# Infection in Pedal Bone



## Chloe-V (8 November 2011)

Hi people, I'm feeling really distraught atm and need some advice/other peoples experiences/ which way to go etc ?

My beautiful girl has pierced the sole of her foot with a nail, hole is at least 3 inches deep, just in front of the point of frog.  Poultices, ATB's, serious painkillers and no change for the poor girl - she won't weight bear on the foot at all apart from using the edge of her toe to balance when she has too, she moves by hopping on three legs a couple of hops at a time. On box rest and now not eating, she seems to be getting 'depressed' with the pain, I think.

Vet has x-rayed her foot yesterday and says that there's  an infection setting up within the pedal bone itself - wants to re x-ray on Monday to see for definate. He's talking about operating to scrape out any affected area and hospitalisation.

I was wondering if anyone had experience of this, prognosis, time to heal etc.

Any thoughts on this and how I can help my girl would really be appreciated.  Thanks for reading.


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## soloequestrian (8 November 2011)

My mare had an infection in her pedal bone a couple of years ago - we think from something that went up her white line, but never knew for sure.  She had an operation to remove the infected bit of pedal bone.  It was stressful, she had a general anaesthetic and developed laminitis as a result of it.  However she is now on great form, she competed dressage this year, galloped about in the woods and even did some little jumps.  She is 20.  if you search 'septic pedal osteitis' on here, you will find all my posts from the time of the operation.
The things I would have done differently at the time were:  
demanded that they sedated her when she was in horsepital - she was on her own a lot of the time, which she isn't used to, and I'm convinced that the stress of this was part of the reason for the laminitis.  I did ask about sedation, but the vet didn't really listen.
not had her shod after the operation - she had been barefoot for 8 years prior to the op and has been bare for the 2 years since.  Vet was a shoeing fan, and said she would need it for support which in hindsight was rubbish. 
The actual operation and healing went very smoothly though, the vet was a great surgeon!


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## tikino (8 November 2011)

my 5 month old foal did this 10 days ago and had surgery which removed the infected part of the pedal bone he is still in horspital but doing fantastic. it is called osteomyelitis of the pedal bone. the vet horspital treating my wee guy are very confident he will make a full recovery.

i would get action asap as the longer you leave it the worse it will get and poorer the outcome get them to do the surgery 2mrw not monday. according to the vet hospital my wee guy would not be here if he had waited any longer for the treatment


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## beeswax (8 November 2011)

were i am we have experienced this a number of times and the vets have always prescribed x 17 metranizadole tablets x 3 daily, speak to your vet about this drug and see what they have to say. good luck hope it gets better


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## FayeFriesian (8 November 2011)

Interesting read.

One of our mares is having an op next Monday to remove part of the pedal bone thats splittered and wont heal. (Orginally they said to denerve, but thankfully re-thought)

Reading your responces has cheered me up I think! Did the remove bits of the actual bone?

The vet said she should be able to ride out, school etc but not to jump really. Has this been what your vet has also said?

How long was the recovery period?


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## Chloe-V (8 November 2011)

Thank you all, your replies are really helpful.
I had a long talk with my vet this morning and he really does want to operate asap, he would like her there now, *but*, the big, big problem is that she also has a 'history' and is a nightmare to box and travel at all (not naughty-  genuine fear) so the stress of the journey and a strange place is a big factor to take into consideration. The point about the laminitis from soloequestrian is very relevant here, although my vet is not against sedation whenever appropriate, so that won't be a problem.
I do believe he's trying his best to work around a major issue with her and yet do whats right for her .

She's a graded Oldenburg broodmare, my pride and joy, and she doesn't usually need to leave the premises anymore as we use AI at home so she doesn't need to travel. Thank heavens she's not in foal this year with this happening.

Beeswax - thank you, I'll speak to him in the morning about the Metranizadole - he hasn't mentioned that so far.

Soloequestrian - so pleased to hear your mare is now doing so well but what a time she had, bless her. Your comments on what you'd do differently are very useful - particularly about the laminitis - vet didn't mention shoeing afterwards but just said about a 'hospital plate' (whatever that is). 
My mare doesn't wear shoes either so I'll bear all you've said in mind, thank you.


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## Andalucian (8 November 2011)

I'm so sorry your mare had this injury, as you have found, its very serious.  I would urge you to get her to the clinic immediately and take all the advice and intervention they can offer, don't delay.


