Cut

We wander to get some ice cream for dessert (D has some Maldon Salt we're going to put on top) and run acrosss B in the barn who is working with the vet to prep the cow for surgery. We're invited to watch it if we want, which of course we do.

One of the cow's stomachs has become bloated, risen, and gotten twisted up, which is a reasonably common problem. In fact, the vet says it is 99% of the surgeries she performs. The farmer knows this has occurred because the cow stops eating.

This one has occurred on the right side, which is much more rare and dangerous. She's going to make a cut, reach in her arm and actually untwist the stomach. Once this kind of thing happens to a cow, it can much more easily happen again, so the stomach will be sewed to the muscle. There are two layers of muscles being cut through, the the process is:

1. Cut
2. Untwist
3. Stitch stomach to muscle
4. Stitch shut inner muscle
5. Stitch shut outer muscle
6. Stich shut skin.

In the end, the cow just looks like it has been zipped up.

The amazing thing is that there is a local anaesthetic, but the cow remains awake and standing for the entire thing. The cow took a bit too much anaesthetic and started to fall asleep, so the vet had to pat her on the rump to wake her up.

Performing surgery on a cow and in a barn is really different than anything you ususally think about medicine. For one, there are very few things WORTH operating on a cow for. Cows are livestock, and if the cost of operating would exceed the potential value of the cow, it just isn't worth doing (just this type and some birth related operations). Most medical problems that can't be easily treated are just not done.

Also, barns are not exactly sterile. Being "mostly" sterile is more than enough for this kind of work, and in addition to generous amounts of antibacterial wash poured over the cow, the vet wears a giant plastic glove that goes up to her armits for reaching in.

There are also lots of beams and posts and gates in a barn that are difficult to work around. And cows are really big. When you've got your arm in their side and they decide to move, it looks very frightening.

The wee one watches the whole thing with us and there's nothing unusual or gross to her (or to us for that matter, since it is very not gross at all). She mentions that the vet will probably have to wash her hands after doing the surgery, since they will be dirty. She also wonders if the vet can come by her house and sew up a hole in her blanket that she is certain was put there by some animal with a very sharp tooth.

Very cool to see. Time for ice cream and then bed.

You can see M's take and photos on the surgery here.