spay complications

[Stacy]

I just had one of the worst mornings ever.  So I’m going to tell you my story because I know you will understand. With the disclaimer that this was a freak thing that will probably never happen to anyone else.  And that it might be a little gross.

 

The timeline of events goes like this:

 

Wed. 10/12 Ava was spayed

 

Sunday night 10/16 I noticed some drainage from her incision and her vagina.

 

Monday 10/17 we went to the vet and they said she had a fluid collection under her incision and it would be fine. They gave her some steroids and antibiotics and told me to try to express the drainage. The vaginal drainage they attributed to her possibly being in heat recently prior to being spayed.  Now, I hadn’t seen any signs of her being in heat or that she had been in heat – but they’re the vet. I noted that the drainage looked the same as what was coming out of her incision, but they didn’t seem concerned.

 

Thursday 10/20 I woke up and noted a small amount of frank blood coming from her vagina. So we went back to the vet. My vet wasn’t there but the other vet in the practice examined her and thought she would be okay. Gave her more steroids and antibiotics. He didn’t really give me a good explanation of what was going on. I was afraid she was hemorrhaging internally, but he kind of poo-poo’d me and sent me home. My fear was that she needed more surgery, so I was happy to accept that they didn’t think she did. My gut told me that something was still wrong. And I should have listened to it. (Let that be a lesson, always listen to your gut) But when the vet says what you hope they will say it’s hard to argue with that. He kept mumbling about her being an older dog. I was thinking she’s 6. It’s not like she’s 13. But still. He said what I wanted to hear, so I heard it.

 

Friday 10/21 at 3:30 in the morning I woke up, I think because Ava was licking herself. She was still wearing the cone, so she couldn’t reach her incision but she could reach her vaginal area.

 

And that’s when my nightmare really begins. She was hemorrhaging. And I’m not talking about a little blood. There was blood and golf ball sized clots. She was actively bleeding everywhere. I threw on some clothes and we went racing to the emergency vet. I got pulled over right before I pulled into the parking lot, but bless the heart of the nice policeman, when I asked him to give me the ticket fast because my dog was bleeding, he shined his light into the back seat and escorted me into the vets office. Later I heard that he looked a little green in the lobby – there was a lot of blood. But my hands were shaking too hard for me to notice.

 

They called the surgeon in from home and they did exploratory surgery. When he came out he told me that both ligatures had slipped off the uterine body. The uterine body had sealed itself to the top of the urinary bladder and that’s why it’s been a slow leak until this morning when everything kind of burst loose. I won’t keep you all in suspense, they think she will make a full recovery. But they’re keeping her there until tomorrow. He also said there was still a collection of fluid under her incision line and that tissue didn’t look viable so they excised that and she got a bit of a tummy tuck.

 

The estimated vet bill for my “free” sort-of-rescue is about $4000. But she is so worth it. I love that girl so much. I don’t know what I would do without her. I just wish that she hadn’t had to go through so much with this. And I would be lying if I said that the cost didn’t hurt me just a little too.

 

Now I feel really torn. I’m in health care, so I get it. No surgery is completely without risks. But what on earth happened here that everything went so wrong? And when I took her back twice with concerns how did it still get missed? I’ve been using the same vet since 2005 and this is the first time I’ve had a problem, but it’s a pretty big problem. Do I need to change vets? And not only that, I’m angry at myself. I should have pushed harder. I knew something was wrong, but I let them tell me what I wanted to hear even though I didn’t really believe them. If we had done something yesterday then maybe it wouldn’t have gotten to that critical point.

 

And I’m sure they will never read this, but I just want to give a shout out to VCA Mission Animal Referral and Emergency Center and Dr. Hazenfield. They were amazing. Wonderful, kind, compassionate. I’ve been there on several occasions for several different things over the years and they are where you want to be when you have an emergency.

 

And now I am going to try to clean up the crime scene in my car. Seriously. CSI worthy!

 

Squish all of your healthy doodles tight this morning

Stacy

[Stacy]

Thank you! And I will update if I hear anything. A new vet is definitely in my future.

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Stacy ~ I just read your heart-wrenching story.  I am so sorry you and Ava had to experience all of this.  You mentioned you were thrilled with the emergency vet.  Have you checked to see if they also see clients for regular care.  Our ER here does. Just a suggestion since you are looking for a new vet. Good luck and I hope Ava is on her way to a speedy recovery.

