Nor'West News: February 18, 2020

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4 Tuesday February 18 2020 Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz NOR’WEST NEWS McMaster & Heap Veterinary practice Brain tumour in a cat This is a remarkable story where an 13 year old Norwegian Forest cat “ Sashenka” was diagnosed via CT imaging of having a brain tumour, “Meningioma” and successfully had surgery two weeks ago in a specialist hospital in Auckland to remove the tumour. Never in 30 years of being a vet have I had a client willing to proceed to surgery to remove a brain tumour in their pet, plus she survived and is thriving. She’s one very lucky cat with incredibly caring owners who wanted the best possible outcome for their precious cat. Sashenka first presented just before Christmas being a bit “off” - more clingy, vocalising more, seeming to have trouble going up and down stairs, difficulty navigating obstacles, seeming disorientated, scratching the wooden floor boards, pacing, kneading and off balance sometimes. She was a cat always up a tree and she stopped doing this. She wasn’t chasing her treats and started walking in circles. She was never seen seizuring though and continued eating. We examined Sashenka and ran an extensive array of blood and urine tests, X-rays and ultrasound examinations. We saw her 15 times in about three weeks. All testing was basically normal. We tried different medications and she stayed in the hospital on IV fluids but we couldn’t get a of handle on her diagnosis and there was no improvement at home. Her owner saw a different Sashenka than the cat we saw at the clinic. We consulted the services of Feline consultants and specialists but she was deteriorating quickly, having difficulty eating and appeared dull and not responsive to her owners at times. Steroid injections showed improvement but her bizarre behaviours did wax and wane with her worse clinical symptom being close to comatosed. We decided to CT Sashenka to find out what was really going on. We offer MRI (Forte Health) and CT (Pacific Radiology at Lincoln) at McMaster & Heap. The patients are sedated and the images taken from very fancy expensive computors. It’s painless for the pet and can give us many answers that other means of testing can’t deliver. The radiologist diagnosed Sashenka with a large intracranial brain lesion , most probably a meningioma. Other differentials included a glioma or astrocytoma. We consulted an experienced surgical team in Auckland who were keen to take over her case. After lengthy discussions with the owners it was decided to push forward with brain surgery, so Sashenka and her devoted owners headed to Auckland. Brain surgery isn’t a walk in the park and more tests had to be carried out on Sashenka. She was getting very used to needles now and thermometers?? She had an MRI before the surgery and a CT after the surgery to confirm position of the titanium screws used to secure her cranium back in place. She received a blood transfusion on the day of the surgery and had an oesophageal feeding tube placed so that we were able to supply her nutritionally post surgery, in case she didn’t feel like eating. Once the tumour was removed it measured 2.6cm x 3cm x 1.2cm - quite sizeable. She made an excellent recovery from her anaesthetic and stayed in the specialist hospital to be closely monitored for a few days. She had very specific discharge instructions including cage confinement for four weeks (an impossible requirement for Sashenka), physiotherapy on her back muscles and legs and medications including steroids, pain relief and antibiotics. Catherine has seen her recently and she appears to be doing really well - she even escaped her cage and was seen running up a tree - her favourite place to be, a birds eye view of life. Day 1 after the surgery. The tumour may grow back and Catherine is exploring chemotherapy options but for now Sashenka has her full, active life back again which is great news for everybody. She may pave the way in the future for other patients with brain tumours. Thank you to Sashenkas mum and dad for allowing me to write this article on her. Dr Michele McMaster News Petition presented to fight parking restrictions • By Georgia O’Connor- Harding RICCARTON residents have rallied together to fight plans to lose car parking on their street to make way for the weekly rubbish collection truck. A petition signed by 27 residents was presented to the Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board after it approved parking restrictions on part of Colligan St in December. It called for the city council to reconsider its plan to put no stopping lines on part of Colligan St from Monday to Friday 6am-6pm and instead only on rubbish days, due to the difficulty rubbish trucks have negotiating parked cars in the cul-de-sac. The board approved the parking restrictions at a meeting in December – prompting a backlash from residents. Since the petition was presented, city council transport operations manager Steffan Thomas told Western News a sign stating “rubbish collection FIGHT: Residents living in Colligan St have sent a petition to the Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board. days” only is not legally recognised in New Zealand. But he said staff are confident there will be a similar restriction which should meet resident’s concerns. The petition, presented by resident Janet Mansell, called the changes approved in December “excessive” given the purpose for the plan is to enable rubbish trucks to turn around more easily. It instead called for a notice to be placed on the fence adjacent to the holiday park requesting no parking on rubbish collection days from 6am-3pm as an appropriate solution Safer speed zones The speed limits on local roads in St Albans, Edgeware and Mairehau are changing to 40km/h on Friday 28 February. Main roads will stay 50km/h. For more information: ccc.govt.nz/stalbans for this problem. In her presentation to the board, Ms Mansell raised concerns many residents including herself weren’t notified. One of the key issues originally from city council staff was if the parking restrictions were only in place once a week – Thursday – it would be difficult to enforce. This was because rubbish collection day could sometimes change to the following day because of it falling on a public holiday. But Mrs Lee said a public holiday falling on a Thursday in the next 10 years will occur seven times – which was very low. 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