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## lazybee (9 November 2011)

One of mine stood on a 6mm bolt X 50mm long as it was a square ended, it pushed a piece of dirt deep into his sole. The entry point was the same place as yours. It was in so deep we had to get it out by unscrewing it. We had him x-rayed but couldn't see the damage the vet feared it had gone into his pedal bone where the tendon joins on it was difficult to see clearly. He was lame for weeks and weeks and was literally on three legs. He had a bad abscess develop deep inside. The vet and farrier came round and worked together and cut hole deep in the sole allowing it to drain. We had to plug the hole and cover it but twice a day unplug the hole and soak the foot in betadine and to let it drain. The vet had warned us he probably wouldn't recover. Gallons of antibiotic and loads of scrubbing, soaking, injecting and dressing later. He 100% sound. I really do wish you all the best.


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## Chloe-V (9 November 2011)

Lazybee - what your horse has had sounds like the alternative condition that we are desperately hoping  will show up on the next x-rays instead (I know that sounds awful, but we could deal with that at home).  The first set where difficult to see absolutely clearly. He wants a second set done to make absolutely sure that he is right and it is  needing to do surgery at the hospital before we try to move her, as there is a very, very slim chance it may just turn out to be like yours.
How long was your mare lame for and to what degree at different stages ? 

Andalucian - thank you for your thoughts, I'm not going against my vet's advice  on this,  we are working together and we both know this mares problem and it is a serious one.    I've been with this practice for nearly 40 years now and they know all my horses well.
He has himself said he is not sure that she would cope with it all and we need to consider this.

Hence I'm trying to get as much info and other peoples thoughts as I can before we have to move her (or not, which I really don't want to dwell on atm).


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## Amymay (9 November 2011)

Chloe-V said:



			Andalucian - thank you for your thoughts, I'm not going against my vet's advice  on this,  we are working together and we both know this mares problem and it is a serious one.    I've been with this practice for nearly 40 years now and they know all my horses well.
He has himself said he is not sure that she would cope with it all and we need to consider this.

Hence I'm trying to get as much info and other peoples thoughts as I can before we have to move her (or not, which I really don't want to dwell on atm).
		
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Need a Like button.

Good luck Chloe - keep us posted.


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## beeswax (9 November 2011)

I am sure you have already thought of it but cant you just sedate her for the journey with bute for the pain relief and get her there and get on with what is needed to make her well again, good luck


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## alext (10 November 2011)

Hi my boy had a slightly different infection though still in his foot.he has a septic navicular bursa and infection of the ddft. He is a difficult horse to handle and gets very stressed in new places.he hates traveling also! I traveled him with my mare in trailer which was fine until I had to take him away from her when we got there though vet was quick to order chiffney and sedative! 
Looking back he should of gone to the vets much earlier but it took a week to diagnose and he got progressively worse to the point he was rocked back onto his hind legs in what I would say was classic laminitic stance.he went to the vets 8/10 lame and was given a 50% chance of survival. They kept him on a drip of about three different painkillers and sedated with sediline as he was so difficult.
Although they managed to flush it out he didn't come as sound as they wanted and after further tests they sent him home but with a poor prognosis.
After three months box rest ( 
Much shorter than I thought it would be) he was allowed out 2/10 lame and I was told he would always be this lame with 1 bute a day. 
He is currently ( whipering this because I can't quite believe it) sound at walk and almost at trot
 and on no bute 10 months after the accident!
I would really want to get her out to vets as fast as possible my boy was originally left because farrier and vet thought it was bruising or a badly timed deep infection.sorry if this has turned out long and that's the shortened version!!


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## Chloe-V (10 November 2011)

Hi everyone, thanks for your replies and suggestions. Today she's much brighter in her general outlook and eating and drinking again, I think due to finding a strong enough painkiller able to do the job atm. She will now actually put her foot on the floor whilst she eats her hay but still won't put it down to walk on it.

Her travelling problem goes back to an traffic accident and subsequent injuries - she just can't cope with it anymore.  
Believe me, we've tried and tried, and decided to give it up in the end. There is just so much stress and upset I'm prepared to put her through and as I've said, her lifestyle now doesn't usually need her to travel anymore. 
I'm well used to dealing with youngsters travelling for the first time and precocious colts arguing with me but she's something else altogether and her fear makes her potentially dangerous to others at the time.

