Tag Archives: Writing

From Parmo to Tromsø

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This week, I had my first parmo. Eat like a local is something I feel like we should always aim for, or at least, when traveling, we should try local delicacies. (NB perhaps don’t try this in Thailand unless you want a burnt mouth). I haven’t yet tried the local delicacy in Dumfries, which along traditional Scottish carb on carb lines, is a tattie scone (potato scone) in a roll. I must correct that when I get back, but for now, while working in Middlesbrough, I have tried, and loved, their local traditional food, which is the parmo.

So what is a parmo? The one at the top of the page closely resembles that Scottish favourite, pizza and chips, does it not? That may be partly because, on the spur of the moment, I chose a pepperoni version. As a purist, I will return and try the original version, which is, in fact, a flattened, breaded chicken escalope with béchamel sauce, with melted cheese on top. It should, I understand, be served with a small side salad and garlic sauce, as well as the chips. I’m not surprised by its popularity because it was delicious. Something to look forward to when I return.

But for now, I am on holiday. On Thursday, after work (they let me get away early, thank goodness) I drove up to Central Scotland, to drop Triar off at Valerie’s house. Yesterday morning, I drove to Dumfries. Several weeks ago, I wrote that I was about to go to a ceilidh and had tried to pack everything for the next six weeks or so, which involved going from the ceilidh, to Mum and Dad’s, then on to Middlesbrough, then to Norway. I thought I’d got away with it, but earlier this week, Booking.com told me they were about to charge me for my hotel in Norway and I thought, “I’ll change that to my Norwegian credit card, to save any charges for currency exchange,” which is when I realised my Norwegian credit card was safely at home in a drawer. I’m glad I did find out, because having got some overpaid tax back, I actually have holiday money to spend. Not that I’m expecting to go out much, but if I want to buy anything, it makes things easier. Well assuming I can remember the PIN for a card I haven’t used for a year…

Hmmm… I seem to have rambled, but what I was saying was that yesterday morning, I drove to Dumfries, then in the afternoon, on to Settle, from where I will take a train today, to Manchester Airport and from there, hopefully will fly to Tromsø. I’m staying there overnight in the hotel attached to the hospital, then tomorrow morning, all being well, I shall take the fast boat to Finnsnes, where I will be met by Shirley and Kai for the last leg of my journey to Sørreisa. It’s all a bit exhausting, truth be told. It would have been more relaxing to stay in a hotel overnight near the airport and park in one of the long stays, but locumming isn’t as profitable as you might think (my last paycheck showed that I received less than half of what the practice payed for me, after fees and taxes) and not being 100% certain of ongoing work on my return (there’s no sick pay, for example) I didn’t feel secure enough to blow over £200, when the train fare was only a quarter of that.

I really need to start planning better for my complicated holiday arrangements though. I took Friday off, but there was still an awful lot of driving, all of which is going to happen in reverse, on my return, only with even less time, because I’ve booked my car in for its MOT in Dumfries on the Monday. I fly back to Manchester on Saturday afternoon. I could possibly still change the date, but I’m not sure how long it will take for any work required on the car, and I need to get back to work, so on it goes.

Still, I’m feeling very cheery. I’m still loving locumming and I’m about to go see Shirley. Yr.no says it’s raining all week in Sørreisa and getting down almost to freezing later in the week, but that will just allow more time for baking and perhaps writing. I will miss Triar, but Bailey, Ulva and the cats will be there to keep me company.

I’ll leave you with a couple of autumn pictures from my walks with Triar. We discovered a beautiful, overgrown woodland graveyard this week. I tried to photograph an angel with an ivy halo growing around her head, and the dappled sunlight flitting across her face, but couldn’t really capture her properly. Still, as always, thanks for reading and have a good week all.

All in a Day’s Work

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APHA have finally offered me my job back. I now have a very formal e-mail, asking me to report to APHA on 6th January 2027 and ask for… well my old line manager. I know, it’s the civil service and everything is by the book, but given I asked to go back only two months after I’d left, the whole thing is (more than) faintly ridiculous.

