Never a dull...zzzzzzzzz

So life in the ER is never dull. That is unless we don't see any patients. Fortunately for me, I've been kept pretty busy during most of my shifts. Both of my all night shifts were pretty uneventful, but during the day I've been on the move. Yesterday I had two sick puppies who presented as very different clinical pictures. One was a slightly sluggish but still happy Beagle puppy with vomiting and diarrhea and the other one was a slightly dead but still breathing Chihuahua puppy with vomiting and diarrhea. When an emergency case arrives at the hospital, they always send someone out to "triage" the animal. Basically that means we assess the major vital signs and make sure the animal either A.) isn't actively dying B.) isn't unconscious C.) is breathing relatively ok and D.) isn't messy or awkward (bleeding, vomiting, diarrhea, dangling a broken leg, seizuring, etc.)

So yesterday I had the slightly sick Beagle puppy first. On my triage assessment, the puppy was in no imminent danger of death and therefore could afford to wait a few minutes before being admitted into the hospital. When I was sent out to look at the second puppy, I thought it would be a similar thing. When the lady pulled the tiny carrier from the backseat of her car and I opened the door to look at the puppy, it was on its back with its legs in the air and for a minute I thought it might be seizuring. I quickly pulled her out of the carrier and looked at the inside of her mouth--bleached white. I said none of the things that immediately came to mind (Oh crap, Holy Moses, and DEATH! being several of my fleeting thoughts) and rushed that puppy into the hospital. Weighing in at a whopping 1 pound, I watched seasoned vets struggle to put a catheter into the puppy's tiny, thread-like vein. That was a wee bit of an adrenaline rush.

This morning we had to euthanize a cat with a nearly incurable disorder, change a bandage on a dog bite wound, and assess a very sweet, very handsome Rottweiler named Ruger who woke up this morning unable to stand. I will say that life in the ER keeps things interesting and you never know what's going to walk through the door from one moment to the next. I look forward to seeing what the rest of the week brings.