Obviously we did always know we may be faced with this at some time.
We've tried every sedation my vet can come up with. Sedalin has no effect whatsoever and she can snap out of all the other sedation (oral and IV)  my vet considers safe to use to travel. She would have to be sedated to the point of not being able to walk or balance herself to even get her on and she's too  big girl to be lifted.

We bred her ourselves and she is an absolute doll to deal with in every other way and this is so heartbreaking.


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## soloequestrian (10 November 2011)

There was an ad recently for this new lorry where the horse bit is a completely seperate container - it can sit on the ground and have the horses walk into it, then the doors are shut and the lorry lifts the container into position.  I've no idea what it was called, or where you would get one, but if you could hire one it might do the trick for you.  I think the ad was from H&H, so if you asked on here someone else might know what it was called.


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## Nothing Original (10 November 2011)

One of the horses at my old yard had the operation at home due to travelling issues. Specialist surgeon came out and did it. Had part of pedal bone removed as had died due to infection. Owner was adamant horse would not cope with travel and vets gave in. From memory it was through RVC in Herts.

Worth investigating?

FWIW recovery was very long haul - over a year stabled and limited diet due to lami risk but horse now field sound and happy.

Horse was from memory in late teens at time.

Best wishes for you and your horse x


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## lazybee (11 November 2011)

Chloe-V said:



			Lazybee - what your horse has had sounds like the alternative condition that we are desperately hoping  will show up on the next x-rays instead (I know that sounds awful, but we could deal with that at home).  The first set where difficult to see absolutely clearly. He wants a second set done to make absolutely sure that he is right and it is  needing to do surgery at the hospital before we try to move her, as there is a very, very slim chance it may just turn out to be like yours.
How long was your mare lame for and to what degree at different stages ? 

Andalucian - thank you for your thoughts, I'm not going against my vet's advice  on this,  we are working together and we both know this mares problem and it is a serious one.    I've been with this practice for nearly 40 years now and they know all my horses well.
He has himself said he is not sure that she would cope with it all and we need to consider this.

Hence I'm trying to get as much info and other peoples thoughts as I can before we have to move her (or not, which I really don't want to dwell on atm).
		
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Keeping it brief, he was on three legs for about four weeks, lame as hell for two months. For the first month he was on daily antibiotic injections (done by me and OH at home); dressing (sanitary towels and duct tape) , wound cleaning and draining twice per day. The hole gradually moved forward with the hoof growth until it got to the white line; where is disappeared.
Please keep us posted and the very best of luck.


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## FoxedOff (11 November 2011)

My horse has an infected hoof from a small cut. It is very painfull, So I tryed 'hot tubbing' he loves it! you put there hoof in hot satly water for about 10 minutes ( in a flexable bucket ) daily then give it a scrub and put there poultus back on. It's working wonders and softens up there hoof and totally relaxes my boy. 
Hope your girl gets better soon!
Good lucky for a speedy recovery
x


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## Chloe-V (12 November 2011)

Thank you everyone for the replies, they're very helpful and believe it or not, reassuring to a point.

An update ;-
We've all (us, vet, farrier) now made the decision not to take her anywhere but to do what we possibly can for her at home. 
She's on her last day of Finadyne paste today so we'll have to see what the next few days bring when she has to go down a grade to another one again.  It's made her comfortable enough to be able to take a few steps in a straight line using her foot and she seems bright enough in herself, considering.

Vet x raying and re assessing and we'll see where we go from there.  I'm really hoping he can do something but atm I don't know which way she's going to go yet.

Thanks again folks, you've all been a great help.


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## tikino (12 November 2011)

hoping and praying for a good result from your girl. my 5 month old colt came home the other day after having the surgery on his foot i can showe you the pre and post surgery x-rays to compare if you want. i know we have a long way to go but so far so good


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## Evadiva1514 (13 November 2011)

I'm so sorry to hear you are going through this with your mare, my gelding contracted an infection in his pedal bone in Jan 2009 following a keratoma operation. It was very touch and go with him at one point as we couldn't get his antibiotics right but I'm thankful to say he pulled through and is now ridden and going better than before.... 

