Montreal Dog Blog Montreal's Online Dog Park
Related Articles
(photo Maja Dumat, Flick’r Creative Commons)
__________
The Importance of Not Judging Others – by Amanda Glew
They were new clients, coming for a second opinion for what they thought was an abscess in the neck. Having seen these before, I explained to them that this was most likely a ruptured salivary gland, or a salivary mucocoele. The gland needed to be removed. When asked could they wait, I stupidly said they could. By the time I went into surgery, the “mass” in the neck had quadrupled. I remember briefly thinking to myself, ‘Could this be a tumour?’ and just as quickly dismissing it, because, although a Bernese, he was only 2 years old. Although I had requested a re-check 2 weeks after, no one saw the dog post-operatively.
When I finally saw the dog again, the lump, which had originally shrunk down to nothing, had re-appeared. By the time they came in again, it had grown much more quickly. On aspiration, I saw bacteria and inflammatory cells indicating the likelihood of an abscess this time. I suggested placing a temporary drain that evening, starting antibiotics, and then re-evaluating. This was when the proverbial “all hell broke loose” occurred. As I was placing the drain, one of our technicians asked me if could I hit the jugular inadvertently – I laughed, and told her, no way. I went to check on the dog in between clients, and to my horror, he was lying in a pool of blood. I bandaged his neck, and placed the dog in the treatment room so that our techs, could keep a close eye on him. Half an hour later, the bandage was soaked, and blood was dripping onto the floor. Another bandage was placed, and I finished my evening. Once again, the blood soaked bandage indicated that bleeding had not abated. I needed to go back into surgery.
At this point in time, I was questioning my diagnosis, and thought that indeed perhaps I had missed a tumour or hit the jugular! I explain this to the owner, who asked if it would perhaps be better just to put the dog to sleep. A 2-year-old Bernese? How could I do this without being sure? So I did what I call a Dr.Glew Deal – if I am wrong, and it was a tumour all along, I will take the charges; i f I was not wrong, then they would pay. They could only accept. The surgery was difficult, there was a lot of blood loss, and I dissected out this hemorrhagic mass leaving a dead space of about 12 inches of loose skin around the neck. I was sure it was a tumour. I closed him as best I could, and awaited the biopsy results. We finished at midnight.
One week later, the biopsy came back that indeed it was just a severe granulomatous cellulitis, filled with bacteria. Despite some post- op complications, the dog recovered. During all of this, the owners did not once give me any grief – which I know a lot of clients would have. So as things were calming down, I asked them why. What I found out was they had lost a son only a year or two earlier to cancer of the brain, and that his migraines had not alerted anyone to doing further work-up for some time. They had been through terrible complications in the human medical field. They had learned that things happen beyond our control, and as long as we are conscientious and try our best, there is no one to blame.
Funny enough, this is my own personal philosophy. Humans, being humans, will make mistakes, and if we are true to ourselves, we admit them, learn from them, own them, only then can we try to make them better. In this case, the dog will hopefully live for many years to come, I have learned the importance of pushing for surgery earlier, making owners do follow-ups, and that we should not judge people too quickly. Many of us are walking around with heartache and manage to put on a brave face.
Finally, and happily for the clinic, we got paid!
