A First

It's been an amazing week with so many new things to learn and old things to revise. The landmark for me was my first operation where I was doing everything from admitting the animal to bandaging him and sending him home.

"Glen" is a 3yo male entire Border Collie who presented with an 8 cm L-shaped laceration on his right forelimb. His clinical exam revealed the injury was not deep, mainly a tear to the superficial skin layers, with no damage to muscle or ligaments. His history revealed a previous allergic reaction to ACP - a common sedative.

With this information we developed a plan to anaesthatise the dog and repair the hole. I selected my drugs, selected my anaesthetic circuit, intubation equipment and all sorts, obviously with a vet watching. Once Glen was happily asleep I scrubbed up and started suturing. It was different to suturing on fake skin - it was a lot easier to bring the skin together and keep it in place. Again the vet was watching and approved my work. Next a small bandage was put on the wound to keep it clean and some antibiotics and painkillers were given.

Finally Glen was sent home later in the day after recovering from the anaesthetic. He is due back next week for a recheck and the week after for his stitches to come out.

My first real case! It was fairly basic, but complicated enough for my first time. I wonder what next week will hold...