I shall try to explain what happened when they flushed it and cleaned it all out. He had his keratoma op in October 2008 at Rossdales Newmarket, the keratoma (tumour) had wrapped itself in and around his pedal bone and so it was a pretty tricky op by all accounts... Got him home with a hospital plate (I shall explain later what it is and see if I have a pic of Alfies in a min because they are rather odd contraptions.) and was told to dress the wound with as much pressure as possible. He suddenly went extremely lame over christmas 2008 and by new year he was rushed back down to Rossdales for Andy Bathe to reassess him. Poor chap coming off our lorry, he looked to all intents and purposes as though he had fractured his leg and was just like your mare, unable to weight bear. They nerve blocked him and then took a scalpel to the sole and carefully dug down to the pedal bone... I was allowed to view all of this at the time and it was fascinating actually looking at part of the working mechanisms of the foot. he scraped any infection out, flushed it and then set to work packing the hole with iodine and gauze. This is what it looked like just prior to it being dressed...







...All seemed well and he was given a strong course of penicillin and painkillers... We left him there to recuperate and over the next few days he began to make a bit of an improvement... Sadly over the following weekend he took a turn for the worse and it left them all scratching their heads, he was given until the end of that week to make an improvement and thankfully due to a change in antibiotics ( a pig one of all things!)  he started again to make slow progress... 5 weeks later and he was finally allowed home and he's been absolutely fine ever since.... His hospital plate was removed and replaced with a normal shoe and before too long he started to have short periods of time out again...

The hospital plate is a circular flat piece of metal which is bolted on to a circular shoe... You need a spanner to undo the 2 bolts on each diagonal of the hoof and this provides a contained environment in which to dress the foot... I've found a pic of what one looks like: 







Good luck with your mare and let us know how it goes... You just need a very confident veterinary surgeon and if like in our case they don't respond to the first set of antib's someone who is willing to try something else...


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## Tnavas (13 November 2011)

How sad to have your mare get injured in this way but lovely to read the succes stories from other members. I wasn't so lucky with my filly when she developed a bone infectioin inside her hock joint. After many months of antibiotics and a bone scraping I had to have her PTS.

On the other hand though one of my friends horse broke his splint bone as the result of an outside trauma, it infected badly and he was operated on, the broken bone removed and the remaining bone scraped and cleaned. It healed well and the horse went on to event succesfully.

Will you vet agree to operating at home - though it's not an ideal situationi it is not an impossible one. I've seen quite a few operations done at home when the horse was unable to travel.

I so hope that your mare recovers soon. (((HUGS)))


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## Chloe-V (14 November 2011)

Benjis-girl. - Thats been most helpful all round, thank you.  So pleased your boy's recovered so well - what a worry that must have been for you?

Tikino - yes please, that would be good, thanks.

I think vets definately considering operating at home now but doing more x rays before we proceed. I'll let you all know how we get on.

Thank you so much, everyone.


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## Bigginge (14 November 2011)

Just wanted to give you another success story, my boy had a pedal bone infection and the op to scrape it out nearly 8 or 9 years ago. From what I can remember it was like they cut a slice of pie out of his foot to get to the bone. Afterwards this was packed with iodine and gauze and he had the plate fitted afterwards for a few weeks but was on box rest for nearly 6 months (timelines are a bit hazy as we are going back a while). He didn't much enjoy the box rest, he never likes being in though, but made a full recovery and not had a day unsound since, he is well into his 20's now and still going strong.

We didn't have the same issues with travelling, and hope that your vet can find a way to either do this safely for you at home or travel her sedated and as painlessly as possible. If you can find a way though I would go for it as it saved my lad's life. Good luck with your mare.


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## tikino (14 November 2011)

ok here are the x-rays of my wee guys foot. and on a good note he got his dressing changed today and all is looking great.

these ones were taken before the surgery















AND THIS ONE IS AFTER THE SURGERY


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## tikino (23 November 2011)

chloe-v hows your girl doing


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## Chloe-V (23 November 2011)

Hi Tikino,
Thanks for the x rays, they're really interesting. I'm so pleased your little one's doing well now. Do please let me know how he gets on.

My girl - Vet did the op at home last week to scrape out the damaged area and thoroughly flushed it and packed it. She's now got a hospital plate and she's on 'punchy' antibiotics and painkillers. Still very lame but coping well considering - so far so good.

Her pal next to her to keep her company is 'doing his nut' as he can't see why he should have to stay in as well but I daren't change him for another in case it upsets and unsettles her, so he can just get on with it I'm afraid. 
She threw herself around the stable (large foaling box size) at a rate of knots the other day, on three legs, when she heard a yearling calling from the far fields to her but on the whole, she's very calm about it all now.

Thanks again everyone for your support and thoughts, you've all been a great help all along and I do appreciate it.

Early days yet but I'm a bit more hopeful atm.


