End of week 4

Friday was another busy day in the Ortho department. First, we had an overflow TPLO surgery that we didn't get to on Thursday. I was the circulator/anesthesia tech wannabe. I helped get all her monitoring equipment hooked up and set up her fluids, Cefazolin and Morphine CRI. Then the anesthesia tech pretty much left me to assist the vet student who was monitoring anesthesia which made me feel like a cool kid. The student had been on food animal rotations for the past few weeks and was mildly freaking out about monitoring anesthesia for small animals. Fortunately, we had a really smooth anesthesia and I utilized my jedi-like calming vibes to assure the student she was doing a great job and that everything was peachy keen.

Towards the end of the surgery, the vet let the vet intern and resident take over so that he could go do surgery on an owl. An OWL! It was a Barred Owl with a fractured wing. I didn't get to see the whole procedure because I was still in the TPLO surgery but I got a few pictures of the owl when he was intubated (had an ET tube in) and when he was recovering.  The owl came from the Raptor Rescue that is part of Auburn. I'll be doing a rotation there in a few weeks and I can post pictures of those kids because they aren't owned by private clients.  So basically they use a mask to gas down the birds instead of using an IV induction agent like Propofol that we traditionally use in small animal procedures. The bird is then intubated with an itty bitty super flexible ET tube. The only monitoring that was done was tracking the respiratory rate and using a stethoscope to monitor the heart rate (i.e. auscultation). Their normal resting heart rate is over 200 beats per minute which is uber fast. A dog usually runs somewhere from 60-160 bpm depending on size. Anyway, here is a picture of Mr. Owl. The blue thing is the ET tube and the orange stuff is the remnants of his bandage.

And this is one of him after the procedure when he is recovering, isn't he cute??

After the owl, we had an emergency come in. The dog had been out on a walk with her owner when a neighbor drove by and accidentally hit the dog with the car. Her right hip and pelvis were crushed and the vertebrae (bones of the spine) in her tail were completely separated at one point of her spine. Below is a lateral radiograph of her pelvis and caudal (towards the hind end) spine.

I added two arrows that point to the major issues for those of you who haven't spent much time looking at radiographs. The top arrow points to the space where two vertebrae have been forcefully separated. Just like our spine, a dog's spine should be connected from the skull all the way down to the end of their tail. Damage similar to what this dog suffered would most likely cause a loss of control of the ability to urinate and defecate and, potentially, some other neurological issues related to spinal cord damage. The bottom arrow points to the damaged pelvis. The pelvis is made up of a few bones that are all fused together: the ilium is the uppermost portion that forms little wings that flank the spine, the pubis is the middle portion and the ischium is what makes up our "sit bones" and is the lower part that is sticking out behind the femurs (leg bones). In this animal, all three of those bones were shattered on one side. Orthopedic surgery is not always done to repair a pelvic fracture, whether or not it is done depends on where the fracture is located.  If the ilium or the acetabulum (remember that one? the part that makes up the socket of the hip joint...see, learning is fun!) then surgery will most likely be done.  In this animal, surgery would definitely be indicated.  However, following radiographs, epidural pain medications were administered and we were attempting to place a urinary catheter.  During this procedure, the dog went in to cardiac arrest.  CPCR (that's the new term for CPR) was administered until we received confirmation from the owner to stop, we weren't able to save the dog.  That was the first time I had seen CPCR done on a real animal and it was difficult to watch.  I know we did everything we could for that dog and that this is all part of being a vet tech and life in general but it's still hard to see an animal die right in front of you.  In the long run, it's probably for the best that the dog didn't make it.  Her quality of life would have been less than desirable even if surgery had been as successful as can be imagined.  We just have to take comfort in knowing that we are doing our best to improve the lives of as many animals as we can. We are bound to lose some along the way, but hopefully there is more good than bad in the long run.