Paying for Success
by Anonymous
“Until one has loved an animal,
a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”
-Anatole France
“Sam, I need you to hold her jaw steady while I pound these
wires into place to hold the break; can you do that?” Dr. Ellis’ voice was
controlled but shrill; it demanded my attention.
Hold for surgery? I was still in my khakis and freshly pressed,
navy blouse. Today was only supposed to be my introduction, my day
to test the waters, but my tour was interrupted halfway through due
to understaffing. The bright, bleached tiles of the treatment areas and
the gleam, from shining silver tools, still blinded me. The bitter stench
of disinfectants still lingered in my nose. An emergency case arrived: a
five-year-old Shih Tzu with a horizontally broken jaw. I stepped into the
blinding fluorescent operating room, and immediately, I smelled blood.
Could I handle this? I stepped up onto the surgical mat with a squeak of
objection from my best black penny-loafers. Could I see this procedure
up close and personal? I had to.
Dr. Ellis barked out directions to me, and I did my best to follow
along. She explained her every step to me and then explained the lower
jaw was broken completely in half. That, she told me, makes the angle,
at which she had to place the wires, very complicated, and less likely to
hold without wiring the jaw completely shut. My head whirled with the
images of unconscious dog attached to tubes, with a mouth full of shiny,
metal devices, lying on the bright blue surgery mat. The inside of the
mouth was marbled pink and black, and the tongue was a large pink flap
hanging limp out of the side. Once Dr. Ellis had determined the proper
placing for the wires, she began to pound them into place, near the lower
canine tooth, using a small silver mallet. The “tink-ing” aluminum sound
that it made was as unnerving as nails on a chalkboard and will forever
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