The 30th day of the sixth month already

The Mis-adventures of Missy

Or

Missy’s corn allergy

Or

Also entitled “The $2000 Ear of Corn”

This was written by my better half, Sheri.

Here’s another chapter in the adventures of Missy – a contender in the Guinness Book of Records for the world’s most expensive free dog ----

Tuesday night Missy snatched a half an ear of corn on the cob from my hand and inhaled it. I called the vet minutes later, who confirmed that a dog of her size (33 pounds) could not possibly digest or pass a 4 inch piece of corn on the cob; there would be a high probability that it could get stuck in her esophagus if she barfed or a high probability it could block her small intestine if it left her stomach the other way. Both potentially fatal. So, we set off to the Emergency Vet clinic.  (A place you don't want to go without first applying for a second mortgage).

They x-rayed her there to make sure it wasn’t stuck in her esophagus. They outlined two options, an endoscopy where the cob could be taken out back through her throat in a controlled manner, the least invasive – or if it couldn’t be retrieved, surgery to remove it from the stomach. They called in a surgeon, Dr. Feder, who got there in 20 minutes. He looked at the x-ray and said that he couldn’t do an endoscopy then because she had other food in her stomach and there was too much danger she could aspirate that food during the procedure. Said could try again in the morning after she had time to digest the other food.  (Now, Dr. Feder is one of those persons you wish you had as a personal doctor.  Caring, kept us completely in the loop, and while expensive did not screw us the way one would suspect in this day and age.  A fine, fine doctor with a human heart)

He went in with the endoscope Wed morning, but there was still too much food in her tummy and he couldn’t find the corn. He went down into her small intestine and verified that the corn cob wasn’t blocking the intestine yet. They brought her out of anesthesia to let her tummy work on the food some more. He went back in with the endoscope Wed afternoon, found the corn, discovered it was actually in two (2-inch) pieces (so Missy had managed to chomp it in half before inhaling it). He spent over two hours trying to get a grip on the corn pieces and pull them out - and said he was just about to give up when he got the first piece out, and then the second. Said it was one of the most technically difficult procedures he had ever done.

They kept her for another day on pain medicine to recover from the procedure, and then to make sure she could eat normally before they released her to my “care.” She has to be on soft food for a few days and “then back to a normal diet (dog food only)” [I’m quoting directly from the vet’s release form].

She’s back home again now, sleeping it off in her bed.

Poor Miss, she’d have a good life if she just didn’t have parents that tried to kill her off. Aunt Pat and Uncle Dick almost finished her with Hardee’s hamburgers (pancreatitus). Then Aunt Pat broke her leg with the recliner. Then Uncle Dick ran her on the golf course after they’d sprayed it with herbicide and poisoned her. Then Skip let her out to storm chase during one of the worst lightning storms ever. (She actually barged through a partially open door....in my own defense).  Then I feed her a corn cob.