Saturday 29 June 2013

Sunday Stitches

Jam was happy to have breakfast (NatureZone beardie bites and butterworms), but grumped from the moment she got in the basket. We got to the vets, and she immediately cheered up again.

She's let me know that the stitches are a little bit sore this morning - but that's okay, that's what we are at the vets for; it is time for the next antibiotic and anti-inflammation shot.

Rob the Sunday vet is impressed, and she was good whilst she had her shots. She fibbed to me and told me it was her tail that hurt when we put her back in the basket. Made the nurse laugh, and call her a little liar - they didn't go anywhere near her tail. Jam grinned. Nurse says Jam's such a happy little lizard, it is always nice to see her. :D?

We will be back again on Wednesday, hopefully for the last shots, then she's back in just over five weeks to have the stitches removed. Yes, that's a lot longer than mammals (reptile skin heals slower than human skin - but it is much tougher); it's explained quite well in this really interesting article on reptile skin from a vets perspective: http://www.anapsid.org/basicdermatology.html

I may enquire about oral meds, just in case she does still hurt after Wednesday's meds wear off.

Monday:
Point of interest - my teenytiny rescued Mocha has laid two batches since the start of this article. I don't know why, but Mocha is an egg machine, despite her tiny size. She NEVER has any problems. Jam's much bigger than she is, and always had trouble. Go figure!

Wednesday 26 June 2013

Staples... (Well, clips, actually.)

Michael the vet was most amused when he heard about her tall-tails! (Get it, tall-tales? Fibs? Hehehehe.) It was almost as funny as Jacques' epic bedflop - pictured.

He confirmed that her injections had been via her forearms and definitely NOT her tail! She'd put up a bit of a fight this time - not that she'd stooped to biting, that'd be below her, but she grumped at him and wouldn't give him her hand. Understandably, as far as I'm concerned. She's had the last round of subcutaneous antibiotics, and didn't need any more anti-inflammatories.

She's continuing to do really well; she's put on a good 20 grams since surgery, all of her very own, as she no longer has eggs to fuel. She's also sitting properly despite the big row of stitches under her belly, and it's only the middle ones that are a little sore now.

It turns out that she has either 35 or 38 titanium clips inside her in total - there were a lot of vessels to close off. He also showed me the pics through surgery and has promised to email me them when he gets chance; they're really quite shocking!

She had bad abrasion sites and lesions from previous bindings (which we already knew) and had several failed follicles that had actually started rotting - she could well have succumbed to septicaemia had we not intervened. Other follicles were abnormal and both ovaries were in full production, which is quite unusual.

I'll be attaching pics once he's got round to sending them - he's confirmed that I have medical privacy consent over the images, and he's happy for them to be distributed online for educational purposes. "They're yours, so, you know!"

We're back in five weeks to have the stitches removed - I'll keep everyone updated of anything interesting in the meanwhile.

Monday 24 June 2013

Shots...

Jam was happy to have breakfast (NatureZone beardie bites and butterworms), but grumped from the moment she got in the basket. We got to the vets, and she immediately cheered up again.

She's let me know that the stitches are a little bit sore this morning - but that's okay, that's what we are at the vets for; it is time for the next antibiotic and anti-inflammation shot.

Rob the Sunday vet is impressed, and she was good whilst she had her shots. She fibbed to me and told me it was her tail that hurt when we put her back in the basket. Made the nurse laugh, and call her a little liar - they didn't go anywhere near her tail. Jam grinned. Nurse says Jam's such a happy little lizard, it is always nice to see her. :D?

We will be back again on Wednesday, hopefully for the last shots, then she's back in just over five weeks to have the stitches removed. Yes, that's a lot longer than mammals (reptile skin heals slower than human skin - but it is much tougher); it's explained quite well in this really interesting article on reptile skin from a vets perspective: http://www.anapsid.org/basicdermatology.html

I may enquire about oral meds, just in case she does still hurt after Wednesday's meds wear off.

Point of interest - my teenytiny rescued Mocha has laid two batches since the start of this article. I don't know why, but Mocha is an egg machine, despite her tiny size. She NEVER has any problems. Jam's much bigger than she is, and always had trouble. Go figure!

Sunday 23 June 2013

Shocking!

Gently fished Jam out from under her bed and parked her under the heat lamp. She hit about 31C and realised she was a little hungry. Omnomnomcrunchcrunchcruch.

I'll make sure she has a little more water today to offset the usage for protein. I sense she will be demanding many locusts over the next few days.

It appears she is unaware of her lack of reproductive ability, as she has been flirting outrageously with the boys gawping from their tanks. She has been having a good walk around and remembering not to run, even with free range dinner available. (Her appetite is still good, despite her first round of painkillers wearing off.)

