tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589783647802842771.post909059116220166593..comments2023-09-02T03:03:26.994-07:00Comments on Vet On The Edge: Horror-show EyesAKDDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10533003137934379516noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589783647802842771.post-78702015542075912372008-12-03T18:45:00.000-08:002008-12-03T18:45:00.000-08:00Hedra, I had no idea you thought about being a vet...Hedra, I had no idea you thought about being a vet. Mind you, you're doing much more hazardous duty, rearing 4 kids, but I'm sure you'd have been a fine dog doc, had you chosen to go that route. At least the eyes wouldn't have scared you off!<BR/><BR/>MM, thanks for saying it wsa a clear description (not to mention COOL!) :) - I try to convey these things without getting too technical (which generally just ends up being confusing). Glad to know I got the gist across. <BR/><BR/>BTW, I am a BIG proponant of "fake it til you make it". Seems like if you can invent the behavior somehow, it leads you to the doorway of where it really dwells within yourself, and eventually (if you practice) it becomes authentic.<BR/><BR/>Holly - thanks! I try to do a good job on these things (and all others, with varying success.) Elegy, I feel your pain... I felt a lot different about it when it was MY dog losing her eye (to cancer, when I was a freshman vet student.) I got over it, luckily. :D<BR/><BR/>Sheri, I'm glad you're enjoying the blog. It's fun to write. Hopefully you can all bear with me when I try to reply to comments during the migraine storms (etc) when I am likely to make peculiar mistakes that make no sense! :p Meanwhile, I did NOT work at Arapahoe, althugh I did once attend the races at Centennial, back in the dark ages when I was about 15 (BIL's older bro was a jockey, and we went to watch him race.) I don't even know if Centennial exists any more. I grew up in Ft. Collins, where the vet school is (and where I got two of my three degrees), but I lived in Denver (and associated suburbs) for a year or so before graduate school, and at various times for short stretches before that.AKDDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10533003137934379516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589783647802842771.post-39065666182736873482008-12-01T10:46:00.000-08:002008-12-01T10:46:00.000-08:00Thanks for sharing all of the stories -- I have be...Thanks for sharing all of the stories -- I have been enjoying them very much ever since "finding" your blog from the 3 Woofs and a Woo blog. I grew up west of Denver so have been trying to figure out if I recognize anything when you talk about Colorado (don't think so so far unless you worked at the Arapahoe Park race track...). While I love animals, I am, I'm afraid, much too squeamish to have been a vet and so appreciate all my vet(s) have done over the years to help the various dogs, cats and horses that have been in my care. The eye story reminded me of a cat I had that would get in fights from time to time requiring all sorts of veterinary care (one time he had a surgical tube sewn into his side to allow a particularly nasty wound to drain). The one that reminded me, however, was when he came into the house one day with his eyelid swollen shut. My husband at the time was trying to open the lid to see if sometihng was wrong when it "popped". I still can't get over a 250 lb. man screaming "OMG his eye just popped!!" Fortunately, the cat's eye hadn't popped, just a cyst that had developed and all was well after that.Sherihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03912401389945812238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589783647802842771.post-52250625998851177702008-11-29T18:23:00.000-08:002008-11-29T18:23:00.000-08:00Eyeballs squick me out. Even though I've been work...Eyeballs squick me out. Even though I've been working in vet hospitals for over five years now, and even though I've assisted in enucleations, I still had to stay out of the back the day my own dog had his eye out (glaucoma).<BR/><BR/>On the other side of things, the tech student we had there on externship at the time took my dog's eye home in a jar. So. There are those people out there too.elegyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09221427243067054351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589783647802842771.post-71311815162159111002008-11-27T08:16:00.000-08:002008-11-27T08:16:00.000-08:00I'm not squeamish about a lot, but a popped-out-ey...I'm not squeamish about a lot, but a popped-out-eyeball might do it to me. As you said, it's just *wrong* to see it out of place. The thought of a partially blind dog does not bother me at all. In fact, I've often thought that as a training project I'd like either a blind or a deaf dog. Probably won't ever do it, but if one showed up at my house I am sure I would not turn it away. <BR/><BR/>Good Job on the patient handling and on the surgery to get