Following are Cathy's logs of the incredible journey!  Photographs follow the logs.

On May 6th, while attending an 80th Birthday celebration for Cathy Sampson’s mother, the cell phone rang in the restaurant.  It was Carolyn declaring that their was an emergency back at the farm.  It was old Loli.  She had spiked a temperature of 103 degrees F. and was drooling excessively.

Below are logs and reports of Loli’s miraculous recovery from a near fatal severe case of cellulitis, or in layman’s terms, a massive infection.

1st Report (May 7)… "Mother had a nice 80^th Birthday party on Saturday and I got a chance to chat with a cousin I hadn’t seen in 20 years!  Also saw my aunt and uncle that I haven’t seen in about the same amount of time.  There was a crisis back at the barn and Carolyn had to call me twice on the cell phone.  Loli was very ill with a temp. of over 103. She was drooling excessively too.

We got the vet in when I got home and had started her on some meds.  He finally found the source of the problem, although we don’t know what it is exactly.

She had swelling on the left side of her face and by this morning it had tripled in size so much so that I can’t get a halter on her.  She’s on just about everything to combat this infection and she now appears dehydrated since she can’t seem to eat or drink, even though she wants to.  We’ve controlled the temperature now, although her respiration and heart rate is still up a bit.  She is the sorriest looking horse you ever saw – it would break your heart.

I put ice packs on her face to try and ease the swelling, but to no avail. She’s on Banamine, Bute, Antihistimines and Penicillin.

I’m not sure at this point if Loli will make it.  Dr. Morrison will swing by tomorrow morning to see if anymore can be done for poor Loli. Might want to say a little prayer for the old girl!"

2nd Update (May 8)… "Dr. Morrison was out again today and loaded her up on more and different meds and got some fluid into her.  When he went to see her he said that she looked "terrible".  Her eye is almost shut closed with the swelling on the side of her face and the other side of her face is now becoming involved as well.

Her vitals are stable but she can’t eat or drink because of the swelling.  He’s given her 24 hours and if she doesn’t come around, we’ll have no choice but to end her misery.  He still feels that she has a massive infection, the source we don’t know – maybe a tumor.  I tend to agree with him, as when he examined her on Saturday before the swelling started in earnest, he said her teeth were better than most aged horses and didn’t feel it was an abscessed tooth.  He also couldn’t find anything in her mouth and he examined it very carefully.  Now you cannot hardly recognize her head as belonging to a horse.

I’ve made arrangements in case the worse case scenario happens in the next 24 hours.  She’ll be buried beside Foxy."

3rd Update (May 9)… "I called first thing this morning (Tues.) for Dr. Morrison to let him know that Loli’s condition appeared much the same as yesterday.  We decided that it was best that we put her down. He was surprised to say the least that the rush lab results on the blood he had taken yesterday provided more questions than clues.  Everything was normal – or better than normal – my God – her hemoglobin is twice mine!  There was no increase in white cells to indicate infection.  Still her face oozes with serum and her eye has mucus in it too and her face is unrecognizable as a horse’s head with all the swelling.  I said my goodbyes to the old girl with much regret and tears.

I called for a backhoe and the hole was dug beside Foxy’s grave.  Soon after Dr. Morrison arrived, he went to see poor Loli for one more assessment before the big sleep, and she ran around the paddock and began in earnest to eat hay as best she could.  We watched for signs of swallowing and no hay dropped out of her mouth so we assumed she had indeed consumed it.  We tried her on some grain and she polished that up too with some spillage.  I did manage to get her to drink water with the hose poked in the side of her cheek on the good side. Harry (Dr. Morrison) just couldn’t give her the injection to end her life so we talked to Mel (who had dug the hole) and asked that he wait a couple of days just in case old Loli is rallying. Harry proceeded to give her a massive injection of steroids to combat the swelling and I gave her more penicillin.  I have to put hot compresses on her cheek to see if we can draw out any more fluid and possibly break the abscess.  I also have to give her the hose in the mouth to keep it clean and allow her some fluids.

