and did that. It's very expensive medication, but worth every penny if it can help my boy. 70% of horses show significant improvement with this treatment, and about 20% of those will improve almost back to normal. I'm just hoping my best friend can improve enough to come home. Time will tell, but I have high hopes for Rio. His brothers are missing him at home!
So that's all we know for now. I'll leave you with some photos of Rio in his fancy, padded stall.