that dog more comfortable.Hollyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17685436243608973979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589783647802842771.post-1357752343495511182008-11-26T21:00:00.000-08:002008-11-26T21:00:00.000-08:00Eye injuries are definately yucky, but the whole b...Eye injuries are definately yucky, but the whole business seems rather cool, too. I mean, I mentally wince at the description of the displaced orb, but at the same time, I'm figuring out the mechanics of the bite that could possibly have caused this (bad luck, a particularly curious angle, and a rather determined nip/bite) - I know cattle dogs well enough to guess how it might have gone down. Or maybe not - But I'm busily trying to figure it out. Then, I'm following along your very clear description of the process of restoration, and the whole thing seems... Well, <I>cool</I>.<BR/><BR/>As for maintaining a semblamce of calm in the face of dancing adrenal glands, well, all I can say is that the act of <I>faking</I> calm confidence often provides the discipline necessary to actually <I>become</I> calm - The need to behave in a certain way actually produces the real behavior that's being simulated. In short, 'faking it' causes you to actually 'make it.'<BR/>Yeah, I've been there a time or two.<BR/><BR/>It's kinda the same with the patient's owner - She undoubtably knew she was <I>waaaaay</I> out of her depth with the injury, but desperately needed the situation to be handled effectively. Once she was no longer responsible to taking effective action, she could back off and relax. Next time around, She already knew the drill, so didn't face the same pressures.<BR/><BR/>I doubt I'd have made a particularly good vet, but I can admire tallent when I see it.<BR/>;-)MaskedManhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01847118110075039840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589783647802842771.post-45414883620763253522008-11-26T19:53:00.000-08:002008-11-26T19:53:00.000-08:00I find eye stuff kind of interesting. I remember r...I find eye stuff kind of interesting. I remember reading in some emergency medicine book or other (back when I was going to be JUST LIKE MY BIG SISTER AND BE A SURGEON AND ALL THAT) about how to get an eyeball back in the socket. I thought it was pretty cool that if you got it back quickly, there was usually no damage at all (barring what happened to get it out of the socket to start with).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589783647802842771.post-72673281765878362072008-11-26T13:38:00.000-08:002008-11-26T13:38:00.000-08:00She popped it out with a KAYAK? Didn't anyone ever...She popped it out with a KAYAK? Didn't anyone ever tell her you're not supposed to use a kayak on your eye? :D (And: YIKES!)<BR/><BR/>I will say that early on, when you're just starting out, there are any number of things that kind of freak you right out. You just learn to remain externally calm (so as not to panic the client) while your adrenal glands are doing the cha-cha on the inside. After a while, though, you've seen more stuff and you have a better idea of what you can do, so you freak a bit less. Even if you don't know what to do, you can usually figure out what to do NEXT, and that will lead you to the step after that and the step after that. Pretty soon, lo and behold, you're practially done. At least, that's how it worked for me.AKDDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10533003137934379516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589783647802842771.post-7081060711590255192008-11-26T13:27:00.000-08:002008-11-26T13:27:00.000-08:00That is exactly what happened to my Sophie Dawg. S...That is exactly what happened to my Sophie Dawg. She popped her eye out with a kayak about six years ago. Like your patient, she lost some vision, and her eye is now tilted about 30 degrees "northeast." But the eye is healthy and she is happy. And like your client, I was a complete mess when it happened, and I am forever grateful to the wonderful vets at the Q Street Emergency Vet Clinic in Springfield, OR, for saving her eye. It's a good thing the vets don't get so freaked out by icky eye stuff!Laurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15118131996152150797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589783647802842771.post-32999788594793504052008-11-26T13:09:00.000-08:002008-11-26T13:09:00.000-08:00It's pretty freaky to look at, all right. Mostly t...It's pretty freaky to look at, all right. Mostly they work out okay, though, amazingly enough.AKDDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10533003137934379516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6589783647802842771.post-15901266827660279372008-11-26T13:05:00.000-08:002008-11-26T13:05:00.000-08:00Wow what a story. Think I would be a mess if that...Wow what a story. Think I would be a mess if that happened to my dog.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com