Re: Suture experiences


r2000swler@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> We went to have the sutures removed from our kitten from
> her neutering.

Her got spayed. He got neutered.

The vet allowed me to remove them. No big
> deal. He had a nifty pair of "scissors" that looked a lot
> like cat nail clippers. She had 5 little stiches and it
> took all of 30 seconds to remove them. She did not like
> it one bit when I pulled them out. We explained why we
> were intersted and he said if we were willing he would
> let us assist him in stiching up a horse that he was
> going to slice open to remove an abcess.
>
> We walked out to the large animal surgery, and helped
> prep the horse, washing the area where the incission
> was going to be, then wiping the area down with betadin,
> then I shaved the area. Guys I thought a 3 day growth
> of beard was tough, this was like shaving steel wool.
> The he injected the first numbing agent, and let us
> alternate and surround the area to be excissed. We
> injected very tiny amounts, like o.1cc. Then he used
> a scapple and just sliced a ~1.5" long cut. He kept
> slicing with each cut going in about 1/8" or less.
> When he reached the abcess this vile smelling ***
> ozzed out. He kept cutting and the gunk freely flowed
> out.

Hey, hey, hey... I got an open beer here.

> Then he used a rense of saline to flush the wound.
> He poked and prodded wtih "q tips", and cleaned the
> cavity rensing the entire time. when he was done, he
> lined the wound with a antibiotic gell and inserted
> a drain tube an daksed who wanted to start. My wife
> is the brave one, so she started. It is next to
> impossible to discribe the technique with words, but
> it is very easy to see and duplicate. I was a little
> unsteady but my stitches were labeled as "serviable".
> This was his daughter's horse, not used for competion,
> just riding around the farm. He said if it had been a
> competion horse he would have used much smaller needle
> and many more sutures, but warned that the finer the
> suture, the more likely the smaller "thread" will pull
> through.
>
> One important step is to have an assitant close the
> wound as you work and keep what is already "sewed"
> from splitting. He said my wife had a better stitch
> then he did. But upon learning she wuilts allowed
> that she had sewn many thousand more stitches then
> he had. He also asked if she might be interested in
> doing some microstiches on a couple of show horses
> next week. Hey, she gets to learn a new skill, get
> paid for it and generally have fun. I will be around
> tos ee what I can learn but suturing requires some
> simple skills and a lot of nerve.
>
> A very interesting afternoon.

Congrats! I saw my little boy's forehead get parted with an aluminum
bat, and I watched it get stitched up. None of that was fun.

> Now am I ready to stich up a friend next field trip?
> I hope I don't have to find out.
>
> Terry

Good to know.

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