6 Feb--Volunteer Vet Clinic

Mon, 6 Feb our last day in Pana. Eddi and i got up early and headed to the market for more Pupusas for breakfast .... but it was too early, and no one was there. we went back to Lonnie and Jolene's and collected them. the plan for today was to help out the vets at the spay/neuter clinic for a few hours in the morning. when we first got there, they weren't ready for us yet, so we went to the market and this time the Pupusa lady was there. with our belly's almost full, we walked down the street and went to Dina's Chocolate shop that we had been passing by and wanting to visit. it's a small shop. Eddi and i had the most wonderful Hot Chocolate. Lonnie and Jolene had mocha. they also had a few things to sell. these earrings and necklace caught my eye. i haven't purchased anything except a few pieces of pottery. but these were so unusual .... i asked .. they are made out of orange rinds !!!! i had to buy them .... US$7 for the set :) then to the clinic. when we walked in there were a few other volunteers there and they told us to go in this room and sort clothing that had been donated ....... i backed away from THAT door and went to see what else was going on! .... i walked into the area where there were some dogs tied; and a girl handed me a leash with a big black shaggy dog on the other end, and told me to watch him and make sure he didn't strangle or choke himself since they had given him his injection and he would be 'going down' .... so i'm standing there talking to this dog, ....when he bolts and breaks loose of his collar and starts running, and staggering through the rooms. the vet tech and i following behind. she told me he was a 'bitter' and to be careful. she had a rope, and told me to try to corral him back to her ... well that wasn't happening. he was wobbly, but still very much able to out-maneuver us ! we finally got him into a smaller room (which unfortunately was the kitchen where a woman was trying to cook) .... she made a lasso and i got it around his neck, but not before he bit her on the hand. ... WoW ! that was an exciting introduction to the Clinic. i guess i passed my initiation, or was the only one there, because another Vet student grabbed me and showed me how to hold another large dog around the neck so she could give him his sedative. ... i was in the spay neuter business. i had spent a day helping World Vets in Roatan last year .... but didn't do much but fill out a bit of paperwork and talk with people ... today i was in the thick of it ... and smiling !!! they asked if someone could come in and sterilize equipment. Eddi put on a pair of gloves and started in with the alcohol solution at her station at the end of one of the operating tables that had a tiny tiny beautiful kitten straped down. she was tiny, and a female ... i was surprised they could spay her at that age .. but they took care of her. this is her later on in the day ... sleeping off the sedatives. one of the volunteers was keeping records of the dog's number, sex, weight, and what time they had their sedative injections, worming meds, pain meds, and rabies, parvo etc.... she handed me the log and said she was leaving, for lunch .. we never saw her again. i found Lonnie and Jolene and 'rescued' them from the boring job of sorting clothing and handed the log over to them. since my new job was filling syringes with Rabies vaccine, and mixing the vials for the Parvo vaccines. i told them i'd never done that before, but i could learn, and learn i did .... i felt like a real medical person. look at this little one.... we spent the rest of the day there ... non-stop bringing dogs in, putting them down, moving them to the recovery room. there were 2 vets, and 2 vet students, and a vet tech ... at least that was my impression ... there weren't any introductions, but i learned that this was a team from Indiana who had come down here before. in the afternoon another vet arrived. i was so impressed with the young local boys who were helping out. what a great bunch of workers. there was one in particular who was 'a natural' according to the vets. they were really impressed with him. he was giving injections, he knew what he was doing ... he was about 10 yrs old.... hopefully a future veterinarian ! this was the 3rd day of the clinic and i think the other volunteers were 'burned out' ... so we were all they had and we worked non-stop. this little cat arrived in a bird cage !!!!!! at one point a German Shepherd was brought out of the recovery room. she had been operated on the day before for tumors on her ovaries. they knew the surgery was a long shot, and they had been watching her carefully. she started to have internal bleeding. yikes .... everyone went into emergency mode. the dogs on the table were finshed up and the rest of