Harry said that Loli comes from very hardy stock and can’t believe what he’s seeing.  So for now the grave is ready, but we will hold off for a while.  There must be some pretty powerful prayers out there for this old horse who will turn 31 on May 23.  She really shouldn’t be here at this moment, but she appears to be fighting back.  It may be her last hurrah, but if it is, she’s going out a fighter!  Will keep you informed."

4th Update (May 11)… "Loli continues to defy death and is improving on a daily basis.  Dr. Morrison was out again yesterday to look in on his patient.  He noticed a dramatic difference when Carolyn and I removed the hot compresses from her face.  Laurie and Ruth volunteered their rudiment nursing skills the other evening, taking shifts with the hot compresses for an hour and a half.  I was the one who was in charge of injections and treating the eye for infection and monitoring the vitals.  Loli devoured her mash and ate some handfuls of grass that evening too and drank heartily from the water hose.

Dr. Morrison put a needle into the mass to see what if anything would drain.  It was quite disgusting when the puss type serum began to run like a tap from the small injection site.  A scalpel was dispatched a wider incision was made to the cheek area and that is when everything started to run like a river.  Dr. Morrison squeezed the entire cheek and mandible area draining and flushing with peroxide this target area.  After 15-20 minutes, Loli’s face began to look somewhat normal again.  Another shot of intravenous injection was given as a further precaution.  Dr. Morrison was so pleased with the old girl he had to rummage around for a treat to give her.  We told him that he was the hero and as only Harry would say, he wasn’t the hero it was Loli’s will to live that stopped him from giving her that final big sleep.  He figured if she wasn’t giving up then we shouldn’t either.  He is truly amazed at this old girl’s constitution and patience to be handled with such invasive methods that must truly hurt.  All of us at the farm pray that the old girl will continue her fight.  We’ve been told she’ll lose both the hair (which is starting to happen) and the skin on that side of the face because of the damage done by the rampant infection that caused disruption to the circulation.  She may also have a slight paralysis to her muzzle area because of nerve damage.  However, these things are nothing compared to what she has been through.  She may be disfigured, but her will to live inspires us all.  We hope this trait of Loli will become evident in all the offspring and grand and great grand offspring she has given us over the years.

That is the latest updated on one tough horse.

Special thanks for all their kindness to Carolyn, Laurie and Ruth and of course Dr. Morrison, who has practically lived on the stable doorstep."

5th Update (May 12)… "Haven't been to the barn this morning (Friday), but Loli seemed to have slipped yesterday in some ways.  Her eye is worse, but she did managed to drink 1/2 a bucket of water on her own.  Her appetite I think is tapering off.  We all feel a little sick at this point.  Dr. Morrison will be out this morning so I guess I will have to seek his opinion once more.  The infection is still draining in large quantities from the incision and the skin looks raw now.

Oh, what a dilemma! Maybe we're expecting too much too soon, but I'm concerned how long she can go on with little food."

By the time the vet arrived, the sun had come out after the downpour and I brought the old girl out for his examination.  He managed to put another incision in her lower jaw and out poured a lot more of the poison that had been festering, carrying with it a stench so putrid, that it permeated the stable.  Her face is almost totally normal looking once again as the two incision sites drained most of the day on their own.

The vet thought she had made remarkable progress and soon after he left, she drank more water and started on her hay.  I bought her a small pelleted feed to supplement her and she devoured that too.

We’ve been advised that she will lose the hair on that side of her face and also the skin.  Her paralysis of the lower lip is improving now.

Both Dr. Morrison and his assistant vet are truly amazed with Loli.  The farm received a compliment saying it was so nice to see a stable with such competent and caring people and volunteers.  I must return the compliment to our vets who we revere as heroes to our animals and Loli especially.

For now the hole remains as a grim reaper, but if Loli continues to progress as she now seems to be, it will be filled in next weekend."

7th Update (May 14)… "Her skin is starting to fall off as Dr. Morrison predicted.  It is really quite horrible looking.  The good news is that she is eating all of the new feed we got her and her eye is 85% back to normal.  I didn’t put any ointment in it tonight.  She is also starting to drink more normally again.  I flushed the skin again and applied the nitrofurazone ointment, but the deep holes and puckered areas are hard to treat until the "face falls off" so to speak.

