Socks again!

When I got to work Wednesday, I was disappointed the surgery that was scheduled had cancelled. It really isn't a good idea to feed your pet the morning of surgery. I thought it would be a long morning of paperwork until we got the call. One of my client's dogs had a habit of eating socks and they saw Sebastian eat one the night before. When they woke up, he was vomiting and refused to eat breakfast. For Sebastian, it was a huge flag.

When they carried him in (usually he bounced in) my heart sunk a little bit. We took a radiograph and there was the bloody sock. Plus, the gas pattern confirmed it was stuck. As I went to tell the owners, my staff prepped him for surgery.

My AHT, Kelly, scrubbed in to help me. Those are her hands on the right waiting to hold the jejunum for me. I've labeled the picture. The very thick section of the intestine contains the sock. Through the incision, I also pulled out a bunch of grass coming out in advance of the sock. Once the sock was out, the peristalsis began (this is a huge relief as it indicates the intestines are working). The contractions were hitting Kelly's hand as she held off the intestines. It was the most beautiful wave of contraction once we had finally closed the incision and tested it with saline. I will neither deny nor confirm that a cheer may have resounded throughout the hospital at that time.

Sebastian's recovery was pretty routine. I kept him for the night so I could monitor him for any problems. The only problems I discovered were trying to get him to walk across the parking lot to the grass instead of running and he found ANOTHER sock on the way back to the building. How do you loose a sock???? Luckily, I saw it a fraction of a second before he could sniff at it. I'm glad I have good reflexes!!!