Exploratory laparotomy
Silly Dilly...
Where do I start... March was certainly a test of mental strength as much as it was a learning curve.
I wanted to share a small part of Dillons story to highlight to others that if your gut tells you something is wrong (literally), listen to it.
Our family dog Dillon, a border collie cross Bernese mountain dog, decided he fancied spending a few nights in the veterinary hospital where I work! Now as much as I love to hang out with him, I would have personally chosen a different set of circumstances!
Dillon had been sick a few times over the past couple of months, bright in himself, no abdominal pain, eating well, but every two weeks he'd vomit just the once. Working as a veterinary nurse, I would say I am more than conscious of when one of our own is sick, but nothing indicated to me that something sinister was going on with him. Further on, he became more sick so we decided to investigate with blood tests however whilst we were waiting for the results he went off his food and became very quiet.
We immediately got his abdomen scanned with an ultrasound scanner and I will never forget the words from the vet as I gently held Dillon on the scanning table... "Sorry mate, it's a foreign body." Now a foreign body in veterinary terms is basically an object which is somewhere where it shouldn't be! In Dillons case, this was part a tennis ball. Bangs head on table.
The ball was semi lodged by the pyloric sphincter in the stomach, sometimes it was obstructing the entrance to the stomach, sometimes not.. hence the intermittent vomiting.
Because the ball had been there for at least a few months we decided to perform a surgery called an 'exploratory laparotomy'. This would involve putting him under a general anaesthetic and opening up his abdomen and then retrieving the ball directly out of his stomach.
The surgery went well, his recovery...still ongoing. Unfortunately the surgery is invasive, you can't avoid this, and the surgical incision is relatively large. His initially recovery from the surgery was a lively one to say the least! The team around me was incredible and I couldn't have been more grateful for all of their help. Considering the ordeal he went through he was pretty much the perfect patient, letting me do everything to help him, from shaving his tummy for the scan, placing monitoring equipment on him, administering medication, the list goes on.
He's back home now, taking life a little slower until he is back to full health, I'm not sure he appreciates the 'on lead life' right now but we're getting there.
Let's hope for a more relaxing April, and Dilly, don't be silly again!
Bryant, x