Jase watched her preparing syringes, his eyes wide. “What are you giving him?”
“Four different types of painkillers. All of them do something a little different. We don’t want him to feel anything while I work on him, but he has to stand, so we can’t exactly knock him out. He’ll be sedated though, Jase.” Maia gave the shots deftly, using her fist to strike and numb the muscle before jamming the needle in. “The last two shots are for tetanus and a good dose of penicillin.”
Jase crooned to the horse as she administered the rest of the shots. “He’s been so good. He hardly moves, and it must hurt so bad.”
“The shots will numb everything for him,” Maia assured. “Our next step is to get the wound sites as sterile as possible. That’s imperative. We’re going to flush the site, and remove the debris and splinters, including the large one. Horses can lose a lot of blood, Jase, and still be fine.” She worked quickly as she explained, mixing a liter of saline with Betadine. Without giving Jase any time to think about it, Maia grasped the small stake with both hands and pulled the large piece of wood from the horse’s chest.
“The barn’s well lit, great in fact,” Maia said, to keep the boy focused on her and not on the blood. She filled a syringe with the mixture of saline and Betadine. “I need you to begin flushing, Jase. You have to squirt this all over the wound sites. We’ll flush all three sites, and I’ll clean them, then suture them. This one here”—she indicated the hole where the stake had been—“we might leave open to drain.”
Jase took the syringe from her and aimed it at the gaping wound on the horse’s foreleg and chest. The flood of saline and Betadine removed dirt, debris and even splinters. “Is this right?”
Maia noted his hand was much steadier. “That’s exactly what I need. We want the area really, really clean.” She soaked gauze in Betadine and washed the area thoroughly, making certain to rid the wounds of all foreign objects. “What I’m doing is clipping the skin so we can suture the clean edges. I’ve flushed it again with Betadine and deadened the area with lidocaine, so really, Jase, he isn’t feeling any of this.”
Cole watched her hands, fingers deft and sure, as she used stents to keep the skin loose as she sutured the wound. She worked with obvious skill. It took a long time to close the five-inch gash to her satisfaction.
“This is a drain. I don’t want to close off that hole in him. It’s too big and we want to encourage it to drain. We’ll have to really watch that area for infection.” Maia spoke patiently to Jase. Her voice was very calm and her hands steady. “I’m also putting a second drain in the gash as well. The stents will keep the skin loose, and I think it will heal nicely, but I’ll want you to check this area several times a day for any signs of infection.”
Jase nodded, looking very solemn. “I’ll do it, Doctor.”
“I’m Maia Armstrong, Jase.”
He nodded again, ducking his head a little to avoid her gaze. “I can sleep out here with him and sort of keep watch.”
“It’s too cold,” Cole said abruptly.
Maia glanced at Cole from under long lashes. He felt her reprimand all the way to his toes. The woman knew how to give a look. She turned her high-wattage smile on Jase.
“That won’t be necessary, Jase, although it’s so good of you to offer. He’ll be fine out here, and I want him to stay quiet.”
Every now and then she spoke softly to the horse and to Jase, instructing him to flush the wound on the hock a second time before she worked on it. When he was finished she used gauze soaked in Betadine to clean it again, removing the last of the dirt and splinters.
“Is he going to be all right?” Jase asked.
“We’ll see. We have a long way to go.” She crouched beside the horse, working close, without fear or hesitation, as she closed the second gash. She didn’t seem to be aware of time passing or the temperature in the barn dropping.
“I’m going to put antibiotic paste on him, Jase. You can’t let this stuff touch your skin, so we use tongue depressors to smear it on. Primitive, but it works.” She straightened, stretching a little as if her muscles were cramped from crouching so long beside the horse. “We’ll have to take his temperature every day, and he’ll need antibiotics injected into the muscle twice daily. Have you given shots before?”
Jase nodded. “A couple of times. Cole’s been teaching me. Before, I didn’t really go near the animals.”
She smeared the paste on liberally. “Don’t worry, soon you’ll be an expert in giving horses shots. You’re a natural.”
“Do you really think so? I thought about working with animals a long time ago. I like being around them.” Jase glanced at Cole, clearly nervous by the admission.