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| Monitoring field anesthesia. Terik is helping administer drugs while Dr. Gigi Kay and Dr. Mohammed perform the regional limb perfusion and joint lavage. |
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| Dr. Gigi monitors the regional limb perfusion while Dr. Mohammed flushes the joint |
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| The colic mare is discharged today! |
Shortly after the morning surgery, my colic mare was discharged. Her owner is such a nice man and asked me for one of the pictures I took of her. I’m sad that I do not have a way to print my pictures for him as I’m sure he would have cherished the pictures of his mare’s successful recovery for a long time. I’m not sure if this man is modernized enough to have email. I assumed not, mostly based on his age, but I should have asked.
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| The mule with the ruptured gastrocnemius tendon |
Yesterday a respectable middle aged man stopped in to ask if there was anything we could do for his mule that had lacerated a tendon in his hind leg two weeks ago. We asked him to bring his mule in and the mule arrived in the back of a van. They unloaded the mule onto the surgery mat and it was clear at first glimpse that this mule had a lacerated gastrocnemius tendon, the equivalent of the human Achilles tendon. The mules left tarsus was hanging, unable to bear weight. The wound was clearly old as granulation tissue had taken over and the limb was massively swollen. I learned that the mule was being pushed to go forward with a metal shovel two weeks ago and the shovel somehow came down hard on the back of the leg, rupturing the gastrocnemius tendon. After debating whether surgery should even be attempted with such poor odds for return to function, the owner finally decided to humanely euthanize the mule. He said he did not want to see the mule suffer. This was a relief for me to hear as many Moroccans refuse to have their animals euthanized. They instead take them home and let them die on their own. This mule would have lived a life in pain, unable to ambulate more than a three legged shuffle. The cost of hospitalizing this horse for months would have been enormous for such a poor prognosis. It was decided that the time and money needed to recover this case would be better spent helping countless other working equids presenting to the Fondouk. White mule, may you rest in peace.
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| Unloading a mule from the back of a van |
Late in the morning another white mule arrived by van. This mule was blindfolded and pulled out the back of the van. I again wondered how they even got the animal in there. This mule had fairly fresh puncture wounds to both hind limbs caused by some sort of metal object. I clipped, cleaned, and flushed the wounds, picking manure out of the distal wounds. I was allowed to suture the wounds closed after they had been extensively cleaned, flushed and debrided, leaving a small opening at the bottom of the distal wounds for drainage. I applied distal limbs bandages to both hind legs and off to a stall the mule went. Even though some of the wounds were massively contaminated, hopefully our meticulous lavaging, suturing, and antibiotic administration will help these wounds heal quickly. No vital structures seem to be infected and the mule is sound.
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| Finally he is drug out of the van blindfolded |
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| The lacerations on one leg after clipping and some cleaning |
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| Suturing one of the legs |
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| Bandaging one of the lacerated legs |
After other patients were treated and in-hospital patient procedures were completed, I ventured off to meet Matt, the American Student I met at the New Year’s Eve party, for dinner. I took a taxi by myself to the American Language Center where he and the other American students study Arabic. The ride was interesting as the taxi cab driver did not know where the school was and was continually asking people on the street as we drove if they knew where it was. Finally I called Matt, even though the rates are incredibly expensive, and had him explain to the taxi driver in Arabic where the school was. It was a difficult school to spot as the entrance was only a small white gate with “The American Language Center” written at the top in English and Arabic. I went inside the lovely courtyard and waited for Matt to finish talking with his professor. We then caught a cab to the Medina and we found a nice little traditional Moroccan restaurant not far in from the Bab Bou Jeloud gate. I ordered cous cous with chicken and drank some traditional mint tea. They food was great but the portion was so large I only ate just over half. After dinner we went to a fruit stand and ordered Avacado Juice which was a sweet drink the consistency of a milk shake. After a tasty shake we wondered though Fez el-Jdid, the old Jewish portion of the city. Many of the street vendors were closing down but it was fun to see a new part of the city. The main road out of Fez el-Jdid leads right to the north side of the American Fondouk. Matt and I crossed the street and walked around to the front doors of the Fondouk. I gave Matt a quick tour of the American Fondouk before sending him out into the dark to catch a taxi back to the Medina where he lives. Hopefully we will meet again before I head back home.
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| A beauiful, however nonfunctional, fountain in the courtyard of the American Language Center |
When I returned from the Medina, I had almost an hour before we were to start evening treatments. When I walked in the door of the student villa, Mehdi and Azziz were sitting at the table. Mehdi had a strange smirk on his face and said that I was in trouble. I asked why and he said Dr. Gigi was very mad at me for leaving the Fondouk without informing her where I was going and going alone. I wasn’t sure if he was serious or not but Mehdi and Azziz drug on the conversation about how mad Gigi was, making angry faces and crossing their pointer finger over the bridge of their nose. I wasn’t sure why she would be so upset with me. The Moroccan students would leave the Fondouk without informing her of their plans. Why was I any different? I had informed the other students of my plans and that I would be back before evening treatments and thought that was more than sufficient. I assumed Mehdi and Azziz were serious and headed to my room to contemplate what to do. I can’t stand it when I know someone is mad at me. I’m a people pleaser and the thought of Gigi being mad at me greatly upset me. I decided when we went down for evening treatments that I would call her and apologize straight away. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing she was upset with me.
When we went down to start evening treatments, I went to the office and picked up the phone to dial Dr. Gigi’s number. When she answered the phone I said “Hi Dr. Gigi. This is Michelle. I just wanted to call and apologize for not informing you of my plans to go out to dinner tonight. I didn’t realize it was important to let you know of my plans and I wanted to call and apologize because I couldn’t wait until morning. “
Her reply was “What are you talking about?!”
I replied “Mehdi had said how upset you were with me for not informing you of my plans to go out to dinner with one of my friends.”
She exclaimed “No! You are an adult! You can go out to dinner if you want to! You don’t need to tell me what you’re doing! I’m not your mother!”
Relieved and nearly in tears I squeaked out “Perhaps Mehdi was playing a joke on me.”
Just as I said that Mehdi ran around the corner into the office and hung up the phone on me.
“What are you doing?!” I asked. “I was trying to apologize to Gigi.
“It was a trick!” Mehdi exclaimed and at that moment it hit that there was no need to be so upset. I started to cry with relief. I turned around so that Mehdi couldn’t see me wipe the tears from my eyes.
“You can’t do that to me!” I said through my tears. “I’m a gullible person and I believed you!”
Mehdi began apologizing as the phone began to ring. It was Gigi. She could hear the shakiness in my voice and asked if I was ok. I said I was and that it was Mehdi that hung up the phone and that the whole thing was just a big prank. Gigi laughed and said to tell Mehdi that now she was mad at him! All in fun of course, but I tried to sound serious when I told Mehdi he was in trouble to try to get some revenge. We chatted briefly about how good the meal was and who I had gone with before saying good night. I finished my treatments and headed back to the villa to try to regain my composure.
At about 10:30, my friend and classmate, Michelle, arrived. We talked for a couple of hours before finally calling it a night. Tomorrow is a holiday her in Morocco and the Fondouk will be closed. This works out perfect as Michelle and I need to go to the supermarket and buy some food and we can use the time off to explore the Medina! Look for our fun stories tomorrow. Au Revoir!
P.S: I learned how to write my name in Arabic today! Written from right to left, it looks like this: ميشال
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| Maddy, the crazy cat finds a perch in an olive tree |
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