Woody’s Bursectomy

     We were all in Green Bay to visit with Rex and Mary.  Jake’s dog Woody came along too.  He has been having trouble with a nasty lump on his elbow. Typically, when we all get together, we have some sort of bizarre activity like wood-cutting, or butchering a sheep, or cutting up a front quarter of beef.  Wierd, but fun. 

     Woody’s elbow lump has become our group entertainment.  He looks so calm here, like he is not worried at all.  That’s because Neil has already given him the anesthetic drug, called Ketamine.  In 5 minutes, he is ready for the prep.






     Neil does the positioning……….



…………….and the shaving………….



…….once shaved, you can see this lump is a monster, as big as a golf ball!







………..Photographer Mary put her finger in for size reference………….



Neil has another bizarre tradition, if you bring him a pet for some surgery (for the family “discount”) he makes you do it yourself!  So I get the scalpel……



Neil and I thought it was a cyst (sebaceaous) or a fatty lump (lipoma), but it was suspicious that it was fixed to his elbow………….



When it came down to the end, it was attached to his elbow bone (ulna, I think) and it would not come off without opening.  It contained some clear fluid, which means that this was an olecranon bursae.  In humans they swell up like this if they are bumped repeatedly or otherwise traumatized.  Sometimes they get infected, but this was not.  Often they can be treated medically, but not at this size. 


  
The closure was a bit of a problem.  I took off too much skin with the bursae.  I had to really reef on the remaining skin to get it to close…..



………….it closed, but this joint will be stiff for a while until the skin stretches out and he can bend it easier then.   He did well, post-op, and is up running around like always. He does favor his operated leg, however, a four-legged Chester from Gunsmoke.

By Uncle Hans