Loli seemed very bright today and the oozing is starting to wane considerably just as Dr. Morrison said it would.  I guess it is just time for healing now, which I think will be a very long process.  I’ll speak with Harry again in the morning, just to make sure I’m treating the skin correctly now.  We don’t want any more infections happening after all this.

I still can’t believe the tenacity of the old girl.  Truly amazing!"

8th Update (May 14)… "No one can believe this horse.  And yes, I believe the strong genes she carries have helped her through this.  All of the Chingadero/Flyhawk horses were tough.

Her face is starting to literally fall off now.  You can put a fist in her cheek area and it looks like the whole side of her face will come off too.  I'm experimenting with bandaging to try and control fly and maggot problem in the future.  I had to cut some of the skin off that was beginning to come away.

I can tell you that I'm developing a rather strong stomach these days.…"

Still Loli looks bright and stands for hours in the cross ties as we work on her face.  I just hope it is not all in vain.  She’s such a fighter and I hope the infection doesn’t return."

10th Update (May 19)… "It’s been quite the week treating Loli’s poor face.  Each treatment consists of cleaning, cutting dead hide and skin (making sure I didn’t cut any blood vessels or muscle), flushing thoroughly, drying and bandaging with antibiotic ointment which takes 1-1.5 hrs. per session.  Loli is done twice a day. I do her in the morning while Ruth, Bob and Laurie (mostly Ruth, bless her heart) have been handling the evenings while Carolyn and I are doing lessons.

Loli has lost almost the entire left side of her face to the ravages of the infection that attacked her.  However, with persistence and lots of help, we are winning the battle!

All of the infection is now gone, along with any traces of swelling and paralysis of her nose and lower lip.  A granular base is now forming which appears much like raw hamburg.  Skin is starting to form from the edges.  Today our vet finally got to see the results of our care-giving when we removed the bandages and commended us on the excellent job we’ve all done.  All the tissue is alive and healthy and the healing process has begun in earnest.  He couldn’t get over how well the old girl looks and her spirit and attitude phenomenal.

Loli looks very bright and is eating and drinking normally again.  On Tuesday of this week (May 23), Loli will officially turn 31.  We are going to have a little party for her in the barn and the vets are invited too.  It’s very heartwarming and rewarding to see our efforts and the old horse’s will to live have paid off with big dividends.

The best news of all from the vet is that we can fill in the hole – minus the horse.  We won’t need it for a little while yet.

I think St. Francis was looking over us with this one!"

11th Update (June 11)… "Just a quick note to let you know how well Loli is recovering.  It has been just over a month since her initial stages of the life-threatening infection took hold of her on May 6.  On May 23, she turned 31!

Dr. Morrison and his assistant vet dropped by Friday to take some new pictures of the incredible healing process going on on Loli’s face.  Even new hide is starting at the edges of the new skin; something we thought would never happen.  There are just a few deep areas that are quickly filling in now.  Bandaging and cleaning is down to one treatment per day now and Loli works hard having great difficulty eating and at getting rid of her bandages in between treatments.

There was some concern about two weeks ago when Loli was great difficulty eating.  I believe this was due to the skin tightening and the constant movement of that area (mandible) that caused so much discomfort when she would try to grind her feed with her back molars.  However, she is back on track eating everything put before her.  There isn’t a scrap of hay or feed pellets to be found by morning or night feeds and she is drinking 5 gallons of water per day on average.  She doesn’t appear as gaunt either and has a very glossy coat.

Her laminitis is still a source of pain, but we are controlling it with half measures of "bute".  We are taking a risk by feeding her a little richer hay, but it is softer to chew and probably more palatable.  We know the persistent use of "bute" will eventually harm her, but for now the quality of life is what needs addressing and if we can ease the pain with this powerful drug, then we will continue its usage for as long as possible.

Our veterinarians are totally amazed at this horse and all that she has survived.  I will be making a submission to Equus magazine in the U.S. for their unusual medical case stories."

As of this writing, Loli continues to improve dramatically with each passing day.  She has started to gain back her regular weight and is enjoying life once again.

Cathy wouldn’t allow photos to be taken of Loli when she was suffering so badly from the swelling infection as she truly believed the horse would have to be destroyed.  She wanted to remember her in better times and not to be reminded of her fate and the suffering she had endured.