Category: damage

Laparotomy, Enterotomy

Lateral abdominal xray
With Labradors the mouth is faster than the eye.
Tilly 4 hours postop
My grandfather had a sign that said “even a fish wouldn’t get in trouble if he kept his mouth shut”. What are the consequences of operating one’s mouth in a unmindful way? This is Tilly 4 hours post-op, walking out of Georgetown Vet.
Mao, Liberty and unknown
Tilly swallowed that third button to the right of Mao and Walking Liberty. And the consequences… When did it go down? How did it go down. It resided in her stomach (how long? long enough for the button message to be digested), got ejected through her pyloric valve, raked through the duodenum and hung up in the jejunum 20” from her stomach. The surgeon did a midline incision, a laparotomy, pulled her guts out. A linear track of inflammation was visible along the anti mesenteric surface of the bowel. The surgeon made a longitudinal incision about 1.2” through the bowel lumen and removed Tilly’s prize.
Where did she find it? Probably on the side of the road in Charlottesville
rocking the E collar
She feels much better. Resting. Sleeping a lot, on several meds and delicious food. Wearing an Elizabethan collar…

Icarus 3:19 PM

“Our state police and law enforcement family at-large are mourning this tragic outcome to an already challenging day,” said Colonel W. Steven Flaherty, Virginia State Police Superintendent. “Lieutenant Cullen was a highly-respected professional aviator and Trooper-Pilot Bates was a welcome addition to the Aviation Unit, after a distinguished assignment as a special agent with our Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Their deaths are a tremendous loss to our agency and the Commonwealth.-VSP Public Relations
“Our state police and law enforcement family at-large are mourning this tragic outcome to an already challenging day,” said Colonel W. Steven Flaherty, Virginia State Police Superintendent. “Lieutenant Cullen was a highly-respected professional aviator and Trooper-Pilot Bates was a welcome addition to the Aviation Unit, after a distinguished assignment as a special agent with our Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Their deaths are a tremendous loss to our agency and the Commonwealth.-VSP Public Relations

EMG

administering a little shock
An electromyogram (EMG) measures the electrical activity of muscles when they’re at rest and when they’re being used. Nerve conduction studies measure how well and how fast the nerves can send electrical signals.Once upon a time I worked in health care. Tests like these are hard for those who administer them. People get into health care to make people feel better. So studies that are unpleasant for the patient are not much fun to administer. In this case the test involves (from the patient’s point of view) electrodes and needles. The docs were kind, efficient, didn’t hurt for long. The idea of it hurt.