Nor'West News: August 13, 2019

4 Tuesday August 13 2019
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
News
NOR’WEST NEWS
Staff who have a
McMaster & Heap
Veterinary practice
Dr Steve works his magic again…
“CoCo” is a three year old speyed bunny
- a very loved and adored pet who
recently underwent Bilateral Cataract
Surgery. This surgery was a first for
Steve who did his research prior to the
operation. He has operated many times
on dogs, cats and even a hawk but not
a rabbit.
Coco was having real difficulty finding
her food bowls and manoeuvring
around outside. She had always
loved charging around outside with
the other rabbits. Her cataracts had
developed fast in approximately
two months, the right eye more
mature than the left eye. Cataracts in
rabbits can be congenital, traumatic,
metabolic as in diabetes, inflammatory
secondary to uveitis or infectious, as in
the case of E Cuniculi. Coco was being
treated for E Cuniculi, which is a parasite
ingested and eliminated in the urine.
This parasite causes inflammation in the
lens and a capsular cataract can develop,
leading to uveitis and sometimes
glaucoma. It is painful and the rabbits
will often scratch at the eye.
Coco was referred to Steve and her
primary vet and nurse came over to
monitor Coco’s anaesthetic. Rabbits
on the whole are difficult patients to
monitor under anaesthetic due to
their size and eye surgeries are difficult
anyway because monitoring the
Open 7 days
Cnr Hoon Hay & Coppell place
phone 338 2534, Fax 339 8624
e. mcmasterandheap@yahoo.co.nz
www.mcmasterheap.co.nz
head end of the patient is impossible.
Expertise and experience with rabbit
anaesthetics is essential when your
surgery may last one to two hours. Often
they require you to ventilate for them,
they must be kept warm, hydrated and
constant recordings of blood pressure
need to be recorded.
Straight away Coco was placed on
intravenous fluids, had blood taken
(no kidney or liver compromise was
seen) and was allowed to snack
on veggies and hay before her GA.
Prior to her anaesthetic she was
supplemented with oxygen to
increase oxygen concentration in
the blood. Once anaesthetised she was
hooked up to a blood pressure monitor
and pulsoximeter (measuring her oxygen
saturation in the blood) and positioned
for cataract surgery.
The surgery went really well with Steve
removing the crystalline lenses in both
eyes. A Cataract is a lens opacity and is
due to the loss of architecture of the lens
or capsule fibres. To us the lens appears
cloudy (the lens is in the middle of the
eye). The cataract is then sucked out with
a phacoemulsification machine. This
machine vibrates, cuts and vacuums the
cataract out. If all goes well, the visual
axis is clear and vision is restored.
So far so good. Steve has frequently
checked her eyes and Coco can
visually see well out both her eyes, her
intraocular pressures are good, she is
comfortable and happier now her ocular
world has opened up again.
I think its brilliant Coco’s owner gave her
a chance at restored sight. The other
option would have been removing the
eyes, as the uveitis and glaucoma could
have been too painful for her to live with.
For any questions on cataract
surgeries please contact Steve
directly at McMaster & Heap Vet
Practice. He has just invested in a
new phacoemulsification machine so
hopefully will get to test drive it soon.
Dr Michele McMaster
McMaster & Heap
Can Do attitude
•From page 1
Said Mr Dixon: “I
like doing the coffee
run because it gets me
outdoors.”
The cafe provides its
staff with ordinary life
opportunities through
meaningful paid
employment,
which allows
them to set and
achieve personal
goals.
The cafe
opened at
Art Metro in
Papanui in
March, and
she said.
The cafe opened after
the huge success of Can
Do Catering, which was
started in 2015 by staff at
the Laura Fergusson Trust
Canterbury.
The trust was set up to
cater for young
people with brain
injuries and it will
celebrate its 40th
anniversary this
year.
The staff have
formal contracts
and are interviewed
for their jobs at
the cafe, and they
independence and a sense
of purpose.
“We’ve got one woman
and we call her our bliss
ball queen – she now goes
into the kitchen and makes
it [bliss balls]. She’s got the
recipe and she makes it
all,” Ms Harris said.
She said her job is
incredibly rewarding, and
she is passionate about
what she does.
“Seeing how being
involved in a team with
people that haven’t worked
before, and seeing the true
pleasure and joy they get
out of doing ordinary life
operations
manager Vicky
Vicky Harris learn about food
hygiene, and health
tasks . . . that’s the most
rewarding thing for me,”
Harris said it is getting
busier every day, but is still
quiet.
“We’re positive. We get
really good feedback on
the food and what we do,”
and safety during the
induction process.
The opportunities
the cafe and catering
businesses provide for
the staff gives them
she said.
The cafe is open Monday,
Tuesday, Thursday, and
Friday from 8.30am-3
pm, and Wednesday from
8.30am-noon.
Whiz kids gather for quiz
• By Claire Booker
MORE THAN 200 current
events whizzes put pen to
paper at the Otago Daily
Times Extra! Canterbury
quiz at Cobham
Intermediate.
Pupils from across the
region formed teams of
three on Tuesday and were
tested with questions
including who am I, what
am I, New Zealand places,
around the world mapping
and famous faces.
Tai Tapu School won the
year 5 and 6 section with
82 points out of a possible
100.
Closely following in
second was Fendalton
Open-Air School, which
was only two points
behind the champions
with 80.
LiquiD
SeLF Service
LaunDroMatS
Prebbleton School
secured third with a score
of 79.
Tai Tapu champions
Ethan Garrett-Burke,
9, Edward Bull,10, and
Caleb O’Leary, 10, were
pleasantly pleased with
their win.
Edward said he “didn’t
like the faces” questions,
but the team enjoyed
the challenges. North
Loburn School won the
year 7 and 8 quiz with 89
points. William Hassall,
12, Charley Ward, 13,
and Harry Witt, 12, said
they were happy to win
the quiz, but “it wasn’t
planned.”
“The newspaper was the
hardest part,” Charley said.
The teams had to find
answers to questions from
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an Otago Daily Times
newspaper, which caught
them off guard.
Two Hillview Christian
School teams took second
and third with 88 and 87
points. Extra! editor Tricia
Rowe was pleased the event
went smoothly.
“The year 7 and 8 group
were really lively, which
made the quiz go fast,” she
said. “The lead up to the
event has been stressful,
with balancing writing
papers and writing the
quizzes, but I’ve got a really
good team.”
The quiz was run by the
Otago Daily Times through
Extra! – its monthly
Newspapers in Education
publication for primary,
intermediate and junior
secondary school pupils.
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