Today, for the time I was there, C-- appointed me to make sure that a foal nursed every hour and didn't try to eat any of the hay. That was neat, being in charge of something. I had to go in and take off his muzzle (just a mesh thing really, to keep him from eating) and allow him to nurse for however long he wanted, then when he began to nose around in the hay and straw, to put his muzzle back on. The reason for the muzzle was because he had come in with an impaction. He had simply tried to start eating too early for his own good. Anyway, that was kinda neat.
Then I watched to finishing touches on an RV (Rectal-Vaginal) repair. I didn't really see any of it, because, as I stated, they were just getting done. But L-- and I cleaned up afterwards, she showed me where central services was, and I hosed down the floor of the room where the surgery was done.
I popped into radiology for a few minutes, but since I still don't have a badge, and it didn't seem like they would be needing any help anyway, I decided not to sit around and wait for the films, so I left to see what else I could find to do.
Lastly I helped C-- give a mare KPen and flush out reflux from a nasalgastric tube (I have no idea if that's what it's really called, but it sounds good to me. It's the tube that goes in the nose and down to the stomach). I forget what was wrong with the mare, but since horses can't vomit, she had this tube that was being used to assist in this matter. We used a suction technique (where you put water down the tube, then pull it back up, and if he end of the tube is in a pocket of fluid in the stomach, the suction will pull this fluid out, too). This was done to relieve pressure in her stomach, I believe. And that's all for today!
Back to the Space Log.