NOR’WEST NEWS Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz Tuesday February 18 2020 5 News Idle locomotive has family fuming • By Louis Day HAVING A locomotive’s engine running next to your house at the crack of dawn would be a nightmare for most people. For Saman Farahani, it is a harsh reality he and his family face up to three times a week. His home on Lowe St in Addington sits right next to the railway. Mr Farahani said over the past three months a train would occasionally stop between 6am and 6.30am and the locomotive’s engine would be idling outside the house. He said the combination of the noise and the shaking from the engine would wake up himself, his wife Sara and three-monthold daughter. He also said the smell of fumes fills up his house to the point where he cannot stop coughing. “First thing when I wake up, I cough because the house is full of the smell of gas,” he said. Mr Farahani said he was concerned for the health of his daughter. He said moving was not an option for him, with his tenancy contract at the property not running out until October. “The driver will stop outside UP CLOSE: Saman Farahani’s home will shake and fill up with fumes when a locomotive stops next to it. PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN the house and the whole house will start shaking and it will be so loud you won’t be able to sleep. “I’m just asking for a bit of respect.” Mr Farahani said he had pleaded with the driver on numerous occasions park the locomotive further along the Specializing in E-Cigarettes, Vaporizers and smoking essentials. We have the highest quality of E-Cigarettes and vaporizers for both beginners and advanced vapers. railway line where there are no houses, but was ignored. KiwiRail acting South Island general manager of operations Mark Heissenbuttel said it apologised for the disturbance and was investigating how to solve the issue as quickly as possible. “KiwiRail endeavours to be a good neighbour to those who live alongside the rail corridor,” he said. “Occasionally residents raise issues like this with us and wherever possible we try to adjust our operations to remove the nuisance.” Coach pleased with commitment •From page 1 The school’s rowing manager Ricardo De Sousa said he’s been blown away by the team’s commitment to the record-breaking achievement. “The boys have been absolutely incredible. We thought it would be a bit of a headache trying to get boys on the egg at silly hours of the morning. “It’s not the most fun thing to be on and the boys tend to shy away from it, but they wanted to do it for Ed,” said De Sousa. Senior rowers did shifts of 90min with some of the movies doing shifts between 30-45min. The team began the world record big on February 5 and had surpassed the previous world record by the following Sunday afternoon. Ed was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in July last year. After five months of successful chemotherapy, Ed was cleared to start physical activity again and hopes to row at the Maadi Cup regatta on Lake Ruataniwha near Twizel next month. The revolution in heat pumps is here now! 18B MAIN NORTH RD, PAPANUI | PH 354 6000 | WWW.SHOSHA.NZ The revolution in heat pumps is here now! Say hello to Fujitsu’s latest lifestyle range HEAT PUMPS FROM $1999 inc GST INSTALLED! The Fujitsu e3series The brilliant heat pumps from Fujitsu e1 : efficiency e2 : environment e3 : economy Website: www.pshc.co.nz Finance available FREE consultation from your local Accredited Heat Pump Expert Phone today: 03 381 6950 INSERT DEALER DETAILS HERE NEW ZEALAND’S FAVOURITE AIR ® Conditions apply Fujitsu’s Catechin Filters are approved by the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ’s Sensitive Choice ® programme. Email: info@pshc.co.nz The government’s recent transport and infrastructure spending announcements, with Auckland getting $3.4 billion and Canterbury a miserly $159 million, has left many of our residents feeling angry and let down. That’s why so many people turned up for my Rally for Woodend last week to call on the government to include the Belfast to Pegasus Motorway, including the Woodend Bypass, in May’s Budget. Our motorway missed out on funding in these latest announcements, along with many other roading projects on South Island, but with around $4 billion still to be allocated, we need to make sure our voices are heard before Budget 2020 is announced in May. To reap the benefits of the Western Belfast Bypass and Northern Corridor, it is vital that the Belfast to Pegasus motorway goes ahead as planned under the National-led government. Many Northern Christchurch residents will sympathise with Woodend residents on how a bypass would divert heavy traffic volumes away from residents’ homes and schools. At the start of 2017, before the opening of the Western Belfast Bypass, I met with our Belfast community who were concerned about the speed and volume of vehicles passing the school. Residents of Darroch Street were finding it difficult to turn right onto Main North Road to get to shops and work because there weren’t sufficient gaps in the traffic. The Western Belfast Bypass has successfully diverted about 50 percent of traffic from Main North Road and the Northern Corridor, due to be open to traffic in a few months, will divert even more vehicles away from the school and residents’ homes. Pedestrians, cyclists, our students and the elderly will enjoy quieter roads and safer journeys.
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Nor'West News: February 18, 2020

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