"Don't Get Hooked on Me"
There was another interesting case during my 8/22/09 shift at The Animal Emergency Clinic. It reminded me of a popular song Mac Davis wrote in 1972, "Baby Don't get Hooked on me". This case seemed simple. A couple from a distant town called because their thirteen-pound Pug ate a fishhook. They left a fishing pole in the bottom of their boat. It had a mesh bag filled with liver, a hook, swivel and a metal leader. A memorable tasty liver treat to be gulped. It was obvious when Romeo came in. The monofilament line sequestered in the corner of his lips highlighted the dog hair knot dangling 6 inches down. That pretty much gave it away. The radiograph showed this in great living detail. We did the rest of the exam and went over options for removal. There is never any pressure in ER work. The previous statement was sarcasm. It is always interesting and challenging doing procedures where the pets life depends on a positive outcome. The owners declined surgical removal via an abdominal gastrostomy due to financial limitations. Leaving the fishhook in is fraught with danger of an intestinal linear foreign body. This option would also increase death from peritonitis from intestinal tract perforation. I never like option E, euthanasia. We discussed attempting retrieval with an endoscope. I have used an endoscope enough to classify myself as an intermediate scope driver. The fee estimate listed twenty to forty minutes of anesthesia. Once in position and anesthetized I tried passing a tube down the esophagus to "snug" it up to the hook and keep the hook from imbedding in to stomach or esophagus. No such luck. We had to break out the endoscope. This instrument has a bright light, up, down, right and left turning, air control to inflate stomach, a water injection port for flushing. It also has a channel to pass rat tooth forceps, loop grabbers, and tissue biopsy samplers. I added a feature - a sweating operator. It took three of us to work on Romeo. Kim to hold his head and prop his mouth open, Lorene to run the rat tooth forceps and me to twist the dials and press buttons.
Retrieval of foreign bodies is an art form I need to perfect. Imagine trying to grab a greased marble in your vision but where you can just barley touch with your fingerprints. Every time you close your forceps, it squirmed away. With every beat of the heart or a breath was taken; it obscured vision and hid the hook. Did I mention it gets hot doing all this? I finally got things positioned and got good contact with the hook. And it all came out. Kim said no problem you still had a minute to go. After anesthesia recovery, Romeo went home is hopefully not casting himself to the winds.
I have received comments about my style of writing. They were compliments. Some come from close friends and others from the teaching profession. It is hard for this country boy to understand why the written ramblings about my youth and veterinary adventures have piqued an educational interest. At my age and recent ventures into column writing, have lead people to believe my writing has "voice". I never knew strategic placement of ink blobs made a noise other than placement by the printer. I am learning new things daily. Scary as it seems they use me as an example for young children.
Experts suggest young authors write about a subject they know. This may explain why I am a late entry into authoring; it took me a long time to learn enough to write. I wish there was a pattern to the articles I submit. I am as clueless as you are. I do not have any idea what will be the subject before I set down and start typing. Once started letters and words start appearing. Thank goodness for the red and green lines in Microsoft Office Word. There are nuances of spelling and grammar that still get past the electronic editor. I appreciate the electronic messaging it gives me. Microsoft Word is puzzling, but is a good tool to isolate rambling sentences and blatant bad grammar.
Supposedly, my writing style reads like a conversation. I do not plan for that particular outcome. It just works for me to be at the keyboard and start putting in the twenty-six letters that are our alphabet. It is like a whittler of wood, you start with a blank substance a block of wood. In my case, it is a sheet of electronic paper. You remove what is blocking your vision of the project. A writer does a similar process with a blank screen that represents paper. You remove the parts that are hiding what you wish to reveal. The whittler shows an art form blending grain, blemishes and projections that take a life form of its own. Next to living tissue, paper and wood are my two favorite mediums, all carbon based material. Growing up in an era that thought electric typewriters and telex machines were the living end has skewed my learning base. Now there are swift changes in technology. I am just getting comfortable with computer-based e-mail. Now they have twits and electronic repetitive motion thumb disorders related to Blackberry and other services I cannot pronounce. Watching television or movies on a screen slightly larger than my watch just does not come into focus for me.
This old codger with white hair likes to write what comes to mind. I always try to use my secret decoder ring when puzzled if I should include some details. Some things are best left omitted or unsaid. Once words are spoken or written, they make a long lasting impression. It is as the saying goes: Once rung, a bell cannot be unrung. I never intentionally try to write mean or wrong information. I find being used as bait for aspiring authors seems like baiting a liver fishing hook. I do not want them to be me. It is much better if they are themselves. If I were to give advice, it would be to write about your dreams or better yet live them. Set your own goals. Figure out what needs doing to get them functioning. Starting is always the hardest. There may not be a straight path laid out. Side step, hopscotch, zig zag but keep going forward toward your goal. The thing about goals is they are a dream with an endpoint. Traveling toward a goal increases your awareness that God is the one leading you. Your teacher's efforts and your work get you to where you are meant to be. His Guidance lights our path and keeps compassion and love in our minds. There are always obstacles appearing out of the morning vapors. By using your training, you are able to recognize obstacles as opportunities for shared learning. They are reminders to yourself as "oops points" and then as a stockpile of things, you could have done differently. To paraphrase my generation, "Write on".
For more information about a specific case, consult your veterinarian.
The outside of a pet is good for the inside of a human.