Hello readers! I am currently a day behind in my blog posts so this is about the 21st of June which was yesterday for me but still today for my fellow Americans!! So now that we are getting on track, first case I saw this morning was of a thirteen year old German Shepard who had a mammary tumor burst. There was blood all over her back legs and the wound was completely open. Dr. Ganesh Kumar said that the dog ran a high risk if we were to do surgery even though it's ultimately what it needs. For treatment it was given antibiotics in an attempt to keep the open wound clean. The next case was a puppy who had been bit by another dog three days ago. The owner's biggest fear was that the puppy would have rabies but because the puppy was still nursing Sahana told me that it cannot get rabies. The mother's milk provides so many antibodies that at this age a puppy will not be infected. When Dr. Prasanna arrived we looked at a case where a pug had a c-section fifteen days ago and needed it's sutures removed. Dr. Prasanna told me that sutures are supposed to be removed after 7 days and that the owners were incredibly late. The sutures were removed anyway even though Dr. Prasanna had some fear that a suture may be stuck inside the body and lead to infection. After a short amount of time the German Shepard with the open wound came back in because the owner was not happy with the service. Dr. Prasanna agreed to do a surgery for it even though her age is not favorable. Dr. Prasanna said that a surgery will be done no matter what the risk because if it is not done the dog will die in pain. The next few cases I saw were snuffles in a rabbit (chronic bacterial infection), a goat that was attacked by a dog and had highly infected legs (had to be sent to slaughter), and a cat with an eye ulcer. About halfway through the day I was notified that there would be another surgery today! It was a mammary tumor removal on a obese female lab. Due to the lack of hands I became the anesthesiologist today....well kind of. I just pushed five mls of anesthesia whenever Dr. Prasanna said, "5 more Jazz!". The surgery went really well with minimal bleeding! The last case I saw at the polyclinic were two puppies with extremely bad skin conditions. Dr. Prasanna said that the owner has over ten dogs and every one of them has extreme problems. She refuses to take them into the clinic because she believes it will giver her dogs parvo. He ends up giving her medicine but she never follows through with treatment so the dogs won't get any better. He said her house is like a museum of diseases.
German Shepard with mammary tumor rupture.
This is caused by snuffles in rabbits.
An eye ulcer in a cat.
Suture removal....finally!
Both legs on this goat were infected and the only option would be amputation but because a goat cannot live without two legs Dr. Prassana told them to send it to slaughter.
Another successful removal!
Both these dogs have severe skin issues and belong to the museum of diseases.
During my break today we went to a village today called Pulivalam. Our guide, Ravi used to live there before he married into a higher class (India has a caste system). On the way there we stopped by a banana tree farm. Banana trees take up to 8 months to cultivate and when it is ready almost all the of the tree will be used. The bananas will be used for eating, the leaves will be used as plates, and the innermost stem will be squeezed and the juices are used to help relieve bladder stones. The next stop was a small primary school built by the government. The kids just got out of class and as soon as we stepped out of the car they swarmed. More than thirty little kids were all reaching for my hand saying, "hello sister!". It was the sweetest most overwhelming part of my day! After a tour around the school and a couple of pictures with the kids we headed back into the van to see the homes in the village. As we were driving off all the kids started chasing after the vehicle (it was hilarious)! Sometimes I have to remind myself that I am an alien (the majority of those kids had never seen a white person before). When we got to the houses, Ravi showed us the house he used to live in before he got married. It was the size of my room back home and there were no appliances. He spoke graciously about the government giving his family a television no bigger than fifteen inches. The handmade stove was outside and was powered by dry leaves. He then took us on a walk to see the village temple and explained that once a year his family will all come together and have a feast around the shrine, say prayers, and disperse. I am amazed everyday about the value of family here, everyone in the small village is related. Ravi said he may not know everyone's name in the village but they are his family. After we drove to a sugar cane field and a jasmine field where two dogs or as Ravi called it: the security system went off. As we walked up to the field of jasmine Ravi looked at me and said, "Jasmine that's your name!" to which I responded, "kind of". When we were driving there and back I could not help but notice that all the cows and goats were actually grazing! They were not searching for food among piles of trash but were actually eating grass; seeing all the goats and cows in the clinic coming in for stomach issues due to the poor diet everyday, this area was a nice change of pace. Leaving I found myself a bit envious of the mindset of the people. They did not need anything more than a roof over their head and good company to keep them happy. I feel that in a privileged society people get lost looking for happiness in a sea of 'things'.
Ravi, our tour guide
Banana tree field
Preparing dinner in the village
Children at the secondary school
The children trying to stop the car from leaving.
The private clinic was very slow today. There were two parvo cases that came in and I got to see and compare how it's treated in a private clinic v. the polyclinic. In the private clinic everyone wears gloves when treating parvo and the cases are dealt with in a separate room. Newspaper covers all the treatment tables and everything is very sterile. After that a couple puppies got vaccinated and we called it a day!
Picture of a very cooperative pup at the private clinic!
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