You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
4 Tuesday <strong>March</strong> <strong>19</strong> 20<strong>19</strong><br />
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi<br />
PEGASUS POST<br />
News<br />
McMaster & Heap<br />
Veterinary practice<br />
A PATIENT WITH A BIG HEART<br />
Meet “Lucy”, a courageous 3 year old Staffy<br />
cross who in the past 6 weeks has overcome<br />
many hurdles, but still has a wee way to go.<br />
I first met Lucy at the end of January as a<br />
second opinion. She had been intermittently<br />
unwell for the past month with swallowing<br />
difficulties, coughing, lethargy , pain and<br />
intermittent extremely high temperatures. A<br />
weird clinical picture. She had short courses<br />
of antibiotics and anti inflamatories but still<br />
appeared painful and lethargic and was<br />
deteriorating.<br />
When I first met Lucy, her painfulness struck<br />
me first. I see many uncomfortable patients,<br />
but Lucy was different. She never verbalized<br />
her pain but she was<br />
incredibly tucked up in<br />
the abdomen, walking<br />
slowly and stilted and her<br />
face wore all the pain. She<br />
was brave and lovely to<br />
treat but it was horrible<br />
for me to see her in that<br />
much pain. She was<br />
admitted for a full blood<br />
work up, sufficient pain<br />
medications, intravenous<br />
fluids and xrays..<br />
We got no conclusive<br />
results back from Day 1.<br />
On paper she appeared<br />
healthy but she clearly<br />
wasn’t. Next step was an<br />
ultrasound with Catherine.<br />
Large abdominal lymph nodes measuring up<br />
to 7 cm long were seen dotted throughout.<br />
Catherine wasn’t sure if we may have a<br />
migrating foreign body so it was decided to<br />
open Lucy up. Again no conclusive results<br />
after her exploratory. Kirsty biopsied her<br />
enlarged lymph nodes as a cancerous process<br />
was a possibility. Again we drew blanks as the<br />
lymph node pathology was normal.<br />
Despite our best diagnostic efforts to<br />
find a cause for her unexplained pain and<br />
lethargy, we just had no answers. We were<br />
unsuccessfully managing her pain despite<br />
a myriad of treatment medications. It was<br />
worrying and what was worse was that Lucy<br />
was getting weaker in her hindquarters,<br />
struggling to walk or support her weight.<br />
A contrast CT scan At Pacific Radiology<br />
under sedation was the next diagnostic<br />
tool employed. I was very worried about<br />
spinal cord compression or other diseases<br />
affecting the disc spaces and vertebral bodies.<br />
Interesting findings were seen. Lucy had<br />
large granulomatous masses underneath<br />
a few lumbar vertebrae no doubt causing<br />
compression on her spinal cord, a contributor<br />
to her paralysis. Her vertebral bodies also<br />
looked diseased. Many huge intra-abdominal<br />
lymph nodes were also seen. The scanner<br />
likened it to findings you would see with<br />
Tuberculosis in a person. We also weren’t<br />
expecting her to develop a large pus filled<br />
abscess over her lumbar back that required<br />
surgical draining.<br />
Interestingly Lucy had killed 2 possums a few<br />
months back but after specialized diagnostic<br />
testing for TB on<br />
tissue samples<br />
taken we came up<br />
with blanks. Also<br />
TB hasn’t yet been<br />
isolated in possums<br />
in the Canterbury<br />
area although we<br />
did have her on<br />
TB medication for<br />
several weeks.<br />
As you can see this<br />
case is still providing<br />
challenges for us.<br />
Lucy has since<br />
had more surgery,<br />
ultrasounds, blood<br />
testing and referral<br />
consultations with specialists to try to get a<br />