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## Chloe-V (7 January 2012)

Hello everybody.

For anyone interested I thought I'd just let you all know how my mare is now.

It's now 10 weeks since her original injury. It turned out that the Distal Navicular ligament was also involved.

She's doing well and is now 'only' 3/10ths lame but now allowed to quietly graze out with her pal for a few hours during the day. 
I don't really expect her to come sound 100% but time will tell. Field sound would still be lovely.
I'm just so pleased with her progress considering what could have been.

I want to say a big 'thank you' to everyone who answered my post as you all gave me a lot to think about and consider and that really helped tremendously  with decision making. I'm happy with the  road we took for her in the end.
Thank you all again.


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## TheCurlyPony (7 January 2012)

Thanks for posting, I remember reading your post and then following, glad to hear she in on the road to recovery.


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## ILuvCowparsely (7 January 2012)

my mare has  been box rested since july with laminitis ,

 she has had setbacks of founder ( once)  rotation 11 degrees and recently up to 15 degrees
 abscess too which seems to be clear now  this is what caused the second rotation,  she is in styrofoam pads, the last xray which showed rotation also showed inflammation of the pedal bone  she has been on Norodine and  Potassium Iodide  since 23rd Dec  and enroxill, for longer.  More Xray wed and farrier as feet are too long,
 its hard to see them in pain .

 Hope your girl recovers well


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## Fahrenheit (7 January 2012)

Chloe-V said:



			Hi people, I'm feeling really distraught atm and need some advice/other peoples experiences/ which way to go etc ?

My beautiful girl has pierced the sole of her foot with a nail, hole is at least 3 inches deep, just in front of the point of frog.  Poultices, ATB's, serious painkillers and no change for the poor girl - she won't weight bear on the foot at all apart from using the edge of her toe to balance when she has too, she moves by hopping on three legs a couple of hops at a time. On box rest and now not eating, she seems to be getting 'depressed' with the pain, I think.

Vet has x-rayed her foot yesterday and says that there's  an infection setting up within the pedal bone itself - wants to re x-ray on Monday to see for definate. He's talking about operating to scrape out any affected area and hospitalisation.

I was wondering if anyone had experience of this, prognosis, time to heal etc.

Any thoughts on this and how I can help my girl would really be appreciated.  Thanks for reading.
		
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Not read the whole thread but one of my mares had this and had the operation done with success, we took her to the vets, they did the operation under sedation whilst I waited there and when she was awake enough I could take her home, she had her foot in dressings for a few weeks (until the hole in her foot had grown over), we had to change the dressings every few days and when the vet was happy for her to have the dressings off, he got the farrier to put front shoes on her and the one on that foot was put on backwards (no toe clips) so she had no pressure at the front of her foot, she was then allowed to go back out at this stage and has never looked back, she is now out on loan to another forum member who is delighted with her


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## ILuvCowparsely (10 January 2012)

one feels so helpless
 my mares is due to abscess from laminitis  she is finishing one course of norodine and eroxill, xray today said infection worst but with lami they dont normally operate to remove the bone. i feel like my world is crashing down


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## Foxford (10 January 2012)

My gelding also had an infected pedal bone last year although he has made a full recovery in a few months. It seems so horrific at the time, but hopefully other people will see this thread and see that there are many horses who've suffered from this and are none the worse for it now!


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## ILuvCowparsely (10 January 2012)

but all the internet sites say if its laminitis induced  prognoses is poor


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## Chloe-V (11 January 2012)

My girl's infection in the pedal bone and damage to the distal navicular ligament was definately caused by trauma from a deep puncture wound and not a chronic ailment like laminitis.

Because of that and after reading all the replies to my post, I'm feeling much more positive now than I was at the beginning when everything seemed so dark.  It really has been so helpful to hear of other peoples experiences and to see that so many horses have survived and recovered so well with treatment.

Thank you again everyone for sharing with me.

I'm so sorry to hear about your horse Leviathan and the troubles you are having, I really do hope things improve for you.


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## tikino (31 January 2012)

hows your girl doing now


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## ILuvCowparsely (31 January 2012)

Chloe-V

 My mares last  well second last xray showed inflammation of the pedal bone due to abscesses following laminitis  last xray showed it had got a little worst .

  one of the Uk's top orthopedic surgeons said he wasn't too worried.
 She can have surgery due to laminitis .

 She is on pottasium iodide, norodine and batrol


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