08 May 2011

On Call

My husband is studly. And amazingly intelligent. And a wonderful veterinarian. And a great cook. And so much more.

Last Sunday night Ryan was the on the on-call doc. So, when Farmer Allan called with an emergency, I asked if the whole family could go. The calf was sick enough (and prices are expensive enough) that Famer Allen decided to bring the calf right into the clinic.

After Farmer Allan carried the heifer calf into the clinic, Ryan immediately began his work. Below is a picture of Ryan setting an IV while Judah looked on with much curiosity.



Ryan didn't give this heifer a good chance of survival. She was very dehydrated. I think he said something like a 25% chance of survival. Not good odds.


As the guys discussed who knows what, we also watched the calf closely to see if she was still breathing.





And of course I have to throw in a picture of my cute little boy. He sat on the counter for a while watching and playing with Farmer Allan's pliers.




Eventually, after several liters of fluid, the heifer calf began to perk up. It was amazing to watch. And we were all thankful that she beat the odds. Here, the calf holds her own head up which is 100 % different than when she came in and Ryan was listening to her lungs maybe.




And before Farmer Allan headed out the door with his lively heifer calf, we got a picture with Bethany and her namesake. Since the calf is a heifer (female) and Bethany was the female kid running wild around the clinic, the calf was named after her. Thanks Allan, that was sweet of you and I'm so thankful you didn't name it after me :)




1 comment:

Ingrid said...

Cute :) What an interesting job!