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We arrived home around 4:00 am and tried to sleep for an hour or so. Ohio State called around 7:30 to tell us he still was not standing. No one had anticipated any
problems, we were tired and getting very emotional. I had called my insurance company before the surgery started and I called back to update them. I had the wonderful fortune to find on the other end the nicest adjustor of any insurance company that you could encounter. To say my words were understandable would be an exagerration. He was patient, kind, sympathetic and truly took over for us.

My friends and customers started arriving for lessons to find us exhausted and teary.
One by one they joined us on the couch and on the porch, waited for updates and let others know what was going on. We received a call saying they were going to put him in a sling to help him stand if he wasn't up by himself at 1:00. He needed to
get up. They would call in an hour or two to let us know how it went. The time kept passing and we were getting more anxious as it passed 4:00 and 5:00. I had asked if we should come up to be with him before they put Reiley in the sling and was told that sometimes horses would fight the sling and OSU would let us know if it became time for us come up. The later it was the more I wished I had just gone back up to be with him or never to have left at all.

Finally around 6:00 I received a call from an operator at Ohio State, saying to hold for the vet and that I was being recorded. I had my phone on speaker so that my daughter, Daniella, could hear at the same time. We knew already that it was not good since the operator had not been the one to call at any other time, but when the vet came on we let out our breaths with relief when she came on with a cheerful voice. Our relief was very short lived when she continued to tell us Reiley had passed. I know that telling someone this kind of news must be horrible, but for the life of me I can't understand where the cheerful, "Hi, Marti" came from. Daniella started screaming and I know the vet could hear her. She attempted to tell us what had happened to Reiley and finally just asked if we wanted to call her back and I hung up.

For Dani's sake I have to skip the next hour. I don't know how long she laid on the bed crying and I can't repeat most of what came out of her. The one line I can never get out of my head is "I've lost my best friend, I've lost my best friend" over and over. Finally I left her in her friend's arms and went on the porch to call them back and get the details. My friends were waiting out there for me and I put them on speaker phone in case I wasn't able to talk to them.

I was told he was a good boy in the sling, cooperative and trying, although having a hard time supporting himself and they had to give him breaks and let him try again. Here, I will quote medical records, "4:00 pm-Martini [as they refer to him, it says Artini on his papers] was lowered from the sling and reattached MLK CRI for pain and IV fluids. His other medications (Naxcel and Acepromazine) were also admininstered. During this time there was an error in administration of MLK (which was administered on a fluid pump for safety) and an overdose of the MLK was given. As soon as the error was noted reversal agents and resuscitation methods (epinephrine, naxolone, nasotracheal intubation and administration of oxygen with a demand valve, and chest compressin) were intiated. Unfortunately, he could not be revived. It is still unknown how or if the pump malfuctioned and testing is being conducted." On a side note I was told that before the overdose he had never given up or stopped trying.