Solving the Mystery

Regularly I find myself in a difficult position.  Someone has just paid me to examine their pet and offer my opinion.  The opinion is not a simple answer, as they would like.  Your pet has X disease and this is how we will treat it.  More often, it is that the findings are consistant with several different illness and tests will need to be performed in order to determine which disorder we are dealing with.  It is often at that point that the line is drawn. 

This is also the point where the client looks at me as if to say, "Did I just pay you to tell me that you don't know?" 

This is the reason I have practiced my own discerning look.   The one meant to say, "Yep, that's right.  I know enough to realize that I need to run this test." 

I'm gonna rock this bladder!

Two months ago I was presented with a beautiful and timid miniature schnauzer.  Her owner complained that the dog was urinating frequently.  She had worried about it previously, but now...there was blood. 

The little dog was very sweet for her exam.  She allowed me to examine her well and was quite relaxed when I went to palpate her abdomen.  I gently pressed my hands into the abdomen and was astonished to feel a giant rock push back.  I gently palpated the dog and what I felt gave me the feeling you get when you hear fingernails being pulled across a chalkboard.  I felt the grinding of stones one upon another.

Death and Decision

Early in my veterinary years, I watched a dog suffer death of renal failure for weeks.  I watched as the owner visited daily for long periods of time.  She cried and prayed over her dog.  She wiped its mouth while the dog drooled copiously due to the necrotic tongue and oral ulcers.  She helped to clean the vomit resulting each time the pet tried to drink water.   She tried so desperately to convey her love to the dog as it slipped into a coma.  I became angry at the owner. How could she witness this suffering and not consider putting an end to it?

Euthanasia is a gift.  I have long felt this way.  It is an act of kindness.

So often I am told by my clients, "I always wanted to be a veterinarian, but I couldn't put cute little animals to sleep."  I understand what they are saying...but it always makes me cringe.

If this mass were an 80's rock band....I'd call it a hair band.

I feel a mass.

No one wants to hear these words from their doctor.  We all know the result will never be a good one.  We immediately begin thinking about mortality, morbidity, and, perhaps worst of all, how this finding will affect our bank accounts.  We puddle up at the fear of loss, surgery, or suffering.  We freeze.  We wilt. 

Add to this the life-changing experience of having battled cancer personally or helping your loved one through it.  Consider having only realized the endowment of existence, your daily interactions with those you love, and love itself....at the time when you are most likely to lose them.  Compound it with a deep personal knowledge of weakness and nausea from chemo, the weeping of radiation burns, and the soreness of your scalp as your locks release their grip. Isn't once enough?  Will we have to war with cancer again?  Because....that is what most masses are, right?

A Word of Thank You...for Veterinary Technicians Week

I remember what it was like when I first graduated vet school.  I had been given the license to go out into the world and attempt to make use of the knowledge that four very intense years of school imparts.  I had a license to examine, consult, operate, pull teeth, remove tumors, inseminate, and any number of other weird medical and surgical procedures.  I had been blessed with the gift of bedside manner.  What I didn't have...was the technical skill.  What I lacked were the gems of knowledge that had been collected from years of working with each species.  What I lacked....was a good technician.

Not your average gal...

Those who are familiar with me know that I start off my day with the morning prayer service at church.  It helps to center me, unburden me, focus me, and prepare me for the day ahead.  If you haven't tried it, give it a spin.  It has worked wonders for my anxiety.  Those who are familiar with me also know that I can be found regularly at the Two Summers Spay and Neuter Clinic every Tuesday and Wednesday morning.  This is a great low cost clinic with the aim of reducing the shelter burden/stray population/animal suffering in McMinn county and the surrounding region.  Those who are familiar with me know what I like to call my Tuesday/Wednesday schedule.  I call it pray and spay day.  This past Wednesday began just as any normal pray and spay day does...but took an interesting turn when I met......her.  Lets just say that familiar was left at the door. 

I got to cuddle a hermaphrodite.

In the beginning....

Welcome to my newest adventure!  I have started a blog.  I'm not really sure that I even fully understand blogs, how they work, how you follow/keep track of them.   But here I am.  It makes me quite nervous that others will be reading what I write and forming opinions.   I'm quite sure that some will be driven mad by my grammar...but perhaps it will improve with time.  So be patient, please.

The reason that this blog was created was because I got my hand smacked. 

As a veterinarian, I find that I see/hear/smell/feel things that others may never get to experience.   I am and have always been in love with science, nature, and all things living.  I find it fascinating to discover nature's accidents, God's special creations, and the unceasingly amazing ability of people and animals to cope with difficult situations/injuries/diseases.  For example, I had a dog come in once missing its tail....and the owner's 3 year old daughter walked in the room behind them wagging the dog's tail...and the dog was still wagging what was left! Or consider the 150 pound mastiff that walked into my clinic after a dog fight.  I stuck my finger in a wound to see how deep it went and touch her heart. Who gets to see/do that often?  Well...me.  I encounter situations daily that make me happy, sad, uncomfortable, excited, and angry...but always fascinated.   Along the way, I began taking pictures of these incredible incidents/pets and posting them on an online networking site.  I was always pleased with the discussions and comments that were the result of these postings.  Unfortunatley, these pictures were deemed inappropriate for the general community and were removed from the site by the powers that be.  The resultant outpouring of comments and suggestions for an alternative method of sharing these tidbits with online friends has prompted me to brave this interesting world of blogging.

In the days and weeks to come, I will try to re-post those interesting cases that were online for your enjoyment.  I will do my best to explain them and welcome your comments and questions.  If you enjoy the site, feel free to share it with others who may enjoy it as well.  Perhaps in so doing, we may all learn a little about our role as good stewards to these amazing animals who share our lives and planet.  Perhaps we will be inspired by their courage, endurance, tolerance, trust, and compassion.  Perhaps we will remember that these, too, are qualities that we share and can cultivate/practice in our daily lives.