Day 6: Today was the last day of clinics in Nicaragua and boy, did things end with a bang! Today was definitely the busiest day of the week, filled with triumph and heartbreak. We woke up, enjoyed the fallen mangos that had fallen in the garden during the night (which woke me up 3 or 4 times during the night), then proceed to walk to the clinic, where the fun was about to begin. We saw tons if consultations today and did many surgeries, including a dog that had been in attacked and had a very bad fractured front limb. The dog had been in a serious car accident and unfortunately had an open fracture with a portion of his bone exposed. He was in a lot of pain and because of the lack of orthopedic instruments and follow up, myself and 2 Nicaraguan vets amputated his front limb so he could live out his life without dealing with the pain from the fracture. We were able to complete the surgery with no complications and he will go home in the morning with his owner. The owner was very grateful to have his buddy out of pain. The next cases for me hit the highs and lows; we had a litter of four puppies that were extremely sick with viral gastroenteritis, a fatal parvovirus we have been seeing the last few days. Unfortunately, three of the four were too sick and the most humane thing to do was to ease their suffering, so we stayed with the owner while the three pups were euthanized. However, one of the four appeared to have a fighting chance, so we treated the GIFT signs, hooked him up on IV fluids, gave meds, and sent him home that night looking perky and trying to chew his catheter out he felt so good. Although we lost the others, this little guy will live on and hopefully live a fun, spoiled life here in Granada, Nicaragua. Everyone that came through the doors this week was so appreciative of our efforts and dedication to helping these animals out. Even though there were a few heartbreaks today, seeing an owner care for their pet even in a far off place, makes me so happy to do what I do. Till next time…..adios.
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