Rich remembered some more information - she's actually had her entire uterus out, as there were many compressed, old and failed eggs throughout her system. That does explain the higher risk rate Michael the vet has been going on about! She's also a titanium reinforced dragon - he used titanium clips to tidy off blood vessels and such. Fascinating stuff!

Before surgery:539g
After: 440g
She lost a fifth of her body weight.

Saturday 22 June 2013

Stories...

Jam's got up by herself for a potter around. She's watching TV apparently.



And she has given her new gift a good licking. Yes, I got her a book. Recovery from surgery is long and boring if you don't have a good book to read. Well, if you don't have letters on paper to lick. (She likes licking words in my books - now she has one of her own to lick.)


It is a lovely compilation of stories by Katherine Mansfield, and is the absolute perfect size for her set of shelves. My newsagent found it in his backlog storage up in his attic; he was amused when I told him who I was buying it for and mentioned that he reckons he might well have other miniature books up there. He's going to have a look for me tomorrow and let me know.

Friday 21 June 2013

Stitches...

Vet says she's up and about, surprisingly cheerful, and to his astonishment has even had breakfast. I laughed. Of course she would have had breakfast - it takes more than opening her abdomen and removing large chunks from her insides to put her off her food.

Plus they've given her an anti-inflammation shot, which will take the worst off the pain. We have an appt on Sunday for another dose as well as another round of antibiotics.


11:00 GMT

Rich picked her up - she was still a little dozy and out of it, but happy nonetheless. It takes a lot to knock our Jam.

19:15 GMT
I've got home and am keeping a close eye on her - she's very tired, poor chickadee. Well, I'm not surprised, considering what she went through!

The vet is still being cautious - dragons with Jam's condition and such a large number of active follicles have a 50/50 chance of recovery. That's what he's said all along - but she's a tough little lizard. I have every confidence in her. She's got through the worst of it - she just needs to overcome the shock to her system and rest up. She's come through surgery and anesthetic, but she has a way to go yet he says. Rumour has it that Michael the Vet also took photos throughout the process - I'm hoping to snaffle some off him, as I'm sure they'll be fascinating.

The vet has told us it was absolutely the right thing for her. The egg binding problems and overproduction has a much higher death risk - it would simply be a matter of time.

She took herself back off to bed, having taken a butterworm as a quick snack; she didn't feel up to two, so has gone to sleep. She opened an eye and gave me a funny look when I put her log hut back in. I've coated it with black cotton so there's no sharp bits to snag her stitches on.

As I mentioned, she's due back on Sunday and Wednesday for booster meds, and a return trip in six weeks to remove the stitches.

20:00 GMT
Well, Jam was oblivious to the delivery unboxing (my lovely neighbour took 'em in, bless him. I owe him a cuppa) - unlike the rest of the dragons, whom promptly went insane having recognised the big white container I put the locusts in for storage.

However, I grabbed a good big one, and pointed it under her bed. Gave it a gentle nudge... suddenly there was a noise: shuffle ... shuffle shuffle ... CRUNCHCRUNCHCRUNCH!

Three more juicy fat locusts rapidly went in the same direction in the gloom under the maple posted bed.

I'd say that was a good sign!

Thursday 20 June 2013

Surgery...

She was taking her time waking up from the anaesthetic, but she's breathing on her own and has come through the surgery as well as expected. Michael (my vet) was a little concerned at her slow rousing, until I pointed out that she does like to sleep - it usually takes her an hour in the morning to realise the light is on and get up. (Random picture of her sleeping.)

He said that the level of follicles that were active was certainly abnormal - most of her abdomen was filled with developing infertile eggs, as both ovaries were in full production. He was a little worried about her prognosis due to this (it often complicates surgery and makes the recovery harder due to physical shock) - however I pointed out that this is also pretty normal for her, and she makes a rapid recovery after laying once the antibiotics kick in. She's also quick to eat once any infection is dealt with too.

He was actually a bit shocked by the sheer number of eggs. I took no joy in saying "I told you so". Well, maybe a little.

He also said that prior to surgery, she'd put on 100 grams since she was last in for her emergency treatment, however he's going to weigh her later to see how much of it was eggs.

As far as I'm concerned, weighing her was never a good guide for her health for exactly this reason. She recovered most of her headfat and bulked up her tail, so I'm happy she's in reasonable physical condition. As expected, she's staying in overnight for observation - I'll be calling in the morning to see how she's doing. It's most likely she'll be coming home tomorrow afternoon.

Jam had insanely active ovaries. Vet Michael says surgery was absolutely the right option, especially as she has had binding previously and repeated infections after laying.