'Snot funny

For the last few weeks J's had a nasty green discharge coming from his left nostril.  H had contacted the vet who just referred him straight back to the vet school.  As it was the same side where he had the tooth removed last year, it was assumed that it was related to this.  It was strange, he had absolutely no other symptoms, the discharge didn't smell (which you would have expected with infection) and he was fine within himself.  He went to the vet school yesterday and I went along to give H a hand as he doesn't travel well.  The vets took x-rays of his head and jaw which they then showed to us.  The right side was clear but the left side showed a cloudy mass.  They then scoped him.  This was super interesting and we have now seen the inside of J's nasal cavities including his gluttoral pouches in great detail.  The scope was clear.  J was seated and standing in stocks.  Once they removed the scope, J cleared his nose and covered the 3 vets and all the vet students in snot.  Was pretty funny, H and I were wise and stood at the side of him. So the next move was they would drill a hole in J's forehead and insert a camera that way to see into his sinuses. We left at that point as J wasn't going to be coming home that night.  It's easier to detach when it's not your own horse there, but H was very brave, considering we left not really knowing what they were going to find.  The vet called H later and said that they had found a cyst in his sinus which they would have to remove under general anaesthetic.  That's the last thing anyone wanted was for the big man to have to undergo any more surgery but there wasn't another option.  They operated late yesterday afternoon and H said he was fairly bright today considering and she had him out for a grass walk.  They have removed another slab of bone, this time from his forehead to allow access to the cyst.  He has a drain in place just now to allow them to flush it.  I read today that sinus cysts in horses are uncommon (trust J) and it's thought that they may be born with them.  They can also cause secondary dental problems, so maybe the tooth that fractured last year was secondary to the cyst and not the other way round.  We always wondered what caused that tooth to go.  The cyst must have bothered J but he never showed it.  He must have been in some discomfort at the very least, but he just got on with it.  Even in the vet school he was fully co-operative.  He's a salt of the earth type with a great big heart.  Here's to a speedy recovery J.  Get well soon, Wolfie wants you back home, he misses that nice grumpy face you pull at him :-).  Also, Buttons might have some ideas about moving into your stable so you better get back quickly.