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Show Wednesday, February 26, 2003 Vernal Express Critter Corner SDnelbys By Chad McGuire, DVM I love being a veterinarian. I count myself a very lucky man that way, but sometimes this job sucks. It costs members of our household five cents when we say sucks. I do not know how much it is going to cost me for writing it in a newspaper article but it describes perfectly how I felt last week. Being a veterinarian can have great highs but it also has some pretty low lows at times. Especially when bad things happen to good people and good animals. But the really tough times come when you think you have won the battle but then you lose the war. You may have read the last article about Shelby the Saint Bernard that we did surgery on. That surgery actually happened several weeks ago. Due to technical difficulties well within my control I did not get the article in on time. It does help to have the pages right side up when you fax them. Right after the surgery Shelby did well. We sent her home one day after surgery. I was not in the office that day but I found out at the clinic sledding party she had done very well. She was able to eat for the first time in a week without vomiting. She acted better; she even wanted to play some. It was a professional high, hearing how well she was doing after a very involved procedure. Her owners were thrilled to have their old dog back on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, by day four Shelbys owners noticed that she was not back to normal. She ate only little bits of food which was not her typical dining habit. She was also lying around much more than usual. We knew Shelby had an infection going on in her abdomen at the time of surgery. We had flushed her abdomen with lots of fluids and antibiotics prior to closing the incision. A white blood cell count on. day five indicated that there was still a very severe infection going on in Shelby. We switched to a more potent antibiotic hoping we could control the infection better. For a few days it looked like we were getting ahead of the infection. The white blood cell count was coming down and Shelby was eating a littie better We did not see Shelby for a few days but when her owners brought her back in for a check up it was obvious something was seriously wrong. She was thinner than before but she was still the same weight. Shelby was retaining fluid in her abdomen and that was where the pounds were coming from. We did an abdominal tap to see what the fluid looked like. It had indications of a very active infection going on in her belly. Shelby was very dehydrated and weak. Thats when we hooked her up to an IV and began running fluids into her. We also of her chest to see if took an ireym perhaps the fluid might be the result of a bad heart. There were indications that her heart might be failing along with everything else that was going wrong. We asked Shelbys owners if we could go back in and do another surgery to see if there was a way to get the infection under control. These are good people and great owners; they wanted to do the best for Shelby. We also wanted to find out what was wrong so we offered to do the surgery for free. We quickly found out that she did have an infection going in her abdomen, but it did not seem to be severe. When we did find the source of the problem our hearts sank because there was nothing that could be done to help Shelby. Du rg the previous surgery when we removed the mass on her left ovary we also noticed some other smaller masses on parts of her intestines and attached to the ligament that holds the uterus. We were able to remove them. I hoped that perhaps they were being stimulated by hormones coming from the enlarged ovary. Consequently, when we removed the source of the hormones the masses that were too small to see at the time would shrink down and eventually go away. It is a good thing to hope. I cannot imagine doing this job without having some hope but every now and then it hurts to hope. Shelby was one of those cases. There was another mass every bit as big as the first one. This mass was firmly attached to the stomach, pancreas and part of the aorta. It was obvious that there was no way to remove it from those vital structures without more pain and discomfort to Shelby. She would die somewhere in the process of removal. We closed her back up and called Shelbys owners and explained the situation. I am so grateful that I have never had to make that decision with any of my own pets. I am not sure I would have the courage to do the right thing. Fortunately, Shelbys family had the courage not to let her suffer anymore and we quietly put her to sleep before she woke up completely from anesthe- Speed advisory signs - by Senior Trooper Jack Peterson I have been asked repeatedly if advisory signs that are on the sides of the roadway are speed limits. These signs are the ones that usually are attached to the large diamond shaped signs and are square. They advise a particular speed that the Department of Transportation has determined to be safer in that area. We see them usually at curves where a reduced speed would be appropriate. The question regarding whether or not they are a speed limit is simple. No, they are not. They are warning signs. They teach in Drivers Education classes that the different signs that advise of problems in the area and how to safely negotiate the area to avoid the problems, are warning signs. What we can infer from warning signs with advisory speeds attached is that if we travel at the indicated speed, we are less likely to have problems. How does that relate to traffic law? Well, if you go around a curve at 65 mph