Today was the big day, the day where I stepped into the shoes of an actual veterinarian and performed my first surgery. I got to school around 510-515 this morning and started by doing a physical exam. Then there was paperwork to be done and a fecal test to run. At 630am, the anesthesia techs came and our student anesthetist Mike got all the drugs to sedate the dog. We sedated around 715AM and then finished clipping the area (we had done some clipping yesterday). Then it was off to the surgery room where Mike placed an IV catheter in the dog's front leg. After an excessively long wait (over an hour) for a free anesthesia tech or doctor to help us, Mike was able to knock the dog out the rest of the way, stick a tube down its throat and hook it up to the anesthesia machine. Then, the dog was flipped onto its back and Olga (the floater) scrubbed the surgery site while Cari (assistant surgeon) and myself got scrubbed up and put on sterile gowns and gloves. Then, I was off. We pushed the testicles up forward from the scrotum and incised the skin, pulled the testicles out, and then tied them off with suture so that when we cut the testicles out the stumps wouldn't bleed. Then it was snip, out come the testicles. I actually did one testicle at a time, I just combined them for the sake of writing. Finally, I sutured up the connective tissue in the deep part of my incision and then sutured up the skin. I have to say, I was very surprised at how well my incision looked at the end, much better than I was expecting! Then, we disconnected the dog from anesthesia thus allowing him to wake up. When I checked on him around 4pm he was doing real good and his incision looked great and he is peeing and pooping normally, good signs!
The dog is so awesome, I would love to adopt him but I travel too much on weekends to have a dog around. After all the time I have spent working with him, and then him being my first surgery patient ever, I kinda feel a connection with him, I will actually be kinda sad to see him go on Thursday!
3 comments:
How exciting! glad all went well!! You should take the pup home to CT with you Friday and have Evan "foster" him for the remainder of vet school! :)
Reading your adventures would be a perfect addition to dinner ;) Glad it went well, congrats on your first surgery! :)
Andrea, I tell you what, he can stay at your house til I go home in December. Sounds like a plan, no?
Hannah, yes, I definitely suggest reading my posts around dinner time. I had a lot of fun!
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