In the meantime, I have been asked to stay on at PDSA Middlesbrough until the end of December, which is pleasing me hugely. It’s always nice to be appreciated and, given I’ve only recently returned to small animal work after a ten year hiatus, it feels especially good. When I’m consulting, I still sometimes quail slightly when I look at the next appointment and it sounds complicated, but now I click on it anyway and get on with it. I still run my treatment plan past another of the vets now and then, but go to them with that plan formed and not for help in forming it. I was on ops on Wednesday and, having operated on one bitch with a pyometra, I volunteered to do a second one that came in the afternoon. I’ve come a long way from the fearful early days after the post-op bleeding spay in Glasgow.

My current accommodation is as quirky, in its way, as the caravan, however it does benefit from a flushing toilet and shower, that don’t involve going outside and into another building. When I booked it, I assumed it was an apartment attached to a bar, but it’s actually a garage conversion on the side of a house in an unassuming housing estate. There’s no sitting area, but there’s effectively a box bed with a TV at one end. Behind a thick curtain, there’s a fridge freezer and a microwave, so cooking is limited, but the shower is excellent, with enough water pressure to comfortably use the large, rainforest shower head – a rare enough treat in the UK!

Last night and today, we’re on the edge of a yellow met office storm warning, so yesterday morning, Triar and I went to Redcar to walk along the beach. This time, I remembered the essential ball.

To my mind, the most striking thing about Redcar (other than that rather wonderful view behind Triar) was that, even at this time of year, the car parks still charged money, from the one extreme end of the promenade to the other. I tried to pay, but the machine wouldn’t take card payments. It demanded coins, and I didn’t have any on me. Fortunately, I managed to find a small car park on Fisherman’s Square that was free on Saturday and Sunday, unlike all the surrounding streets, where only Sunday was free.

The small town of Staithes had been recommended to me to visit, so we drove down the coat from Redcar. There, there was only a paying car park at the top of a hill, with cars for access being the only vehicles allowed down into the centre. Had I had more energy, I would have done it, but I was already tired from the beach walk and the blustery weather was already starting to close in, so I bought some fish and chips at the Excelsior Fisheries (half an hour free parking allowed outside) and then drove to a nearby layby to eat it. I was surprised to be offered “scraps” (extra bits of deep fried batter) with my chips. Usually, in Scotland, you have to ask. Anyway, it was good, hearty fish and chips, cooked in beef dripping and very tasty indeed.

The coastal road leading south towards Staithes

I will probably return to Staithes and walk down to the harbour another day. We also passed through a small town called Loftus, that looked interesting. I’m glad I’m going to be coming back here, so I can spend more time exploring. Redcar is only fifteen minutes drive, so assuming I can find somewhere to park, it would be lovely to take Triar there for a short run, sometimes, after work. He’s being very good and deserves more interesting walking than I’ve currently been giving him.

By this time next weekend, I hope to be waking up in Tromsø. I’m off to visit Shirley for a couple of weeks and I’m very much looking forward to being back in Arctic Norway. Current plans include lots of baking and making apple crumble. Anything else will be weather dependent, but one thing I do know is that there won’t be many hours of daylight left. Winter is coming!

And for now, I’m hoping to enjoy a quiet day in my cosy apartment while the storm rages outside. I bought plenty of provisions yesterday, though we seem to be quite sheltered here, so I should be able to take Triar outside shortly. I’ll leave you with a couple of photos of the quiet graveyard, where I take Triar (respectfully on the paths) for a walk sometimes during my lunch break. Hopefully the storm won’t take down all the autumn leaves, because I’ve been enjoying the beautiful colours.

Thanks for reading and have a good week.

Finding My Feet

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After my second week of consulting, I’m starting to feel a lot more confident in what I can tackle. As I talk to the other vets about cases, the information they give me slots back into place, like the memory it is. It feels good, like pulling on an old familiar cardigan. Indeed, as I watched one of the other vets working with an animal that had been hit by a car and was struggling to breathe, some very specific memories began to surface.

