Freaky Friday

Its Friday, and that means I worked all day and it was crazy. I don't know why, but Fridays at my work are always madness. Today it was because one of our doctors was out with a family emergency, the elderly-parent-in-the-hospital variety. The other doctor's grandparent died, and will be leaving for a funeral ASAP tomorrow. The other two doctors in our employ were out of town on vacation and on maternity leave. Nose to the grindstone time.

I saw so many patients with such a dizzying array of problems today, as I sit down to dutifully blog my mind is still processing them. First was the poor little dog hit by a car last night, with such bad ocular trauma she'll probably lose her right eye. Her left eye will likely survive but was full of blood, so right now she's blind. Looks like she was struck on the right side of the face, then landed on the left, breaking several teeth. She had so much pluck, despite the visual loss and pain! Speaking of blindness, I saw a cat with hypertension-induced blindness. Also, a cat juandiced with hepatitis. A dog with Addison's disease (nonfunctional adrenal glands, which regulate your immune response and electrolyte balance). She was doing well, in for a check-up, owned by a wonderful deaf man. He brought along his (hearing) toddler son, and it was amazing to see them communicate in sign.

Otitis externa.

Conjunctivitis.

Flea allergy dermatitis.

Luxating patella.

Periodontal disease.

Lymphocytic Plasmocytic Stomatitis.

Obesity.

Osteoarthritis.

Upper respiratory infection.

Then the last: a sweet cat that I've only known a short time but really liked. His owners had moved from Florida after the hurricanes to New Orleans, and were greeted by Katrina. They landed here in Austin, seeking help for their diabetic, hyperthyroid, obese cat. He'd needed a dental cleaning for a long time, but it was put off several times with all the moving. By the time we got him stable and scheduled, I needed to pull 4 teeth.

Today he came in unable to walk. He'd developed cardiomyopathy, and that created a blood clot, which broke loose and was lodge in his distal aorta. It cut off the blood supply to one of his hind legs, causing paralysis and pain. Sometimes we can dissolve these clots, but the long term prognosis is poor. Most throw another fatal clot in less than 1 year.

They wisely elected to euthanize, and we all said a very sad goodbye. But then there were patients to discharge and ready for transfer to the overnight hospital.

Thanks to the help of my excellent support staff, despite the heavy schedule I got a lunch break and left only 30 minutes after close. I'll finish those last few records tomorrow...