Wednesday, 28 January 2009

At the vets today a dog was scanned, with a possible mass detected on the spleen. The prognosis was to open up the dog and have a look at the possible mass, removing if necessary. When the vet reached the spleen a tumor was present which had clearly been bleeding.
By clamping the blood vessels and tying then off with catgut, the particular blood vessel was able to be cut. After all the vessels linking the spleen had been removed the spleen was taken out.
The vet then checked to ensure that other organs were functioning normally and effectively before closing up the wound. It was at this point that I noticed that there were strange foreign bodies in the stomach which were pushed up against the stomach wall.
The vet cut into the stomach and removed a number of large sharp sticks which were stuck in the stomach. The stomach was then carefully stitched back up, however before the wound was closed up completely, I was told to heat up IV fluid, to the body temperature of the dog. This is important, as the animal cannot regulate its temperature when under anaesthetic, and so it must be as near to its own internal temperature as possible. The fluid was used to clean out the dogs insides from any blood which may have leaked from the spleen's blood vessels during the operation. The vet had told me that as well as helping to clean out the insides, it can also help to rehydrate the animal, which is very important after anaesthetic procedures.
The wound was then stitched up and the oxygen was turned off, to allow the animal to come round. However the dog was having difficulty in breathing and so I helped to administer extra oxygen from a mask.
Having done this, my job was to heat a hot water bottle and blankets for the kennel, to ensure that the dog was warm and comfortable as it came round fully, and preventing a significant drop in body temperature.
From this experience, I have learnt that an accurate diagnosis is essential to allow the operation to proceed without problem. On top of this I realised that care during the operation, such as regularly checking breathing rate and heart rate is essential for the animals well being, but also the after care of the patient is equally important to ensure that the animal is not suffering from the operation.
Finally during this operation, but also throughout the veterinary profession, I have realised that it is essential to have good communication between a vet and the nurses, who are an indispensable part of the team, without them the vets job would be so much harder.

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