We all know that saying, don’t we??!!?? Friday was apparently a day of good deeds: my girl Melissa who is busy-busy raising her three young kids, but still comes in to fill in occasionally as needed - needed an exploratory surgery/splenectomy on her old Lab. The specialty clinic quoted her $10K, but we were able to do this for her for about 900 bucks… uncomplicated major surgery should’ve given me enough warm fuzzy feelings but then Friday night, Kristy’s Sphinx cat ate a spool of dental floss!
I don’t know what it is about cats and linear foreign bodies: string, yarn, ribbons, Christmas tinsel, dental floss, etc. - but they swallow these things and it is the worst of news because as the intestines try to pass this material, it bunches them up (“plication”) and saws them up like a tiny chainsaw. So I told Kristy it was Go Time, and Friday night I put him on my surgery table and got to practice a new technique which is using a section of a red rubber catheter like a shuttle to get the string or dental floss out. Pretty cool since you can get it out with a single intestinal incision instead of multiples: of course, every incision is an opportunity to leak, dehisce, or create adhesions in the future. So far so good for Mr Gollum.
But here we are with only a few days left in January, and I’ve got to decide what to do about my poor mother? I really think she needs to stay in skilled nursing at The Villages. I fear sending her back to Arabella is just like playing Russian roulette, waiting for her next fall because she will not “ask for assistance as needed”. At least with the limited dexterity of her right hand, she has not been able to pick at the splint on her left wrist so everything seems to be healing up OK. We return to the orthopedic doctor this Thursday.
Twoie continues to be a solid citizen in the couple more training rides we’ve been able to have…
I'm assuming it was you who left the comment about the horse version of the Jolly Ball for Ember? I ordered one and look forward to seeing how she likes it.
ReplyDeleteOy! Your mom! What a challenging time of life for both her and for you, having to make decisions. By comparison, the veterinary challenges seem simple, right? Prayers for healing for all the kitties and for the elder lab.
Ai-yi-yi. I wish you could keep Mom in one spot where she gets total care. It's not a guarantee, though. Those old folks are sneaky about getting up. Hugs.
ReplyDeleteCool on the procedure.
My daughter also enjoyed string things, however they always went up her nose. Got a call at work from DH one time; he'd just removed tinsel from her sinuses with my long forceps.