From 2001 to 2004 (and occasionally after that) I worked as an emergency vet. We saw a whole lot of traumatized animals and dealt with a lot in respiratory distress and I got very good at it. At one time, on my computer, I wrote a flow chart about how to diagnose those cases. It requires minimal handling and movement, because they can be very fragile and you can tell a lot, simply by comparing different areas of the chest to see where there is silence instead of breathing sounds. For example, liquid in the chest (think blood) is likely only on one side and it flows to the bottom, whereas escaped gas may be higher up. I’ll need to see if I can find it.

There’s also a recent graduate and I feel very honoured because she sees me as competent enough to ask questions. That may sound daft, but only a few weeks ago, in Glasgow, I felt I could barely tackle anything. Now I take anything from the waiting list and cope, as I once did. Vets get very used to dealing with things, even when they’re not sure what’s going to crop up next. Anyway, in return, I ask the newish graduate things, because she has lovely, up-to-date knowledge. Working with new graduates is enjoyable and rewarding.

I have been swithering over what to do next, jobs wise. A long time ago, I thought I would enjoy locumming, but then I had a family and we moved to Norway. It never came to pass. Now I discover that I do, indeed, love it, yet at 57 and with a mortgage (and memories of health issues that would have required considerable time off) it feels risky. Returning to APHA with its pension and sick pay is obviously the safer option, and yet…

For now, I can put that decision off. Middlesbrough PDSA want to extend my four weeks until the end of the year and I’m inclined to accept. I’m also going to Norway, two weeks today, for two weeks with my lovely friend Shirley. There will be time away from it all and someone to talk to about the whole thing. And goodness knows, I’m lucky, at 57, to actually have options. I know many are not so fortunate.

I’m back at Mum and Dad’s now for the weekend and went to Skipton yesterday in a hunt for some new winter boots. I didn’t find any (not much call for proper winter boots in the UK) but we did get coffee and a cake in Café Capo. Mine was the mini Victoria sponge at the top of the page. It was delicious and I spent every bite trying to work out whether the cream was butter icing (I don’t think so, it was too smooth and light) or whipped cream with something added. Again, I think not, because it was too dense. It may have been some kind of meringue buttercream, but I didn’t ask, so will never know! I would highly recommend it though, as I would their latte. Very creamy indeed!

A hot cup of cappuccino in an orange mug on a saucer with a teaspoon, alongside a plate of sponge cake filled with cream and jam.

We walked back to the car via Craven Court shopping centre. I love it there. It feels a bit like walking through a Harry Potter set and I saw a couple of things in windows that I might go back and buy as Christmas presents, if I get the chance.

A narrow cobblestone alleyway lined with quaint shops, including a bookshop, illuminated by warm lights and a glass ceiling.

On Monday, I will return to Middlesbrough, but for now, I’m going to relax and maybe do some cooking. Being at Mum and Dad’s is always a good opportunity for a Sunday roast. Last Sunday, I took Triar for a walk after we discovered the gorgeous, Albert Park in Middlesbrough. There was a large pond and beautiful autumn trees, so I’ll leve you with some photos as usual. Thank you for reading and have a good week!

A park scene featuring trees with autumn foliage, including vibrant red and orange leaves, against a blue sky with white clouds.
Close-up of colorful maple leaves in various shades of green, yellow, and purple, showcasing autumn foliage.
A close-up view of autumn leaves, showing a mix of green and vibrant yellow-orange foliage against a cloudy sky.
A park scene featuring a pathway flanked by trees with autumn leaves, a small brown and white dog sniffing the ground near a bench, and people walking in the distance.
Close-up of colorful autumn leaves with shades of green, yellow, and pink.
Three Canadian geese standing near the edge of a pond, with a duck swimming on the water and reflections of clouds visible.
A mallard duck swimming in calm, reflective water with gentle ripples, alongside a stone shoreline.

Settle Sunsets

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It’s been a pleasant week in the Dales for me. I came down to take Dad for a doctor’s appointment on Monday, not knowing for sure when my next locum would begin. I’d been offered October at the PDSA in Middlesbrough, so I wasn’t sure how soon in October it would begin. Happily for me, it starts on Tuesday next week, so I’ve been wandering round Settle, drinking in the peace and beauty.

