Wednesday

Tuesday night I had moved into the upstairs den of the clinic. It had once served as an office but was now mainly a place for storage. I had jumped at the opportunity to have a place to stay for free. Dr. Mel had warned me it wasn't particularly nice but I didn't care, and to be honest, I was sure he was bluffing a bit. Turns out he wasn't as critical as I thought. The small room housed lots of boxes, a desk, a microwave, and several survival backpacks. There was barely enough floor space to set up a cot and bring in my suitcases, which was ok because it looked like the floor hadn't been swept in...well who knows how long. The window to the north was covered in plastic which I assumed was to cut down on the draft and the large window to the east had no curtains. But it was free and it was mine for two weeks. I was still grateful. When I woke up that morning, I heard movement and voices downstairs. Dressing quickly, I headed down to find Dr. Mel examining a small black kitten whose breathing I could hear several feet away. Wheezing and sneezing, little May lay there dull and uninterested in what was happening around her. Her owner, I later found out, was known for hoarding cats at her house and it was no surprise that this little kitten had become ill when she was taken in. Dr. Mel took care of the kitten and started her on antibiotics and then we headed out to look at a colicky horse. I was excited, as we had not had many equine patients so far. As we pulled into the drive, we noticed the gray mare lying on her side in the pasture, and from a distance, we couldn't tell if she was breathing or not.
"This doesn't look good." Dr. Mel muttered as he put the truck in park. We briskly walked over and did a limited physical exam on the little Arabian mare. She lay on her side groaning and thrashing occasionally. A few times she would stop grunting and hold her breath, which in turn caused each of us to hold ours, waiting to see if she would breathe again. Dr. Mel got pain medication into her as quickly as he could and after fifteen minutes or so, we were able to get the mare on her feet to finish our exam. Her rectal exam led to the diagnosis that the vet was worried about--the melanoma that she had had for years had finally spread to her abdominal organs. It didn't take long for the pain meds to wear off and before long, she was back on the ground, thrashing again. Both Dr. Mel and the owner then made the kindest decision they could and ended the mare's suffering. As the owner kneeled on the ground beside her beloved horse, sobbing into her mane, I tried my best to keep my emotions off my face. For some reason, watching horses die is harder on me than any other species. I think it's because someday I know I will have to make that decision for my horse, and I can't imagine how painful that will be. Dr. Mel and I left quietly after everything was taken care of. It was a sad start to the day. We returned to the clinic to take care of more equines. Several mules and a pony were brought in for Coggins tests and to have their teeth filed down. A lame paint gelding was dropped off and after nerve blocks and radiographs, we finally diagnosed him with a fused tarsal joint and arthritis. We also had a mass removal on a very large Pomeranian near the tail. Dr. Mel let me do nearly the whole procedure and left the room to see another client while I finished sewing up the dog's backside. It is a good thing Pomeranians have long hair because this poor dog looked like her butt had been chewed on by a coyote. Our day ended with returning to the dairy for another necropsy. This time, it was a 5 month old calf that had been doing poorly and then died abruptly. Most of our necropsy was performed by the truck headlights. We returned to the clinic and I drove to the local rec center to take a much needed shower.