In the Dead of the Night
I arrived in Redmond with a few minutes to spare. The wedding was nicely unique -- the groom and groomsmen wore leafy-camouflage-fabric vests under their suits, there were antlers on the bridal table, and they served barbequed (?) salmon as part of the buffet. Both bride and groom are into hunting and fishing, so it was apropos.
I ran into a number of ex-vet students -- one from Alturas, another who will be a large animal medicine resident at OSU next year, another who is currently a small animal intern at OSU (and whom I followed around last week on my rotation). Dr. Blythe (my neurology professor from first year) and her friend Zelda were there, representing the college and scoping out the wedding for ideas. Dr. Blythe's daughter is getting married this summer.
I traversed the high desert lands on my way to John Day, enjoying the sunny weather and non-citified terrain. In theory I was on my way to join the Hopewell and John Day Mennonites for whatever activities they were engaged in... but my friend VB called as I travelled, and I mentioned my friend Kasey Nash, and got her phone number. I knew she lived west of John Day, and thought maybe, just maybe, it would work to visit her that evening.
So I called her up. Kasey is a 2004 graduate of the vet school -- she is the "new vet" referenced here -- and works at Gambler Veterinary in John Day. She was home for the evening, and invited me to stop by (yay, I didn't have to invite myself over) at her place west of Mt. Vernon.
We had a grand old time talking about her vet work, crazy clients, her 6 mo. son, et cetera. After a bit her husband came in from moving cattle on their many acres of rented land, and after a bit more we headed to John Day for supper (there I go again -- make that dinner if you want).
I spent the night with the Nashes. At ~1:30 am Kasey's pager went off and an hour later we sped down to the clinic to see a dog with a suspected gastric dilatation volvulus (GDV -- er, twisted stomach in common dialect). The people drove all the way from Burns -- hence the hour wait. The dog's mucous membranes (e.g. gums) were more white than pink, and he was reluctant to walk.
Kasey inserted a stomach tube to decompress the stomach, but there was little/no spontaneous decompression. We thought the dog felt better after we pressed on the stomach -- it was more willing to walk. However, if I had regarded the ventral abdominal distention with more brain power I might have determined its inconsistency with a diagnosis of GDV. Ventral distention should have suggested fluid to my foggy brain, but I didn't think of that 'til later.
Kasey did abdominal radiographs, and the diffuse fuzz suggested something other than a GDV -- something more like a hemangiosarcoma of the spleen (these tumors often bleed out).
We took the dog to surgery and Kasey did an exploratory ventral laparotomy. The first bad sign was the quantity of blood in the abdomen (ding, ding -- ventral abdominal distention!). Then she was feeling around and came upon an ~5 inch mass on the spleen (hemangiosarcoma, most likely). The mesentery was peppered with smaller masses, and there was even a metastasis to the liver. I wouldn't have given the dog more than 6 months to live -- likely more like 2 or 3 months -- and his quality of life would have been questionable. We ended up euthanizing him. That dog had an amazing degree of stamina -- to come walking into the clinic after bleeding out into your abdomen, to maintain good vital signs (except for a faint heart beat) throughout the surgery -- pretty amazing.
We returned to the Nashes where I got a couple winks of sleep before joining Kasey in the kitchen. I don't know how she manages on such minimal sleep, but she kept perking along.
I invited myself over to VB's for an hour+ before church. My youth group gave a singing program at the John Day Valley Mennonite Church. I was a bit faint at times, but managed to survive.
We gave a second program in Madras -- my voice was pretty spent by then -- and headed home to Hubbard.
What a weekend!
I ran into a number of ex-vet students -- one from Alturas, another who will be a large animal medicine resident at OSU next year, another who is currently a small animal intern at OSU (and whom I followed around last week on my rotation). Dr. Blythe (my neurology professor from first year) and her friend Zelda were there, representing the college and scoping out the wedding for ideas. Dr. Blythe's daughter is getting married this summer.
I traversed the high desert lands on my way to John Day, enjoying the sunny weather and non-citified terrain. In theory I was on my way to join the Hopewell and John Day Mennonites for whatever activities they were engaged in... but my friend VB called as I travelled, and I mentioned my friend Kasey Nash, and got her phone number. I knew she lived west of John Day, and thought maybe, just maybe, it would work to visit her that evening.
So I called her up. Kasey is a 2004 graduate of the vet school -- she is the "new vet" referenced here -- and works at Gambler Veterinary in John Day. She was home for the evening, and invited me to stop by (yay, I didn't have to invite myself over) at her place west of Mt. Vernon.
We had a grand old time talking about her vet work, crazy clients, her 6 mo. son, et cetera. After a bit her husband came in from moving cattle on their many acres of rented land, and after a bit more we headed to John Day for supper (there I go again -- make that dinner if you want).
I spent the night with the Nashes. At ~1:30 am Kasey's pager went off and an hour later we sped down to the clinic to see a dog with a suspected gastric dilatation volvulus (GDV -- er, twisted stomach in common dialect). The people drove all the way from Burns -- hence the hour wait. The dog's mucous membranes (e.g. gums) were more white than pink, and he was reluctant to walk.
Kasey inserted a stomach tube to decompress the stomach, but there was little/no spontaneous decompression. We thought the dog felt better after we pressed on the stomach -- it was more willing to walk. However, if I had regarded the ventral abdominal distention with more brain power I might have determined its inconsistency with a diagnosis of GDV. Ventral distention should have suggested fluid to my foggy brain, but I didn't think of that 'til later.
Kasey did abdominal radiographs, and the diffuse fuzz suggested something other than a GDV -- something more like a hemangiosarcoma of the spleen (these tumors often bleed out).
We took the dog to surgery and Kasey did an exploratory ventral laparotomy. The first bad sign was the quantity of blood in the abdomen (ding, ding -- ventral abdominal distention!). Then she was feeling around and came upon an ~5 inch mass on the spleen (hemangiosarcoma, most likely). The mesentery was peppered with smaller masses, and there was even a metastasis to the liver. I wouldn't have given the dog more than 6 months to live -- likely more like 2 or 3 months -- and his quality of life would have been questionable. We ended up euthanizing him. That dog had an amazing degree of stamina -- to come walking into the clinic after bleeding out into your abdomen, to maintain good vital signs (except for a faint heart beat) throughout the surgery -- pretty amazing.
We returned to the Nashes where I got a couple winks of sleep before joining Kasey in the kitchen. I don't know how she manages on such minimal sleep, but she kept perking along.
I invited myself over to VB's for an hour+ before church. My youth group gave a singing program at the John Day Valley Mennonite Church. I was a bit faint at times, but managed to survive.
We gave a second program in Madras -- my voice was pretty spent by then -- and headed home to Hubbard.
What a weekend!
posted by Claire at 19:59
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