Th doctor dad saw was a haematologist. On top of various other problems, Dad’s red blood cell count and platelets are low, which means finding energy to move is very difficult. The doctor recommended taking a bone marrow biopsy, with the suggestion he might be able to use the hormone, haemapoetin. It’s a hormone that stimulates the bone marrow to work harder, thus hopefully resolving some of the problems. But to do that, he needed to do the biopsy first. O asked him if there was any chance of it being done this week, while I was down. He wasn’t optimistic, but happily, as I drove out of the hospital grounds, Dad got a phone call to say he’d been booked in on Wednesday.

So we went back on Wednesday and Dad let me come into the room for the procedure. He then proudly told the nurse and doctor I was a vet. I must admit, I was very touched by his obvious pride in me. Sometimes I forget what an achievement it was. The doctor was efficient in taking the sample and the nurse that accompanied us was reassuring throughout and I was glad for Dad, that it was done so quickly. Results will take a couple of weeks.

Other than that, I have been enjoying having company. I enjoy locumming and meeting new people, but a week of familiarity and family in between is a lovely contrast. The weather hasn’t been bad either, so Triar and I have been wandering a lot. The first walk, I was following the road, looking over the rooftops, when I passed the gateway that leads to Castleberg Crag and was tempted in. It was a beautiful evening and I thought the sunset might look even better from higher up the hillside. A short, steep walk was made more interesting, when Triar decided he was enjoying himself so much that it was time for zoomies. Still we made it to the flagpole in the still, evening air and it was definitely worth the effort.

I was also engaged by the wonderful sunset between the rooftops and reflecting through the narrow lanes on another evening. The picture at the top of the page was taken on the same day. I think there’s rain streaking from the dark clouds above, through that deep orange glow.

Another evening stroll took us up past the Pinfold (historically used in medieval and later times to impound stray livestock and animals until owners paid a fine to retrieve them) and out into the fields beyond. More wonderful views over Ribblesdale and the town.

Mum and I went for a Country Harvest lunch yesterday. I had a Brie, bacon and cranberry toastie, which was predictably delicious.

And last night, as the evening advanced and the autumn darkness fell over Settle, I took a couple of photos of the buildings under the streetlights as well as a shot of a cosy window display that I found irres. I will leave you with those as well as saying thanks for reading and I hope you have a good week.

Triar the Practice Dog

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For the last two weeks, Triar and I have been at Cavan Vets in Wolverhampton. I haven’t told them about this blog, but I have nothing but praise for the practice, so I hope they will forgive me for mentioning them without asking permission first.

For me, it was a huge thing that Triar could come to work with me. The civil service don’t allow it and PDSA (understandably) didn’t have space for him, so it was a real treat to bring him with me and for him to be made so welcome. I was working from nine in the morning until seven at night, so he would have been alone for a very long time otherwise, even with a walk at lunchtime. Instead, he was spoiled rotten by all the nurses and receptionists and the lovely cleaner even took him out for walks, though she said he and Paddy (practice Labrador) often went in opposite directions.

As for me, I’ve learned a whole lot from two weeks of consulting. There are so many new drugs and preparations since I stopped working in small animal practice. Non-eating cats can get appetite stimulants, epileptic dogs on phenobarbitone can have liver supplements. One of the vets at Cavan is an eye specialist, so there were a lot of eye preparations I hadn’t come across before, as well as some I had forgotten. Dogs with dry eye are sometimes given Optimmune, which contains a cyclosporin, which helps in autoimmune conditions. That was available years ago, but I had forgotten about it. It’s of particular interest to me, as I have an early case of dry eye myself. It’s good to know that, if it worsens, there are more options than just tear replacement drops. I’d read that, in severe cases, saliva can be redirected through the tear ducts, but that sounds like it could come with some profound risks and problems, so it’s nice to be reminded that there are other steps before that one. Google isn’t always your friend when it comes to accurate understanding of your own medical conditions.