handle on what caused her pain, CT findings<br />
and paralysis. Our best guess is an inhaled,<br />
migratory Foreign body like a grass seed, that<br />
traveled to beneath her spine somehow. No<br />
other disease process has been found.<br />
The UP side to this story is how Lucy<br />
is handling her immobility and all the<br />
medications she has to consume 2-3 times<br />
daily. She is a terrific dog that has just adapted<br />
to life without walking. She has a ravenous<br />
appetite, appears pain free and happier now<br />
and even wags her tail and twitches and<br />
withdraws her hindlegs. Her improvement is<br />
slow but I guess any disease involving spinal<br />
cord injury takes time to heal. She hasn’t given<br />
up and her dedicated owner hasn’t given up<br />
hope either. Margaret has changed her whole<br />
life this past month to give Lucy the chance to<br />
recover – working from home, learning how<br />
to drain a urinary catheter, managing her care<br />
in terms of massage, reiki, getting her into a<br />
wheelchair – not an easy task when you are<br />
dealing with a 30 kg dog! Amazingly Margaret<br />
has managed all her care from home, which<br />
is better than caged hospital care for Lucy at<br />
this stage.<br />
We all love Lucy at the clinic. We often do<br />
our clinical exams and treatments from the<br />
boot of Margarets car to avoid tiring Lucy.<br />
Our nurses have been patient and gentle to<br />
Lucy and Lucy responds positively to us. We<br />
are ALL hoping and praying for a full recovery.<br />
Follow us on FB to see Lucy’s progress.<br />
Dr Michele McMaster<br />
Walsh gets pupils<br />
off to a good start<br />
•From page 1<br />
Mrs Meyrick said<br />
Walsh joined pupils at the<br />
breakfast table and talked<br />
about what he ate for<br />
breakfast.<br />
She said the pupils were<br />
left with full tummies and<br />
a spark of inspiration.<br />
“I actually think the kids<br />
have really taken on board<br />
that breakfast is really,<br />
really important and, if<br />
you’re a sporting type, it’s a<br />
cool thing to do.<br />
“It makes us feel better as<br />
people and achieve what we<br />
can achieve each day.”<br />
Said Walsh said: “It’s<br />
awesome to see the positive<br />
effect that a healthy,<br />
nutritious meal can have<br />
on the kids performance<br />
both in the classroom and<br />
also in their daily lives.<br />
It’s so important to start<br />
the day with a healthy<br />
breakfast in order to fuel<br />
KICKSTART:<br />
Julliana Kolio,<br />
Alex Krakowiak,<br />
deputy<br />
principal Jo<br />
Meyrick, Ari<br />
Mckenzie,<br />
Pietro Moses,<br />
Noah<br />
Keepa-<br />
Tauamiti,<br />
Ashley<br />
Masters, Jorja<br />
Shearman,<br />
Jahvani<br />
Sila-Ki, and<br />
Devon Myall<br />
with Tom<br />
Walsh,<br />
the body and mind for the<br />
day ahead.”<br />
KickStart Breakfast is<br />
a joint initiative between<br />
Fonterra, Sanitarium and<br />
the Ministry of Social<br />
Development which aims<br />
to ensure pupils get a<br />
healthy start to the day.<br />
Volunteers help run 1000<br />
breakfast clubs in schools<br />
across New Zealand,<br />
serving more than 30,000<br />
children each week.<br />
YOUR LOCAL GARAGE<br />
• All vehicle repairs<br />
• Oil changes and services<br />
• Brakes • Loan car available<br />
• Tyres, punctures & batteries<br />
• W.O.F • Tune up<br />
Open 7 days<br />
Cnr Hoon Hay & Coppell place<br />
phone 338 2534, Fax 339 8624<br />
e. mcmasterandheap@yahoo.co.nz<br />
www.mcmasterheap.co.nz<br />
McMaster & Heap<br />
Your LocaL GaraGe<br />
VERY FRIENDLY SERVICE AND ADVICE<br />
NEW BRIGHTON AUTOMOTIVE<br />
Phone: 03 388 3630<br />
40 Hawke St (behind Z Petrol Station)