emergency C-section: exciting!

[zpinkpanther]

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I just had to share this with you all because I was SO psyched... last night I assisted with my first C-section! It was on one of the doctor's (the one I like better, 'cause he's awesome) dogs. I was kinda freaked out at first, but it went so fast that I didn't even have time to think about it. She'd already lost all but one puppy, she was having discharge and seemed to be having contractions while we took her for a walk, so he decided we needed to open her up. I really had no idea what I was doing (the surgery tech wasn't there and the only other time I've assisted with surgery myself was a nice, calm, routine spay), but it was okay anyway. It was so awesome when the little guy came out, he was walking around looking for his dinner a few minutes later. 😀 Anyway, about 15 minutes after we started, the mama was up and baby was suckling. Ah, the miracle of life! 😎

 

[biobean]

that's super exciting! 😀 i'm glad to hear at least one pup made it
what breed?

 

[zpinkpanther]

that's super exciting! 😀 i'm glad to hear at least one pup made it
what breed?

Old English Sheepdog. Although at this point he kinda looks like an oversized black and white rat. 😛

 

[Steelmagghia]

Yay! That is really awesome. I have to say, C-sections are one of my favorite things to do. It is never NOT exciting. 🙂
I'm glad you got to do something so awesome! Was this the dog's first litter?

 

[PrimalMU]

The most interesting case I've seen during surgery was a spay on a dog with pyometra. Most of the really interesting cases we saw got sent to OSU or Virginia Tech since I live in a fairly rural area.

Ya know, I guess I'm kind of lucky in regards to living in a rural area. We don't have many registered techs in our area so I was the surgery assistant twice a week. I think I assisted on 30-40 spay/neuters and a few more interesting cases (removal of masses, etc).

One of the most interesting cases I've seen (not a surgery) was a little spaniel puppy who had injured her eye. The doctor sutured her second eye lid shut and, what I found the most fascinating, used her own serum as eye drops to promote healing. That just kinda blew me away.

 

[zpinkpanther]

Yay! That is really awesome. I have to say, C-sections are one of my favorite things to do. It is never NOT exciting. 🙂
I'm glad you got to do something so awesome! Was this the dog's first litter?

Thanks! I'm pretty sure it's her third. She had one last year around this time, and then one a couple years before that. I'm pretty sure he's decided it's her last litter, though; he momentarily debated spaying her while he was in there, but wanted to get her out of anesthesia ASAP so the pup could start nursing.

 

[spikey]

thats very awesome! life is a miracle indeed. 🙂

at Penn we have a C-section team now where we are called in during emergencies in the evening or in the wee hours of the morning to come help resuscitate the puppies. and my boss just did a C-section for one of our other doctors yesterday and she had 3 Bullmastiff puppies! 😀

i love puppehs! 😍

 

[168135]

My goals are to see a spay on a dog with pyometra, a c-section, removal of a foreign object, and surgery on an animal that is seriously injured... it may sound a little sick... but those types of cases sound the most interresting to me.

The girl who I used to volunteer with.. on her second shift, she got to see a c-section. I haven't gotten to see anything really interresting... my first time in surgery I saw a tail amputation.

 

[wi girl]

a spay on a dog with pyometra, a c-section, removal of a foreign object, and surgery on an animal that is seriously injured

Of these, I've hit three -- all but the c-section. The pyometra case was SO awesome -- but the uterus was SO FULL. We pulled some ... gunk is the best word, I think ... out with syringes afterwards. Grossly cool. Foreign body removal -- just work at an emergency vet for some time -- I did for a week, and saw one every night. Actually got kinda boring: "oh, another foreign body? what is it this time?"

 

[winkle1983]

Work in an emergency clinic...you'll get all those, and some weirdo things too! I've seen waaaaaay too many foreign bodies, too many pyos and too many c-sections. GDV is also another common one too. Very interesting and exciting stuff...I love my job!

 

[PrimalMU]

Of these, I've hit three -- all but the c-section. The pyometra case was SO awesome -- but the uterus was SO FULL. We pulled some ... gunk is the best word, I think ... out with syringes afterwards.

The pyometra spay I saw was on a mastiff (I can't for the life of me remember which kinda -- I know it was brindle, though). The dog was huge, but the uterus was absolutely monstrous. Every bit the length of my arm, and just as big around. It was unfortunate, though, because it was too early to save the puppies.

 

[david594]

My goals are to see a spay on a dog with pyometra, a c-section, removal of a foreign object, and surgery on an animal that is seriously injured... it may sound a little sick... but those types of cases sound the most interresting to me.

We see a pyo case pretty much every other week and average C-section a week. Had an American Mastiff in last week for an emergency C-section after the mother had gone into labor and already had 6 puppies(3 survived), then the next 8 puppies were delivered via C-section. Same breeder, differed dog was then in this week for another C-section for 12 puppies(12 survived). The joys of theriogenology! My first day as a volunteer was actually observing a C-section.

Other fun cases was a Newfoundland that ate a full size serving spoon. Then roughly 2 months ago we had a common marmoset monkey in with a broken arm that ended up having a surgical pin placed.

 

[enchantingme2]

Ill kinda repeat everyone else's posts... working at an emergency clinic is awesome because of the cool surgeries we have coming in (Pyos, C-sections, Foreign Bodies, GDVs, Hemo-adbomens, HBC, open abdomens with guts coming out...wear e-collars!). But I will say that after a while the foreign bodies get old...of course its always fun to see what comes out. We had a dog a few weeks ago with three pairs of socks, two pairs of underwear, a plastic bag, maxi-pads and two bandaids. I still cant believe it all fit in her intestine... and she survived lol.

 

[BartonVet87]

I work at a mixed animal clinic so I've seen a lot of crazy small animal surgeries and large animal surgeries. By far the coolest surgery I've assisted with was a cow c-section. Talk about a lot of sewing afterwards!!
Also, if you ever get a chance to shadow an equine surgeon, do it! I got to scrub in for a colic surgery 😀 I love the large animals

 

[banditalfi]

Ill kinda repeat everyone else's posts... working at an emergency clinic is awesome because of the cool surgeries we have coming in (Pyos, C-sections, Foreign Bodies, GDVs, Hemo-adbomens, HBC, open abdomens with guts coming out...wear e-collars!). But I will say that after a while the foreign bodies get old...of course its always fun to see what comes out. We had a dog a few weeks ago with three pairs of socks, two pairs of underwear, a plastic bag, maxi-pads and two bandaids. I still cant believe it all fit in her intestine... and she survived lol.

Haha... the worst are the unsuccessful exploratories... one of the doctor's I work with had two in one weekend... too bad.

Also... for anyone who watches scrubs I absolutely love the scene where JD imagines what Turk does in an exploratory... I am definitely playing Raiders music when I go in...

 

[zpinkpanther]

Also... for anyone who watches scrubs I absolutely love the scene where JD imagines what Turk does in an exploratory... I am definitely playing Raiders music when I go in...

Haha, I LOVE Scrubs. My best friend and I are so like JD and Turk, it's scary. Except we're not boys and neither of us are African American.