Complex Neurological Surgery - The stakes are always very high, and team work is required.
This is to provide some updates on two patients that have made incredible recoveries from neurological surgeries.
The first, is Daisy the cat, who had a ventriculoperitoneal shunt placed to resolve hydrocephalus. A catheter was placed directly into the brain, and this was connected to a one-way valve that shunts excess fluid into the abdomen via a long tube. Daisy's owner sent me this photo celebrating her recent birthday.
The second, is Bailey the dog. Bailey sustained a luxation of her atlanto-occipital joint. This joint literally joins the vertebral column to the skull. This resulted in her becoming acutely non-ambulatory (unable to walk). She required emergency stabilisation with screws and bone cement.
What was so heart-warming about both these cases was two things; 1 - Team work. For both these cases the team extended out of the Veterinary Specialist Services hospital and into other Australian states. Both these surgeries have extremely limited cases reported world-wide, so gaining advise from surgeons who have experience in other regions was invaluable. In terms of the VSS team, these cases both had two specialist surgeons, multiple assistants and both recovered in the Pet ICU. The first picture is Bailey in ICU receiving physio from our physiotherapist. In Daisy's case her care was over-seen by our feline specialist. Most importantly, these cases would not be alive if it wasn't for the incredible nursing team - fact. 2 - Lovely owners. I think this deserves some attention. The veterinary world struggles compared to our human counterparts in terms of published literature, funding (no medicare) and the specialist surgeons are operating on a huge variety of cases (versus the human world where they have neurosurgeons readily available). When pet owners don't work together with us, it makes these cases more difficult and stressful to treat. These owners were understanding of these limitations and did not provide additional stress on a team under pressure. Thank you.
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