A bright sunshine blue-sky day. The lady with the 2nd
Dachshund was at Toa Payoh Vets when I arrived at 9.30 am
to operate on her 2nd Dachshund (10-year-old male
neutered) with two growths on the right side of the body.
One appeared to be a large lipoma similar but 10% smaller
as in the first Dachshund sibling I operated successfully
on Tuesday.
Somehow, I felt that I was repeating a scenario as if I
was going back in time and improving myself with this
second repeat electro-surgery to remove a lipoma and
another tumour from the Dachshund.
As if there was a Divine Power presenting me a repeat of
my first surgery -
- which was done on the
same breed (sibling Dachshund) at the same time (around 10
am, bright sunshine blue sky morning), in the same place
(Toa Payoh Vets operating room) and with the same
procedure (xylazine 0.2 IM and isoflurane gas, then
electro-surgical excision to excise the big lipoma out to
show the owner, no bleeding during the operation due to
electro-surgery), with the same vet assistant (Mr Min but
his hands had been bitten by a dog yesterday).
This dog had dental scaling as requested by the owner and
just two tumours unlike the first dog which did not have
dental scaling but had 5 tumours. The dog worked up
uneventfully as if from a nap and the happy owner took him
back around 2 hours later (same time in going home and
same happy ending).
This old Dachshund has a lipoma and a suspected
mammary tumour (nodular and nipple enlargement) but
no samples were sent for histopathology to save some
money for the owner. The sibling had 5 tumours. The
biggest one in the backside was sent for
histopathology and confirmed to be a lipoma, with no
malignant cells. This Dachshund has an almost
identical fatty tumour and is presumed to be a
lipoma too. Do not presume all tumours in old
Dachshunds are lipomas as veterinary medicine
springs surprises all the time!
However this time, I had the big lipoma to show to the
owner as in the previous case, the Laboratory courier came
in the morning
to take it to the lab before the owner came around 2.5 hours after
surgery as she did for the 2nd Good Friday operation for
the sibling Dachshund.
In the afternoon, I took time off to watch the movie
"Source Code" which is a science fiction which reminds me
of my above-mentioned Dachshund surgeries. As if I had
experienced "Source Code" in the canine version. I will
elaborate further below.
In the Source Code movie, Captain Colter Stevens is a
decorated army helicopter pilot has had died. His body is
kept alive and a source code (computer software) is
inserted into his brain. The scientist sends him back to
the past by activating the source code. He then appears as
a teacher (another person) inside a moving train where the
bomber is present but he has to find out the identity of
the bomber and where the bomb is to prevent a second
explosion which will follow this explosion. The first time
he is sent back to the past, he cannot find the bomb or
the bomber and the train explodes killing everybody
including the teacher and a pretty girl who secretly loves
this teacher.
At another time, he finds the bomb and takes the handphone
attached to the bomb. But the train still explodes killing
everybody. He is sent back to the past again. After a few
times of going back to the past, he learns what to do and
identifies the bomber. The story has a happy ending as he
lives in the alternate universe with this girl he appears
opposite her on the train and saves her from death. He
gets to live and fall in love with this girl in an
alternate world since he has prevented the first
explosion.
P.S. My repeat surgery is a short canine version of
the Source Code. It is not as thrilling as this popular
move and will never be made into a film. There is only one
repeat of the surgery for me, unlike Stevens but there is
the happy ending. The dog owner as both Dachshunds are
alive at the end of the surgery and she may have prevented
nasty large liposarcomas from forming if she has had
delayed surgery by a few years as the big lipomas were
growing fast. As the outcome was great, I am also very
happy as old dogs are very high anaesthetic risks and many
vets will prefer not to operate.
P.S. The smaller tumour of around 3 cm x 3cm under
the skin and near the breast lookedyellowish.
It could be a mammary tumour. I made a large excision
and removed the nipple as well. I could see a small yellow
spot of less than 2 mm x 2mm in the muscle area beneath
this skin tumour. This was excised. Male dogs do get
breast cancer but rarely. I did not send this small tumour
for histopathology to save the owner some money as the
lump was really small. Only this woman could detect it. It
was "nodular" and present in the mammary area, like those
of firm small starting breast tumours in the female dog.
I advised Hills' R/D diet for the two dogs and if that
prevents lipoma formation by slimming the dogs down, I
will let readers know in 2 years' time. These two dogs
should live past 18 years of age as they are healthy at 10
years of age based on health screening of their blood and
general physical examination.
I don't look forward to doing surgery of old dogs as it is
not worth taking anaesthetic risks. These are high stress
surgeries and I don't tempt fate. It is just too emotional
for the owner, her family members, myself and my staff
whenever a dog dies on the operating table.
The owner did bring her other dog to enquire about the
backside bleeding. "It is not a problem," I said. The
wound had closed and the bleeding was minor but present.
TOA
PAYOH VETS
