Worried If, Worried If Not
I was on call for large animal last night, worried I might get a call and worried I might not get a call. At some point I will have my own first horse colic case, and there's always the question of when to refer the beast for surgery. In some ways I'd like to get the first such case out of the way soon.
I was reading up on colic assessment in my Current Therapy in Equine Medicine book, cell phone in pocket and pager clamped to the edge. The answering service wouldn't call, and I kept wondering if perhaps they had the wrong number for me. I half expected to return to work in the morning and hear of a bunch of angry clients who couldn't get through to the vet. I indulged in a couple chapters of "All Creatures Great and Small" (James Herriot), reading about his first case which was a horse colic with a strangulating lesion. I have a hankering to read those JH books again now that I've been through vet school and have a fuller understanding of the stuff he dealt with. Of course, I've never heard of arecoline used in a modern day colic treatment. It's amazing how new our standard treatments/anesthetic agents are.
I never got called, and there were no angry horse clients.
***
Tonight Dr. A is on call. Before the end of our day, an owner called with a horse which had been tied to a 4x4 board, spooked, and took part/all of the board with it. We heard the lip was drooping down and there was a laceration on the face. Being interested, I offered my assistance and Dr. A offered me full ownership of the case (which was pleasing to me). As it turned out, Dr. S hung out and gave me a hand. It was an easy situation in which to manage my first equine laceration.
The horse arrived, physiologically stable but sporting a facial laceration. This I stapled, and proceeded to evaluate the inside of the lip. I initially thought there were only minor abrasions, but closer evaluation revealed a 3-4 inch section of lip mucosa which had torn free from the lower mandible. No wonder the lip was drooping! Cleaning, carbocaine, and stitching -- and the horse was closer to normal configuration.
A neat case, with a neat owner to boot. Definitely a good end to my day.
I was reading up on colic assessment in my Current Therapy in Equine Medicine book, cell phone in pocket and pager clamped to the edge. The answering service wouldn't call, and I kept wondering if perhaps they had the wrong number for me. I half expected to return to work in the morning and hear of a bunch of angry clients who couldn't get through to the vet. I indulged in a couple chapters of "All Creatures Great and Small" (James Herriot), reading about his first case which was a horse colic with a strangulating lesion. I have a hankering to read those JH books again now that I've been through vet school and have a fuller understanding of the stuff he dealt with. Of course, I've never heard of arecoline used in a modern day colic treatment. It's amazing how new our standard treatments/anesthetic agents are.
I never got called, and there were no angry horse clients.
Tonight Dr. A is on call. Before the end of our day, an owner called with a horse which had been tied to a 4x4 board, spooked, and took part/all of the board with it. We heard the lip was drooping down and there was a laceration on the face. Being interested, I offered my assistance and Dr. A offered me full ownership of the case (which was pleasing to me). As it turned out, Dr. S hung out and gave me a hand. It was an easy situation in which to manage my first equine laceration.
The horse arrived, physiologically stable but sporting a facial laceration. This I stapled, and proceeded to evaluate the inside of the lip. I initially thought there were only minor abrasions, but closer evaluation revealed a 3-4 inch section of lip mucosa which had torn free from the lower mandible. No wonder the lip was drooping! Cleaning, carbocaine, and stitching -- and the horse was closer to normal configuration.
A neat case, with a neat owner to boot. Definitely a good end to my day.
posted by Claire at 20:57
3 Comments:
Just thought I'd mention that your Atom feed is still pointing to the OSU server.
Had a great time talking with your brother down there at Hopewell over the "Bible Interpretation" weekend. Tell him he needs to blog more. He's got lots of ideas.
Thanks for mentioning the Atom feed. I think I might have fixed it.
My brother realizes his shortcoming but finds himself busy with other things. I would certainly enjoy it if he blogged more.
Yes,Claire, when I find myself wishing you would blog more, It's comforting to remember that you do at least blog more than your brother :-) And, I hasten to add, I am aware of the fact that I last blogged even less recently than your brother! But, as of last night, I have a perfectly legitimate excuse. Apparently, in my long absence, Blogger was relaunched, and either I cannot remember my password, or it won't let me use it-so my blog is completely inaccessible to me! I did send an email, to see if I can recover it, but have not heard back yet :-)
-Hannah
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