Western News: March 19, 2019

4 Tuesday March 19 2019
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
News
WESTERN NEWS
Taking on the world
McMaster & Heap
Veterinary practice
A PATIENT WITH A BIG HEART
Meet “Lucy”, a courageous 3 year old Staffy
cross who in the past 6 weeks has overcome
many hurdles, but still has a wee way to go.
I first met Lucy at the end of January as a
second opinion. She had been intermittently
unwell for the past month with swallowing
difficulties, coughing, lethargy , pain and
intermittent extremely high temperatures. A
weird clinical picture. She had short courses
of antibiotics and anti inflamatories but still
appeared painful and lethargic and was
deteriorating.
When I first met Lucy, her painfulness struck
me first. I see many uncomfortable patients,
but Lucy was different. She never verbalized
her pain but she was
incredibly tucked up in
the abdomen, walking
slowly and stilted and her
face wore all the pain. She
was brave and lovely to
treat but it was horrible
for me to see her in that
much pain. She was
admitted for a full blood
work up, sufficient pain
medications, intravenous
fluids and xrays..
We got no conclusive
results back from Day 1.
On paper she appeared
healthy but she clearly
wasn’t. Next step was an
ultrasound with Catherine.
Large abdominal lymph nodes measuring up
to 7 cm long were seen dotted throughout.
Catherine wasn’t sure if we may have a
migrating foreign body so it was decided to
open Lucy up. Again no conclusive results
after her exploratory. Kirsty biopsied her
enlarged lymph nodes as a cancerous process
was a possibility. Again we drew blanks as the
lymph node pathology was normal.
Despite our best diagnostic efforts to
find a cause for her unexplained pain and
lethargy, we just had no answers. We were
unsuccessfully managing her pain despite
a myriad of treatment medications. It was
worrying and what was worse was that Lucy
was getting weaker in her hindquarters,
struggling to walk or support her weight.
A contrast CT scan At Pacific Radiology
under sedation was the next diagnostic
tool employed. I was very worried about
spinal cord compression or other diseases
affecting the disc spaces and vertebral bodies.
Interesting findings were seen. Lucy had
large granulomatous masses underneath
a few lumbar vertebrae no doubt causing
compression on her spinal cord, a contributor
to her paralysis. Her vertebral bodies also
looked diseased. Many huge intra-abdominal
lymph nodes were also seen. The scanner
likened it to findings you would see with
Tuberculosis in a person. We also weren’t
expecting her to develop a large pus filled
abscess over her lumbar back that required
surgical draining.
Interestingly Lucy had killed 2 possums a few
months back but after specialized diagnostic
testing for TB on
tissue samples
taken we came up
with blanks. Also
TB hasn’t yet been
isolated in possums
in the Canterbury
area although we
did have her on
TB medication for
several weeks.
As you can see this
case is still providing
challenges for us.
Lucy has since
had more surgery,
ultrasounds, blood
testing and referral
consultations with specialists to try to get a
handle on what caused her pain, CT findings
and paralysis. Our best guess is an inhaled,
migratory Foreign body like a grass seed, that
traveled to beneath her spine somehow. No
other disease process has been found.
The UP side to this story is how Lucy
is handling her immobility and all the
medications she has to consume 2-3 times
daily. She is a terrific dog that has just adapted
to life without walking. She has a ravenous
appetite, appears pain free and happier now
and even wags her tail and twitches and
withdraws her hindlegs. Her improvement is
slow but I guess any disease involving spinal
cord injury takes time to heal. She hasn’t given
up and her dedicated owner hasn’t given up
hope either. Margaret has changed her whole
life this past month to give Lucy the chance to
recover – working from home, learning how
to drain a urinary catheter, managing her care
in terms of massage, reiki, getting her into a
wheelchair – not an easy task when you are
dealing with a 30 kg dog! Amazingly Margaret
has managed all her care from home, which
is better than caged hospital care for Lucy at
this stage.
We all love Lucy at the clinic. We often do
our clinical exams and treatments from the
boot of Margarets car to avoid tiring Lucy.
Our nurses have been patient and gentle to
Lucy and Lucy responds positively to us. We
are ALL hoping and praying for a full recovery.
Follow us on FB to see Lucy’s progress.
Dr Michele McMaster
•From page 1
It will see her travel
to Japan, Netherlands,
Poland, Estonia, Serbia and
Austria.
The tour will give Anna,
of Halswell, the opportunity
to be exposed to other
international gymnasts
and achieve qualifying
marks to gain entry into
the World Gymnastics
Championships.
She will also have the
opportunity to compete
in various competitions in
Europe and represent New
Zealand in the International
Tournament Ritam
Cup in Belgrade, Serbia.
“I am travelling for five
weeks so that is the longest
I have travelled before. I
think it should be a good
experience, it is going to be
different but I am excited,”
she said.
Anna, who attends
Olympia Gymnastics
Sports based in Hornby,
was selected for the tour
after taking part in a trial
ran by the Gymnastics New
Zealand recently.
As part of the tour, 14
gymnasts from Olympia
including Anna will compete
in the Shoin Cup in
Osaka.
But only Anna and
Olympia gymnasts Paris
Chin and Miyu Wadamori
will travel on with
coach Elena Mesheryakova
to Europe.
Anna has been training
in rhythmic gymnastics
since the age of six.
Her gymnastics has already
taken her overseas. In
A love of dance for life
CONTEMPORARY | BALLET | JAZZ | HIP HOP
< Preschool to adults
< Family discount
< Avonhead
Jadon Dance
Jacqui Tieleman
03 324 2227
021 630 910
jacs2u@scorch.co.nz
< Very reasonable
fees
< Annual recital
Donna Head
03 351 2401
021 0423 621
donna.head@xtra.co.nz
REACHING FOR
THE STARS:
Riccarton High
School student
Anna Taylor
competing
in the 2018
New Zealand
Gymnastics
Championships
held in
Tauranga last
year.
2016 she represented New
Zealand at the Junior Commonwealth
Championships
in Nambia.
She wants to go the 2022
Commonwealth Games
and the World Gymnastics
Championships.
Anna is also a prefect
at Riccarton High School
and received the Prebble
Trophy for sportswoman of
the year last year.
Open 7 days
Cnr Hoon Hay & Coppell place
phone 338 2534, Fax 339 8624
e. mcmasterandheap@yahoo.co.nz
www.mcmasterheap.co.nz
McMaster & Heap