Second Day of Clinics

Peru Tuesday August 9, 2011

It is my birthday!! Happy birthday to me! Somebody asked “what do you want to do for your b-day?”… I think I will spend it in Cusco, Peru… “what do you want to do?”… I think I will spay/neuter as many dogs and cats as I can!!! SO that is what I did!!! HaHa!!

Went to our new site in a park area… and nothing was set up! There were supposed to be several large tents set up for induction and surgery and tables and chairs set up for the owners and pets and check-in and prep/surgery area. NOTHING. So we got to work getting things rolling and finally got to start about 10am.

Michelle was taken to a clinic for her first rabies vaccination. Cost: 0.0S/ (that would convert to $0 US!). We will be in Aguas Calientes for the second of the series, so we have to find the clinic in that area. She will finish the series in the US. I don’t think the cost will be quite the same… hopefully, though, it will be covered by her travel insurance and/or her health insurance. Sheesh! Her nose looks amazingly good. The doctor did a really good job stitching her up!

As we were working on getting the clinic area set up, the local vet students showed up with a huge birthday cake for me and sang Happy Birthday in English and in Spanish!! It was very fun!

Had a pretty good day taking care of local animals. Many more cats than expected. Nice to see. Many dogs showed up in clothes including jackets, hats and booties. Pretty crazy! Again, the people are so nice and very appreciative. And it is nice that there are a few animals that will now no longer contribute to pet overpopulation!

The day started off quite cool and sunny. Warmed up pretty fast. We were well protected by the tents, but it was getting a bit warm! We had to carry a sedated animal and/or an instrument tray from the pre-op/instrument cleaning area (in a small building) past the waiting and reception area and across a yard to the induction and surgery tent, do surgery, then carry the sleeping critter and/or surgery pack back to the recovery area (back in the little building). The sun was so bright, even through the tent, that I started doing surgery with my sunglasses on. Later in the day, the clouds started moving in, the temperature dropped and I wondered why I couldn’t see well… hmmm, had never taken off the sunglasses!! Things sure improved when I took those off!!

Anyway, as the day progress, the winds REALLY picked up and kept trying to blow our tents down, over or away!! (And I huffed and I puffed….) It made for some very excited surgery time! At one point I was pushing on the side of the tent with my bootie, while it was trying to blow right over my surgery table and patient!! Never had to do surgery under those conditions before! But we made it through and all people and pets were fine.

We finally finished surgery about 5pm. We had to wait for the critters to wake up before being discharged. We knew it would be a wait… so we all had birthday cake!! There was nothing to cut it with, so Michelle and I took our lives into our hands and crossed the BUSY, four lane blvd to go to the market!! OMG!!! There are NO rules about pedestrians having any right of way, oh no! And as I mentioned in a previous blog, they are crazy drivers here! So we stood right behind some locals, and ran across the street when they did!! Holy cow! It should have been videotaped!! It would have been hilarious to see!

Well, we were able to but little tiny disposable plates and tiny plastic forks. No plastic (or any other) knives! So, once again, taking our lives into our hands, we crossed the blvd back to the clinic. I used the handle of this tiny fork to demolish the cake into a semblance of pieces and shared with everybody. The fork kept twisting and made it very difficult to cut any decent “piece” of cake, but it still tasted great. There was one tiny piece of cake left, Francisco put a little lighted candle in it for me to blow out. Then he squished the cake into my mouth! I was laughing so hard, I thought I would choke on it! Michelle got it all on pictures. What a fun time!

We finally sent the last little doggies home and got on the bus back to the hotel. After a quick shower and change, we went out for another nice dinner and fun visiting. What a great group. Colleen and I plan on going for a walk in the morning. We don’t have to meet until 8:30, so we will have time to go for a nice walk and get back for breakfast. But I wouldn’t have time to finish this blog…. So I am finishing it tonight. It is only 9:45 pm, but I am bushed and my roomies (Michelle and Marcy) have been asleep for quite awhile! Time to turn in!

More tomorrow (and I will continue to try to post photos!

Hasta Manana!