I would definitely be calling the vet that botched this all up and request they reimburse you.

[Stacy]

Linda - I feel like the emergency vet here only does emergencies and specialties. But I will definitely ask when I pick Ava up. They are the go to place for orthopedic stuff, eye stuff, all the specialized stuff. It would be great if they could be our primary. 

The strange thing about all of this is that as upset as I am about Ava and what has happened, I feel a strange loss about the vet too. They've been my vet for so long. I feel sort of lost without a vet!

[Amy and Annabelle]

I am so sorry Ava and you had to go through this. I am glad she is on the road to recovery. I think your vet really dropped the ball, and I don't see how you could ever put your complete trust in them again. Ava and Katie both are lucky to have such a loving and caring mama. Don't beat yourself up over this, you had 2 vets tell you it was nothing. I also think your vet should foot at least part of the emergency vet bill. Because thanks to their incompetency, that is where you had to take her. Just breathe and count your blessings that you still have both of your girls...now for that wine. It has to be 5pm somewhere.

[Stacy]

Thank you so much! I'm still stuck on the "she's an older dog" thing. I'm not sure if that means her life isn't as valuable as a puppys or if that was going to somehow make the bleeding stop (not) or if he just didn't want to mess with it. I'm angry, hurt, betrayed. So many emotions. Sadly I'm completely nonconfrontational and my default is to just quietly fire them and find a new vet. I would love to be able to call and demand they pay the ER vet fee, but I know myself and I'll never do that. Ideally they would care enough when they hear about it to contact me and at least say they're sorry. But I haven't heard from them yet. 

Wine! Yes, please!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think it's a good thing that the vet who is treating her now is going to notify your vet of what happened. The response will help you decide what to do moving forward. A sincere apology and an admission of having made a mistake (or at least some type of explanation) would go a long way with me in determining whether or not to give the current vet a second chance. 

As far as Ava's being "an older dog", know that spaying a 6 year old dog is not at all unusual. Purebred champions are usually not bred until they are at least 3 years old and have earned their titles, so a 5 or 6 year old female who is still being bred is not at all uncommon, and once they are retired, they are always, always spayed. 

[Stacy]

You're totally right Karen - I think that sometimes people have expectations that are too high of their Doctors. They are just people and one bad outcome does not make a bad doctor. I wish I knew, but probably never will, exactly what went wrong. This was not his first operation, and I'm sure that most of them are free of complications. He spayed Katie and she did totally fine. And to be fair to him, the first time I went back we went with the conservative diagnosis. And he told me to come back if anything changed. If he had been there yesterday he may have wanted to take her right back to the OR. But as I was just saying in another post, I think that I'm glad that the surgeon who did the reapir was the one who did it. 

The doctor I saw yesterday was an older doctor (speaking of older dogs!) and I have seen him for things on occasion, but not for a long time. And I'm wondering if it's maybe time for him to retire. He asked the tech who was with him the same question 3 or 4 times in the few minutes that I was there. He just seemed kind of "off." And in hindsight I wish that I had done something differently, I'm not sure exactly what, but that's water under the bridge. She's going to be okay and that's really what matters. 

And I agree! She's definitely not the only dog over 6 months to ever be spayed! And I resent the idea that she's old. She's in the prime of her life and I plan to have her around for a long long time.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I'm so sorry-what a horrible experience for both of you!  Be well sweet Ava!  Please keep us posted on her recovery.

[Stacy]

I will! I am trying not to be that owner who calls for an update every 5 minutes... It's a challenge! But I will let you all know after I check on her this afternoon.

[Lana, Lola and Luna]

OMG.... Poor Ava....I am so sorry Stacy... Crying now... We sure love our babies a lot and do anything and everything for them. Your regular vet is just a horrible person. It's does not matter if a dog 'old' or not. Thank God Ava has you. I am sure that she'll be alright and you guys have many more years together to share!

To Ava's speedy recovery!!!!!

Keep us posted please!

[Gail and Bailey]

Sending healing thought and hoping Ava has a fast uncomplicated recovery this time!  Thinking about you and waiting to hear updates.

[Stacy]

I just got off the phone with them. They said she's resting comfortably, no problems. Still on track to come home first thing in the morning. Yay!