where the advisory speed is 55 mph, a police officer may issue a citation for driving too fast for the conditions. You have been advised that slowing to 55 mph would be a prudent action. When you fail to do that, then you may be responsible for what happens. This is the difference between a regulatory sign and a warning sign. One informs a driver of a legal regulation in an area. The other advises of things that you should consider in order to travel safely in an area. A warning sign can warn of many different potential problems on the road; such as a curve ahead, deer migratory areas, slippery when wet, and many other conditions. When a driver fails to consider or take action to account for a specific problem, then they may be in violation of the law because the law requires them to be aware and duve safely as road conditions and weather conditions dictate. Another example of this might be when, in inclement weather conditions, a driver cannot control their vehicle because it is traveling too fast for the conditions and it slides off of the road. They may have traveled that same road several times without problems in normal weather, but when they fail to account for adverse weather in their driving and crash a vehicle, then they become responsible for the crash. A regulatory sign clearly indicates what the law requires a driver to do. They are square and white. They also inform of many different regulations, from the speed limit to stay right except to pass. Unlike warning signs, these reflect the law for that particular area and when a driver violates the regulation, they are in violation of the law. This does not have anything to do with whether they feel they are traveling safely or not. The law is a standard and we are all expected to adhere to it when driving. Usually this is because of the rule of commonality. When we are aware of what the rules are, we have a better idea of what to expect from other drivers we share the roads with. When a driver diverges from what is expected of them, they may cause other drivers problems. The idea is that if we cause fewer problems, we will have fewer crashes. A1 1 Horse owners advised to protect disease against West Nile Nile Virus was of Utah The Department Agriculture and Food (UDAF) is recommending that horse owners in Utah vaccinate their animals before the onset of the mosquito season to protect them from the West Nile Virus. The UDAF has printed a new and updated West Nile Virus (WNV) information brochure that is being mailed out to equine veterinarians. That brochure is also available on the UDAF web site at: www.ag utah.gov. West Nile Virus will most assuredly come to Utah this year and we want our horse owners to be prepared for that event, said Dr. Mike Marshal, Animal Industry director, and State Veterinarian. Our horses are very dear and valuable to us, and we are taking the steps necessary to help protect the animals, he added. West recently detected in Idaho, and horse owners are advised to contact their local veterinarian and have two shots administered to their animals over a three to five week period. West Nile Virus was diagnosed in more than 14,000 horses across the country last year and 20 to 30 percent of those died. Very few of those horses had received the vaccine, followed by a bexister three to five weeks later. WNV was recently detected in Idaho. The UDAF has been participating with the Utah Department of Division of Health, USDA-APHIWildlife Resources, and the Utah Mosquito Abatement Association for the past three years to alert vetand the erinarians, S, horse-owner- s, public concerning WNV. Eight prosecuted for unemployment fraud During the month of January 2003, the Department of Workforce Services (DWS) successfully prosecuted eight individuals for fraud in connection with their unemployment insurance (UI) claims. The former claimants, seven men and one woman, pleaded guilty to second and third degree felonies in district courts throughout the state. These defendants are requited to pay DWS in excess of $87,000 in overpayments and penalties, said Vince Iturbe, manager of Benefit Payment Control. The statutory penalties for UI fraud can double the amount actually received in benefits. In addition, sentences handed down included jail time, community service, court and attorney fees. Some of the defendants immediate ly made partial payments on their debt. We currently have 57 additional cases pending in courts throughout in states. other and Utah and court preparations Investigation continue every day. In the last several years, our methods of fraud detection have become increasingly sophisticated, said Iturbe. The funds that pay tor unemployment insurance benefits come from a tax on Utahs employers. These prosecutions are evidence of our commitment to the proper payment of benefits. Doing so protects the UI trust fund for employers and ensures that money is available to pay benefits to workers who are both eligible and honest. stated Christopher Love, UI director. sia. everybody; day ' for was sad, the office family Shelbys was sad and I had to tell a 1 girl whom I love deeply that the dog she helped to save a few weeks before was never going home. Like I said this job can be tough at times. But I choose hope. I hope that I have the skills and knowledge to help my patients. I hope I have the ability to express my compassion to my patients families. I hope I can take away the pain my patients feel. And I still hope that 1 can help them all get better. But most of all I hope I never lose hope because if that happens there will never be the highs that make this profession one of the best in the world. 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