the dogs went into 'hold' mode. the Shepherd was put on the table. they made up an IV bag for her but didn't have anything to hang it from. Mel, who is incredibly ingenious, came up with this idea of the paint roller, and i helped her secure it in a bucket with rocks and pieces of cement ... paint roller on right side at top of photo ... Amazing ! it worked ! at one point they thought they had lost her, she had lost a LOT of blood. they sent the guys to the store to buy kotex to absorb all the blood .... but they keep on working. they yelled to bring in the last dog that had gone into the recovery room that was still sedated ... they grabbed this medium sized dog that had pretty much come out of it. they got her on the other table, put her back under, and started taking blood from her to do a transfusion ... she was the blood donor ... bless her little heart! then they had to give her some 'medication' to make sure she was ok and would recover. you can see the bag of blood in the photo. the German Shepherd was put back together, with her belly tightly wrapped in elastic bandages to keep her together and laid in the recovery room ... i helped clean up the table she was on, and the floor, and every place else ...... she lost a lot of blood, ... it was everywhere! good thing that doesn't bother me ! ....then things returned to normal and the process continued. most of the dogs that they had were 'pets' ... or at least had owners. these 2 arrived and were tied together. it was so sweet, the little one stayed under the larger one the entire time .... they just stood there, never laid down. .... i can't tell you how many times my heart broke today ! then the boys started going out on the streets and collecting any dog they could find. Lonnie and Jolene recognized 2 of the dogs as ones they had seen hanging around the restaurants. they said that each of the dogs kind of have their own restaurant that they 'beg' from .... they aren't obnoxious ... but they are there, patiently waiting for anything you want to give them. i visited the recovery room frequently checking on the dogs. some were shivering because they were laying on wet rags. they had 2 heat lamps in there and it was quite warm, but some of them had moved away from the heat, so i kept moving them back and making sure they were dry. the Germany Shepherd seemed to have labored breathing. i asked one of the vets to check her .. he said she was fine ... and by the time we left, she was up on her elbows. i hope she makes it ... her name was Lassie :) we tried to hold as many of the dogs, (especially the puppies), as we could to make them feel more comfortable. you could tell they were scared, but still, few, very few, were aggressive. there was a whole litter of these little skinny guys ... all brown, with one black one. they had all been fixed and were in here in recovery keeping each other warm. at one point that shaggy black dog that we had to lasso, escaped, staggering, from the recovery room... and the chase was on again ! ...what a powerful dog he was! this poor dog had a HUGE tumor hanging from his tummy. they were going to save him for last and he was still there when we left :( the Clinic was supposed to be over today; but 2 of the vets said they would work again tomorrow and continue as long as they had medications. they were talking about just doing the males because they use less medication on them and they could do more that way. this is one of the feral cats that was trapped ... she was not a happy camper :( Lonnie and Jolene left about 5 and we left at about 6pm. it was not the plan to spend the day there ... but there was no way any of us wanted to leave. it's such a great feeling to be a part of something that we all felt so passionately about. but that also meant that all the things that we were going to do our last afternoon didn't get done .... ticket reservations, laundry, last minute shopping ... but that was ok with us. it was a day well spent! Eddi and i went to Lonnie and Jolene's for a glass of wine before we headed out for our last dinner. Lonnie had promised to take me to La Bistro where i could get a good steak ... it was huge and cooked just how i like it! our last dinner with Lonnie and Jolene ... such great friends ! i will miss them got back to the hotel to shower. there wasn't any hot water this morning, so i let it run awhile before i got in to make sure it was hot. it was hot alright ... too hot ... i added more and more cold, but nothing happened. i turned the hot off and there was NO water ... we had no cold water, which meant nothing in the sink to brush our teeth with, because there is always only cold water in the sink (even if there is hot water in the shower) ... and no water to flush the toilets with :( it was a great ... emotional ... day !