Pegasus Post: April 13, 2023

4 Thursday April 13 2023
LUCKY ARROW…
Arrow, a 3 year old
Whippet is one lucky
dog. Whilst galavanting
out with his mate on a
Saturday, he dived into a
pile of rubbish and came
out with a huge rod of
bamboo sticking out of
his sternal area.
He was rushed to
McMaster & Heap and
on arrival Arrow seemed
quite bizarrely chilled out,
with no visible blood.
The nurses tried to get
hold of Steve and myself but we were deep into a 56km bike ride
to Godley Heads and back, so we didn’t hear our phones.
Luckily for Arrow, our surgeon Kirsty was in CHCH so she flew to the clinic to
assess the situation and remove the obvious foreign body.
Kirsty quickly assessed the scene in the car, made sure Arrow was stable before
moving him into our treatment area. Kirsty was worried the bamboo had
penetrated Arrows chest cavity, compromising ventilation and cardiac output.
Arrow was immediately placed on intravenous fluids, given pain medications,
blood work and radiographs performed to assess the extent of the damage.
Miraculously the 20cm rod of bamboo had not gone into the chest cavity ( no
pneumothorax), rather it had entered through the ventral chest, headed up
under the arm but not made its exit point.
Arrow was carefully anaesthetised and the bamboo was gently removed in
many sections, as it would have been dangerous to just yank it out. It was
attached to the subcuticular tissues and we didn’t want a massive bleed. The
area was thoroughly flushed and all the small fragments of bamboo removed.
A large grenade drain was placed to safely allow drainage of inflammatory fluid
and blood.
Arrow spent Saturday night at the CHCH Afterhours clinic where his ongoing care
and medications continued throughout the night. He was discharged the next
day and is doing so well.
This case highlights that McMaster & Heap are all about teamwork, great
communication and our patients coming first. Our two Saturday scheduled vets
were fully booked with consultations until 3pm so Arrows surgery would have
been delayed, possibly with consequences.
Dr Kirsty didn’t hesitate to stop what she was doing and race to work to take care
of Arrow.
Steve and I are so proud of our team - they all care so much about their patients
and their colleagues, going that extra mile, which in Arrows case was required.
Ironic really that Arrow had impaled a length of bamboo, in actual fact similar to
an “arrowhead”.
Dr Michele McMaster BVSc
TRAPPED: Heidi Oudeman has put up with flooding outside her home on
Tenby Pl for more than a decade.
PHOTO: NZ HERALD
Some flooding
impossible to fix
•From page 1
For over a decade,
Oudemans has watched
floodwaters rise outside
her Avondale home and
trap her and residents of 40
other homes on her street,
potentially for days on end.
It happens every single
time it rains, and the locals
have had enough.
Oudemans told city
councillors it doesn’t take a
large weather event for the
street to flood, with only
a couple of hours of rain
leading to days of waiting
for the water to drain away.
A resident on Newport
St said the floodwaters can
be “quite confronting” and
was worried about sinkholes
and other hazards.
“We just want to turn our
pond back to pavement,”
the resident said.
Oudemans also expressed
concerns about
long-term damage to
house footings. Mayor Phil
Mauger is no stranger to
working in flooded areas,
having taken matters into
his own hands and digging
out a trench in Bexley red
zone in 2020, following
which the city council
voted to prioritise works
in the area to address the
problem.
Mauger visited the flood
affected area around Tenby
Place and Newport St
during heavy rain. He told
residents he thought the
problem was to do with
a drain outlet at Porritt
Park not draining quickly
enough. He said the city
council will get a report
done and come back to the
residents.
The city council report
tabled at the meeting
said there may never be a
complete fix for some areas
that regularly flood.
The report intended to
present a wider view of
stormwater management
that will enable more
informed decisions to
be made. Mauger also
questioned city council
staff whether enough
material was being
removed from rivers and
whether more common
dredging could be an
option, something he said
was a common occurrence
pre-earthquake.
Council staff responded
by saying dredging is not
a simple process and that
multiple factors had to be
considered including bank
stability.
The city council decided
to develop a prioritised list
of works, but staff warned
the scale of the task limited
the city council’s ability to
address all areas at pace
and significant time would
be needed to complete all
the work.
FED UP: Tenby
Pl and Newport
St residents,
including Heidi
Oudemans
(middle),
presented their
concerns to city
councillors at a
meeting last week.
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