Update on the Old Man

Over the past week Old Man, the old Wessex Saddleback boar, has received my not-so-tender loving care. The absess in his right armpit is still not drained and healed. Here is the story:

After the vet came, I simply kept the area rinsed and cleaned, waiting for further instructions from Arie. We never did anything more for him besides keep tabs on the size of the swelling. Well, there finally came a point in time that I felt the swelling was no longer shrinking and something should be done. Unfortunately Arie was out of town and I mentioned the absess to Angie, the lady watching over things in Arie's stead. Angie decided we should cut again . . . I was a little apprehensive, but tried to be trusting. In the end, we did no good. Angie did not get deep enough with the scalpel to change much, just make Old Man hurt some unnecessarily. After that, I kept the wound clean and encouraged draining with squeezing during feeding time.

When Arie got back, we made some progress. We re-opened the cut the vet made by hand (I did this . . . fascinating . . . feels like the inside of a balloon), did some massaging and squeezing, and doused the cut and an upper puncture that had started to drain with Hydrogen Peroxide. Ever since then I have been repeating all these treatments that are necessary during feeding time. Sometimes I don't have to stick my finger up the cut, or put in H. Peroxide, but I always have to squeeze and massage the puss out. It's nasty in look and smell. For several days I couldn't get anything, and the bulge remained the same size. Yesterday morning I got a good amount of nasty puss, even without H. Peroxide, and then again in the evening. To my relief I could also see a change in size for the better. Unfortunately, the squeezing is now causing more pain: Old Man is jerking and fidgeting more as I squeeze: we seem to be getting down to more tender layers. Either I will keep squeezing puss morning and evening until it is all gone, or we'll have the vet come by and give us new instructions.

Old Man is definitely an enduring brave pig. Now, if only he would give a sow some sperm and bring his breed back out of extinction . . .