Today was such an exciting day!! Madison and I got to be a part of our very first surgery and then our second surgery! When we first came to the vet hospital, we had about 15 minutes of downtime before the day began for everyone at the hospital. Then as 8:45 rolled around, morning rounds ensued, and we were treated to a detailed description of the status of the various patients being housed, however, it was cut short by the arrival of an emergency patient who was having what we believe to be a serious heatstroke. We watched as the team gave him oxygen and cooling blankets to monitor his temperature, as his temperature was about 107 degrees Fahrenheit when he came in and it is supposed to be around 100 degrees. After that, Madison and I were told to “suit up” to come into surgery. “Suiting up” requires putting on little booties for protection of the shoes, a cap to cover the hair, and a mask to protect the sterile environment from fluids of the face. The surgery that we were observing was a TPLO which was the insertion of a metal plate into the dog’s knee in alignment with the femur because the angle of the femur to the fibula and tibia was too great at 39 degrees (ideally it would be under 20 degrees). During surgery, we hit a snag as the drill was malfunctioning at one point and did not want to rotate while cutting through the bone, but that problem was looked to very quickly and nothing happened. In addition, during the surgery, Madison and I were allowed to see that part of the ligament had been completely torn off and we were told that the only way to fix that was to remove the tissue because it could not come back together like that of a human. The surgery ended well, and we were on to our next surgery which would be of a beautiful golden retriever.
The second surgery of the day had to do with a white golden retriever who had been losing weight for the past six months. In the span of six months, the dog had lost almost 20 pounds and the owner believed that he may have eaten a stick or a toothpick. After giving him an initial physical examination, the dog was taken for an ultrasound where there was evidence of a foreign object in his body and also disruption of some of the organs inside his body. A few hours later and the dog was brought out to the prepping table and all of his beautiful coat on his stomach was shaven off. During the surgery, Madison and I watched as they removed some of the organs from his body, including the intestines, to run it to see if the foreign object was in there and blocking the path. Unfortunately, Madison and I were not able to watch the end of the surgery as it was running late and there were many people observing the surgery from within the room, but it was an extremely interesting day and I am excited to see how the two surgery patients are doing tomorrow!