Wow. What a busy last few weeks! Last weekend had a very exciting story, and I plumb forgot to put it here! I will place that now (it's the maggot one.... very gross. Not for those with sensitive stomachs):
Maggots: This was the day that I came to work in the morning. I arrived an hour after opening, and a large old german shepherd dog was being led out of one of the exam rooms. He came out of his room to the back, and lay down immediately. Being tired and old, as well as sick, he didn't have much strength to support himself. I went to his head and began crooning to him to make him feel better, because he looked miserable. The nurse told me, "That's great, stay there at his head. Don't look at the back end!" After hearing everyone's "blech"s and "eww"s, I had to see what was on his back end. I looked, and it was a sight to make even my stomach churn. The poor dog's rectum and the rest of his behind was covered in maggots, which were swarming in his fur. It was awful. The owners felt horrible, and I think that it went unnoticed for a while because the dog was old and lay on his side a lot, which caused pressure sores which became infected and got maggots. It was quite disgusting, for sure. The nurse kept squirming and shuddering as she donned gloves and began to shave all the fur in the area, the maggots with it. The doctor assisted, being one of the few males in the hospital, and appeared quite brave and okay with the process. He armed himself with gloves, a curved syringe of chlorhexidine scrub solution (a disinfectant which kills maggots as well), and his hands. Whenever the nurse spotted a lone (or more than one) maggot squiggling on the skin, she moaned, "Get it, doctor!". He quickly squirted the fierce thing with the solution, and it stopped wriggling. Then he picked it up and deposited it into the trash. I said solemnly, "I only hope that this trash can doesn't get up and walk away!" I suppose I wasn't far off target---there were hundreds of maggots crawling around. Ichk. I think that old dog felt much better once he was completely hosed off (his back end, that is), and he rested in the crate with IV fluids to replace those the maggots had taken. Happy ending!
Kittens and Papillions and Gorillas, oh my! Today we received a new dental cleaning machine. It was cool, and it came in a cool wooden crate. Later on the crate we found written: "LIVE EMPTY GORILLA", and we had a pretty good idea who identified the need to write that! There were lots of adorable kittens today. I knew when one walked in, because I heard lots of "awwww!" and saw everyone swarming around the poor critter. I did it too! Such cute little animals. There were also lots of papillions and other fluffies! I knew, because it is hard to put a leash on an angry Pomeranian. It goes on the fluff and before you can tighten it, he moves his head and it slips off.
Prolapsed Uterus: This happened when my shift was Friday night and Saturday morning. The dog came in Friday evening, a roughly 67 lb dog named Jimma. She was a very cute dog, but very scared, so she was marked as a caution. We took her out and got her prepped for surgery. I asked what was wrong, and the doctor showed me her prolapsed uterus. This means that her uterus was coming out of her vulva, and showing itself to the world. This is NOT ideal, and it causes much pain and can cause infection as well, with the inner organs coming out. The only solution to this is to either push it back in, in which it can come out again, or spay the dog. The owners wanted to spay her, so while the dog "brewed" in her share of Morphine to kill the pain, we set up for a big surgery.
They actually started to intubate the dog and shave/clean the surgery site one hour before I was to leave. The doctor and nurse who were doing this and having me help were wonderful---they showed me how to do many things I didn't know before. I'm learning! The doctor said she'll teach me to intubate pets someday. I was excited! I learned how you shave the belly fur for a spay, and how to scrub the belly down to make it clean and then sterile. When we moved her from the intubation table in one room to the surgery room table, the nurse noticed something wet on her, when she was carrying the front end. Jimma was already intubated and to be hooked up on oxygen at this point---she was unconcious already. The nurse hollered for the doctor, who came quickly, because Jimma had vomited in her sleep, and they had to work quickly to stop it and to prevent her from "aspirating" (breathing into her lungs) the vomit. I ran to get my enemy, the mop, to clean up the trail of vomit we had left, and I stood poised by the surgery table ready to mop when she was finished vomiting. The doctor gave her some anti-nausea medicine, and antibiotics in case she aspirated any of it. They took out the tube (endotracheal tube--the one used to deliver oxygen to the lungs), and replaced it. They were ready to start when--lo and behold--she vomited again! It was a mess, and we had to do it all over again. I finally just lightly mopped before I left in case she vomited again. As I was leaving to go home, they began the surgery.
I asked the doctor the next day how the surgery went, since Jimma was looking much better. She said that the surgery itself went well, but everything else was a disaster! While Jimma was laying on the floor with the trach tube still in her throat (they were watching and waiting for her to wake up a bit more to pull it out), they got momentarily distracted by a choking cat, and Jimma woke up and chewed on her endotracheal tube, which was still in her throat, and bit it in half! Half of the tube was stuck in her throat, so the doctor had to run over and shove her hand into the throat of a half-awake caution dog to pull out part of a tube, so of course she got bitten. Poor doctor... but at least it wasn't a bad bite. I just saw some little indentations, so I don't think it broke the skin. A good scare and some pain, though! What an ordeal for everyone, including Jimma!
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