I was assigned two patients to monitor today in ICU. Neither of them were really critical, but it was good experience to have some patients I was responsible for. One of my patients was the cutest little (ok little is more a term of endearment than an actual measure of size...he's a little tubby) bulldog puppy in the wide world. I'm going to call him Gus. Gus had surgery earlier this week to resect his soft palate and his alar fold which is cartilage inside his nose. A resection is a surgical removal of tissue, these particular resections allow our squish faced (aka brachycephalic) pals to breathe a little easier. The soft palate resection opens up the animal's airway by removing excess tissue that may cover a large portion of their epiglottis. The alar fold resection addresses the common issue of stenotic (narrowed) nasal passages, which also contribute to difficulty breathing. So, good 'ol Gus can breathe a little easier now...he still snorts a bit but he's adorable nonetheless. He had some issues with regurgitating kibble following surgery (even though he wasn't supposed to eat before surgery...naughty Gus!) but he made it through the day with no regurging. Woohoo! He did have some diarrhea in the morning but it started to improve by the end of my shift (everything is about poo, ok non-vet people? don't get all grossed out). A couple of IV meds and a catheter flush here and there and Gus was good to go.
My other patient was a standard Poodle. We'll call her Polly. Polly was in for some pretty vague symptoms of lethargy and coughing. Also, at her referring vet, her temp was 103 and they tested her PCV which was apparently 93%, 93!?!? That's craaaaaazy! As I said in yesterday's post, normal PCV for a dog is 37-55% so, when it's twice that, it's mildly concerning. However, when she came in to the Auburn ICU, her PCV was tested and it was 53%. On the high side, sure, but certainly nothing to get worked up over. We monitored her and she had an ultrasound performed on her abdomen which showed a hyperechoic spleen. Hyperechoic basically means that the tissue of the spleen appeared abnormal on the ultrasound. However, no other issues were found and no definitive diagnosis was made. So Polly is basically getting ready to go home and I decided to take her out to the yard to do her business and run around a bit. Me, being the genius that I am, decided to let Polly off the leash in the fenced in area (she was the first and last dog that I will ever do that with). Polly decided that she was going to prance around the yard and not allow me to catch her. After about ten minutes of having Polly make an idiot out of me, we corralled her in a smaller area near some outdoor runs. At this point, she really had no way out and I just had to get the leash on her and be done with it. She was none too pleased about being cornered which she made apparent by growling at me and trying to escape. I attempted a Poodle lasso with the slip lead I had but my forearm was a touch too close to her mouth, which I discovered as I felt her canine teeth clamping down on it. Fan-flippin-tastic. She bit me. I lassoed her nonetheless and we returned to the ICU. She apparently bit her tongue or gums or something because she had blood in her mouth that (thankfully) did not belong to me. She didn't get me too badly thankfully and I washed my arm with soap then scrubbed it with chlorhex, then one of the techs insisted on scrubbing it with Betadine and alcohol. It was a little ouchy and swollen around the lovely tooth marks but nothing too serious. We didn't have Polly's full record in ICU so we had to wait for the vet student on her case to find out when her last vaccinations were administered. Finally, she came back to let us know that Polly had received her 3 year rabies vaccination late last year...sweet! No foaming at the mouth and crazy times for me! Polly went home later that day but only because I said she could!! Apparently, if you're bitten by a dog, you get to decide if they need to stay at the clinic to be quarantined or if they should be euthanized. I understand why Polly flipped out and I know that it was my fault for letting her off the leash when I didn't know her that well, so off she went...with a muzzle for her walk up to the front.
All in all a good learning day. I even got to round on my cute little pal Gus! I am feeling oh so professional...minus the teeth marks on my forearm, for that, I just feel dumb. But hey, another tech was bitten by a cat yesterday (NOT up to date on Rabies) sooo it could be worse. Stacey at Bel-Rea was certainly pleased to find out it was a dog bit and not a cat bite.
Now, in what seems to be normal Alabama fashion, there is a fast approaching and widespread tornado warning so I'm going to go prepare for that without proofreading this entry. I apologize now for any glaring grammatical or spelling issues. Good night to all!
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