Testicles: 4 pairs and counting

I'll fill you in on what I've been up to tomorrow, I promise. This is what two of the cats looked like when they came around.

Full speed ahead...

Long old first day, but a brilliant one. Morning in surgery and afternoon in consults.

1. 2x castrates. One very small set and one average set whipped off (closed technique) and scrotum glued.
2. GA and xray on a terrier with a sore toe. Not broken, but some DJD in the interphalangeal joints.
3. Lipoma removal and spay op on an older dog. Uterus iffy and ovaries all polycystic so better out than in. Lipoma shelled out nicely. I had scrubbed in because we weren't sure what they spay would be like and got to practise my sewing. It was very neat and getting less cack-handed each attempt.
4. Cat spay for charity. Very quick and neat. Flank entry.
5. Ultrasound exam on canine abdomen looking at the liver. Enlarged.

-Brief interlude for clearing up, hoovering, mopping and lunch-

Consults included:

• Vaccinations
• Re-examination and vaccinations
• Rabbit exam and myxi vaccinations. Also toe clip. Good refresher of how to restrain, exam and vaccinate wabbits.
• Stitch removal for a castrate op.
• Bloods for a doggie with endocrine disease.
• Toe clip for an ancient doggie.

-Afternoon gap for 30minutes (brightened by the introduction of doughnuts)-

• Ear exam and cleaning for a boxer
• Re-exam for lameness
• Ophthalmic re-exam following ulcer therapy
• Unwell and lameness exam
• Stitch removal for lump excisions
• Anal furunculosis re-exam.
• Pregnancy ultrasound. No puppies :-(

I've probably forgotten some, but the small animal consults go so quick that a few slip out of my mind. It was a really good day for learning; the practice I go to are just fabulous at letting me get involved. Definitely a challenge getting my head into small-animal gear though!

Small, but perfectly formed.

A couple of days of notes to catch up on...

14.02.12

1. Castrate on a 7m/o little bay Irish Draft fellow. Sedated with dom & torb and injected lignocaine locally around the goolies (testicle, neck, skin of the scrotum). Sterile scrub of the area. Clamped on emasculators for 4mins for blood vessels & another 4 minutes for testicles. Emasculators go on nuts to nuts for first clamp. No trouble, nice and quick. Small, but perfectly formed.

2. Scanned RF tendon on a 20y/o bay connemara. We were hoping for ALDDFT damage as it is simpler to repair, but actually saw a lot of damage to the SDFT. Poor boy was very sore and swollen. 6months of box rest & support bandages to look forward to. Re-scan in 1 month.

3. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous little Welsh Sec A driving pony. Lateral xrays on both forefeet (I did them!) History of laminitis; concussion from driving may have played a role as not actually that fat for a pony. In Imprint shoes and doing really well. Farrier wanted to see xrays to have an idea of how much he could take off the toe. Was first time I saw Imprints go on; really clever little shoes.

15.02.12

1. Vaccinated another 13hh bay driving pony. Checked heart. More regular than my heartbeat (see below!) Pinch skin of the neck and inject under the skin. Not Proteq as she'd had a bad reaction to that last time.

2. Re-application of Liverpool ointment to a small nodular sarcoid on the right forelimb of a lovely little coloured mare. Job jobbed.

Cut my afternoon short here because unfortunately the funny arrhythmia I'd been experiencing for the last few days got worse and I ended up spending 5 hours in casualty having tests. Yippee. Not dead yet though. Must try harder. I learned was that I am very fit and that I don't have a murmur, electrolyte disturbances or thyroid problems. Woohoo!