(no subject)

[bodldops]

30,009 / 50,000 (60.0%)

WHOOOOHOOO!

Work was interesting today. Got to knock down an old chihuahua 'cause the RVT was the only one who could hold him and the other tech couldn't hit the dog's vein. The first time I got it in, but the vein blew for some reason unfathomable So I went a little higher and got it in good. *Grin* Oh, and I managed to open that torture machine of an autoclave by myself too. *Grin* The autoclave needs serious maintanence (timer doesn't work and I suspect it isn't reaching the proper temperature). Fun. We need an autoclave. Work would stop in S/N if it broke down entirely.

Now I really do need sleep. Brain is majorly fried from writing overload.

Comments

[hoppytoad79.livejournal.com]

Blown veins. Argh and blech. Sometimes, they're evil like that and, yes, you can do just fine the second time you try. Word of advice: Start high and work your way down. That way, when you inject whatever you need to inject, there's no chance of it leaking out through the hole downstream you made in the vein and getting into the tissues (would be really bad with pentathol/barbituates).

A few years ago, I was helping the vet at the zoo I used to volunteer at with an exam on a cougar with, I think, cataracts, but it was her eyes whatever it was. She was knocked out (of course), so while she was down, the vet wanted to draw blood and do some other things while we had the chance. He asked me if I wanted to draw the blood and he'd hold off. I agreed, and he told me that cougar veins tend to be very hard to hit-they roll a lot. I always like a challenge, so I was pumped to see if I could triumph over wiggly veins. Braced the vein on one side with my thumb, had the skin slightly taut, and went right for the stick. BINGO! Nailed that sucker on the first try. GO ME! The vet was Very Impressed. :D I was jazzed I'd done so well. I'd expected to miss a few times, since the vet said cougar veins tend to be hard to hit and they roll a lot. On the opposite side of the coin, there were days in clinical work when it took me three or four tries to hit the vein on a dog. *shrugs* Some days you have The Touch, other days you don't.

[bodldops.livejournal.com]

But... if it's a vein, it's moving proximally up the leg towards the main body, not distally to the toes...

I love kitty veins. For some reason, I can hit them almost 100% of the time. Dog veins... eh.

[hoppytoad79.livejournal.com]

Oh. Yeah. They do. *facepalm* Carry on as usual, then.

[bodldops.livejournal.com]

S'okay. I still win the 'Stupid Medical Statements' Award. We had just euthanized a nasty tom cat with a massive abcess when I turned to one of my co-workers and said, brightly, "Oh, be careful with this guy when he wakes up, he's pretty feral." *headdesk*