I pulled up to a very impressive house, down by the riverside, in Townsville. There was a mud covered four wheel drive ute in the driveway, showing signs of extensive and expensive modifications.
I called out… \”Hello?\”
No one answered at first, and then, just as I was turning to go back to the van and get my phone, a fellow wondered out, looking tired and worn.
\”G\’day mate,\” he said, rubbing his eyes. \”You must be the vet, eh? You\’ll have to excuse me, I had a big one last night, feeling just a bit ordinary this mornin\’. I was asleep, lucky I heard you.\”
He flopped on a chair, and lit up a ciggie, hands shaking just a little bit, eyes red, face tight and uncomfortable. A big dog wandered out from inside the house, a Bull Arab, must have weighed about 40kg, long and rangy. He came over, gave me one disinterested sniff, and flopped onto the cement with a thud.
\”What\’s up with him then?\” I asked.
\”He\’s got a swelling over his elbow, just came up this week. I was hoping you\’d be able to cut the bugger out for me,\” he replied.
\”I\’ll just have a look, and see what\’s going on…\”
I went over, and had a look at him. He was one of the most disinterested dogs I\’d ever examined, he just lay there and let me poke and prod him, didn\’t care in the least. His Left elbow had a big, soft, fluid filled swelling over the point of it, a bit like a golf ball sticking out. Otherwise, he was just fine, though a bit on the skinny side.
\”I think he\’s got what we call a \’hygroma\’,\” I explained. \”Does he lie a lot on the cement?\”
\”You know, he won\’t get on a bed, the silly bastard,\” His dad said. \”I\’ must have half a dozen bloody beds around the place for him, and I\’ve never, ever seen him get on one of them. Jeez my head feels off, today, I gotta tell you.\” He slumped down in his seat, a picture of suffering.
\”So the pressure of his weight on the hard cement is causing the problem. Surgery doesn\’t usually help much, if at all. I will get a needle and suck a bit of the fluid out, just to check. If it is a hygroma, there will be joint fluid in there.\”
He just nodded his head in agreement, so I went out to the car and got a syringe and needle. I came back, popped in the needle, and aspirated a bit of bloody fluid. I took the needle off the hub, and the fluid inside stretched out in a long strand. I showed this to him.
\”See how it\’s kind of stringy?\” I asked. \”It\’s definitely joint fluid.\” He went a bit pale as I showed him, and looked away. \”So his body has made an extra pocket to help cushion the bone from the hard cement. If I drain it, it will probably just come back, so there\’s not a lot we can do about it, and I wouldn\’t consider surgery unless he gets lame on it.\”
\”It doesn\’t seem to worry him, really.\” He said, after a long dazed moment. I could see the gears of his brain crunching slowly to life, then grinding to a halt.
\”OK then – give me a call if he gets lame then,\” I said.
\”OK, I will,\” he said.