Pitfalls in Veterinary Surgery

Acknowledgments ix

Preface xi

1 “Can’t You Do Anything Right?”: The Shocking Realization That I Was Not Perfect 1

2 Beastly Bellies 5

3 The Friday Night Special: Or Why Do Patients Become Critical Just Before the Weekend? 15

4 Between a Rock and a Hard Place: When to Refer and What Do You Do When Referral Is Not an Option? 27

5 Courage, Mystery, and Awe: The Intangibles of Being a Veterinary Doctor 39
Julie M. Meadows

6 Placed on Earth to Test Us: The Not]So]Humble Spay 43
Catherine F. Le Bars

7 “Oops!”: Not a Good Word to Hear During Surgery 47

8 Learning the Hard Way: Student, Resident, Teacher 57

9 “But I Don’t Want to Look Stupid …”: How to Let Others Help You 65

10 “It Didn’t Look Like That on Paper!”: When Textbooks Let Us Down 73

11 “It Will Be Interesting to See Whether That Works”: How to Be a Creative Surgeon 83

12 When the Unthinkable Happens: Mishaps, Mis]steps, and Medical Errors 95

13 Things Went South – Now What? 103

14 “There’s Got to Be a Morning After”: Things Went Wrong – Now Live With It 111

15 One Leg Too Many: Patients Who Lost Limbs 121

16 Reconstruction Rescue: When the Hole Just Keeps Getting Bigger and Bigger 133

17 “Why Is Sam Straining?”: Iatrogenic Strictures and Stray Oddities 143

18 “An Alien in My Waiting Room”: Everyday Occurences of the Unexpected and Unbelievable 155

19 Rewind: What Would I Do Differently If I Had the Chance? 167

Index 171