A Veterinary Journal by Claire Poole
February
Chapter 2 - Page 6
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Friday 20th February
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Friday 20th February
This has not really been the best of weeks. On Monday, we admitted Amy Cox for investigation. Amy is an old friend, a 13-year-old collie who has kept us busy over the years with various complaints, all of which Amy has thrown off with ease. Now she has an unpleasant discharge from one nostril. Antibiotics have not helped so more needs to be done. Further investigation can involve x-ray, blood sample, nasal swab and possibly flushing the affected nostril with saline and collecting the dirty fluid for microscopic analysis. The hope is that she might have a foreign body lodged in her nose, or perhaps a bacterial or fungal infection which can be treated. Unfortunately, the x-ray revealed the grim diagnosis - an aggressive tumour was destroying Amy’s delicate nasal bones, the outlook was grave. Neither surgery nor chemo nor even radiotherapy would be of use, so old Amy was put to sleep while still under the anaesthetic. At least I could reassure Mrs Cox that Amy’s last moments were pleasant. She loved coming to the surgery and regarded us all as her best friends. As I injected the anaesthetic, her last conscious action was to wag her tail and lick the side of my face. Poor Mrs Cox has lost her constant companion and her last link with her dead husband. At her age, she will not get another dog and my heart aches for her every time she returns to an empty house. Two friends have gone out of my life and I will miss them both.
On Tuesday, I put Nelson Young to sleep. The old one-eyed cat had suffered from dodgy kidneys for so long that it was almost a shock to realise that this time he would not recover. Special food and regular injections had prolonged his life for years but this time was different. Some cats with progressive kidney failure have acute episodes from time to time but can rally with intensive treatment. Nelson was beyond such attempts now. His breath smelt like ammonia cleanser from the toxins in his blood stream (normally cleared by the kidneys) and ulcers lined his mouth. Time to call a halt. We as vets are so fortunate to be able to put our patients to sleep when the outlook is hopeless. They die painlessly and with dignity in their owner’s arms.
The rest of the week has continued in much the same vein. Another old dog put to sleep on Thursday; a last pat and a biscuit as he went - the crumbs still in his mouth after he’d gone. Typical Labrador, last thoughts of food!
Surgeries have also been rather difficult this week. My usual opening gambit of ‘How is he/she today?’ has been greeted more frequently than usual with ‘Well ... he’s not any better’ delivered in suitably funereal tones. This is a truly depressing sentence and can signal the need for more extensive tests or investigations which may or may not end happily; sometimes it only means persisting with treatment until we hear the magic words ‘He’s been fine today.’ On bad days, it is all too easy to develop a pessimistic attitude, waiting for the next problem to occur, and I feel I am sinking fast. Luckily, one or two brighter moments have saved the week ... Tuppence the cat came in for routine vaccination and worming. This time last year, she had a hyperactive thyroid gland, was half her present weight and on the verge of heart failure. Hyperthyroidism is a fairly common condition in older cats and can be treated medically with tablets, surgically by removal of the affected glands or even by injection of radioactive iodine which localises in the gland and destroys the abnormal tissue. Tuppence was operated on a year ago, and it has been a resounding success. Hard on her heels comes Poppy, an elderly Boxer dog. She had major surgery last June to remove an ulcerated mammary tumour. By the time these tumours have ulcerated, it is likely that they will have spread elsewhere, and the surgery was undertaken more to buy her time than to cure her. Yet here she is 8 months later, still going strong. Cases like Tuppence and Poppy help to remind us that things do occasionally go well.
Copyright Claire Poole 2005
