Daily Vet Lola’s tennis ball incident is this vet’s cause for pride and sense of purposefulness

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to receive resounding confirmation of why I went into vet medicine to begin with. In my job that happens surprisingly often—a thing that makes me willing to continue to subject myself to the never-ending stream of euthanasias, vet-business issues and pet owner-related stress.

Mitigating all those things I dislike about my profession are the moments when I can effectively thwart impending doom and defeat death. This may sound overly-dramatic when I relate the following circumstances (but it’s perhaps the little things that make me happiest):

Lola swallowed something bad—a tennis ball. How it got there is a mystery perhaps only an American Bulldog’s owner can understand: she just gulped it down.

An X-ray confirmed the presence of a corrugated mass in the stomach. After some barium (administered to highlight its borders and benignity—and establish the presence of a patent, healthy intestine) I gave Lola some foul stuff. I placed a small tablet of apomorphine, a potent emetic, into her conjunctiva (the spot between her eye and its lids) to speed its absorption into her bloodstream and ensure a rapid cessation of symptoms once washed out.

Five minutes later, Lola vomited her stomach’s contents—the ball and a bunch of now-yellowish barium. You might say, “Yuck!” but we all jumped for joy and hugged one another like a bunch of girls after winning a soccer match (it was all I could do to keep myself from throwing off my scrub-top, Mia Hamm-style).

It’s these moments of drug-induced glee that fuel my love of this profession. After my recent posts on the sad reality of our vet business, it was about time I gave you all a welcome reminder of how much we love our job.

June 12th, 2007

Add Comment21 Comments

Got to be a soccer geek here: that's "Brandi Chastain style". Mia Hamm's waaaaaaaaaay too Mia Hamm to do that.

Thing One June 12th, 2007 08:36:00 PM

Way to go doc!

Meryl June 12th, 2007 10:25:00 PM

Oops on the Mia Hamm thing. Thanks for fact-checking me, Thing One.

Dr. Patty Khuly June 13th, 2007 07:53:00 AM

how on earth does a dog swallow a tennis ball? i'm glad that surgery wasn't needed, that would have been crummy! my friends border collie swallowed a whole corn cob, that was quite the disaster!!

very_vizsla June 13th, 2007 06:46:00 PM

This tennis ball squeaky toy was swallowed after being punctured and deflated.

Dr. Patty Khuly June 14th, 2007 09:34:00 AM

one may also ask how a lab could swallow a plastic spatula........but well, labs, they're special!

CathyA June 19th, 2007 08:37:00 AM

thank you sir
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games September 7th, 2008 10:38:00 AM

How did the owner know the dog swallowed something? What were the symptoms?

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