A work tale

From Singles 2009

It has been a long, long time, eh?

Maybe you heard me complain about working a seven day work week? That was created, in part, by a puppy who got dropped off literally minutes after we thought we had closed. Regurgitation. Immediate. Forceful. Painful. Reliable.

I put in an IV catheter and gave him medication to help keep his digestive system working in a toward-the-tail direction. By the next morning (Sunday) he had not only chewed the line in two, but had pulled the IV out of the vein. I started feeding him tiny amounts of easily digestible food. He did well at 7 AM. At noon it all came back up. Ditto for 6 PM.

I suspected he had a problem with his esophagus. (Somehow, somewhere in that word Australians put an "o". Oesophagus, maybe. I just go about blithely spelling like a Yank. I think it is good for my morale.) Eventually I got permission to do a barium swallow and - vwalla! - a diagnosis! Vascular ring anomaly. He had some sort of developmental problem whereby a (useless dried up) blood vessel that should have broken down did not and was now constricting his esophagus. Food couldn't pass. The esophagus in front of the constriction was distended with food (and barium).

My boss's eyes lit up. He was intrigued by the idea of repairing this. So, today we did. He did the cutting. I did the breathing. This is important. I was breathing for two. When you have a big hole in your chest, you no longer have the vacuum necessary to make your lungs work.

It is now almost 10 PM. I've just returned from checking on Frankie. He's busy running around his cage and looking forward to his first real, go-all-the-way-down meal tomorrow.

So far his IV line is intact.

Now, we've got to find him a home....