I did find myself feeling a bit like an imposter, particularly the first week. It was exacerbated by the fact that my client care soft skills and muscle memory remain intact. When you know how to wield a syringe to cause the least pain possible, it’s always seen as a valuable skill. I was however, shamed one day by a kitten. I’ve long prided myself on being able to tablet cats efficiently and have even added a little flourish, where I wash the tablet down with water from a syringe (few things feel worse than feeling a dry tablet stuck in your throat) but it all went to pieces when a cute, but feisty kitten managed, not only to get its claws on me, but even managed to bite me for good measure. Fortunately, there’s no sign of infection, but my pride received a bit of a battering as well as my fingers!

It was curiously restful working such long hours. I’ve a bad habit of rumination and there are things in life I regret, so only having time to walk Triar, eat, watch an episode of Ludvig and then drop into bed was actually good for me, if exhausting. Days split into 15 minute appointments (and the great company of the staff in any breaks) passed surprisingly quickly. Several staff said they wished I (and Triar) were staying and the feeling was mutual. I don’t think there will be any vet jobs going there though, even if I did want to move. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the veterinary staff have all been there a very long time.

I didn’t have a whole load of energy for exploring last weekend, but I did discover that there was a disused railway line path in Tettenhall, near where I stayed, which ran close to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, through a nature reserve. Triar and I went for a walk there last weekend. I envied those in the narrowboats we saw. There are few things more relaxing than drifting through the countryside at 4mph.

So I will leave you with some photos from that walk. As usual, thanks very much for reading and I hope you have a good week.

Turn Right onto Albert Road

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So here I am in Wolverhampton, or rather, in a leafy suburb of the city. I’ve completed my first week at Cavan Vets in Bushbury and, on the whole, am feeling very content. I’m also sorely in need of a rest, having driven down last Sunday, then worked from nine in the morning until seven at night for the last five days.

I rejected another locum offer last week because of similarly long hours, though that one was also complicated by the fact that I was going to have to find (and fund) my own accommodation and the dates they offered were all over the place. I could only work part weeks in Glasgow because Lara very kindly let me stay in her flat. The practice where I’m currently locumming offered to pay for an apartment and, in the event, kindly found somewhere for me, which made the whole thing very straightforward.

It’s not like the PDSA. This is a private practice, where clients are paying for my time. I confess I felt a bit nervous at that the first couple of days. Imposter syndrome, if you like. But it’s amazing how things have slid back into place, some of them from more than twenty five years ago, which was the last time I worked in private general practice in the UK. And I love the animals, even the ones that are grumpy with me. Who can blame them? Vet clinics can be scary places, with needles and being poked and prodded, of falling asleep and waking up with a wound and a cone, of areas where your owner can’t come with you.

But the nurses and receptionists are lovely. Their love of animals shines through. The practice is full of waifs and strays, from Paddy the Labrador, who was taken on by the boss, to the black cat without a tail, who has a whole room to stretch out in while he waits to find a new owner. And for the two weeks we are here, Triar gets to be a practice dog as well. Monday morning, I left him in the apartment, but when I got to work, I was told he could come too. If he got on with Paddy, all well and good. If not, they’d find him a kennel. By Wednesday, he was dragging me in the door when he arrived. He and Paddy get on fine and he is spoiled rotten by almost everyone. For me, it’s just lovely to see him so well loved and looked after.

As for me, I’ve also been well looked after. The apartment is lovely and everyone has been very patient with all my questions and a few, odd areas of ignorance. When I qualified as a vet, the only flea treatment on offer that worked was Nuvan Top. You could spray a flea ridden animal and watch the fleas drop off. A few years later, the spot-ons arrived: the ones you put on the back of the neck, which killed fleas in the environment too. Now the treatments are all-singing-all-dancing, kill worms and fleas, ticks and mites. Some are still spot on, some are tablets, but there are a lot of choices and usually they are combined with worming treatments that you can’t use at the same time, due to crossover of the active ingredients. I’m still trying to get my head around all that. Still, I seems to have been keeping up so far with the appointments and am handling more complicated cases than I was at the PDSA.

It’s rather strange that I’m already half way through. The nurses will just get me trained up and then I’ll be off again. The practice is so lovely though, that I wonder what would have happened if I’d landed here years ago. Despite the long hours, I’m enjoying it immensely. For the first time, it crossed my mind that perhaps being a locum might be better than going back to APHA. That said, I’ve worked in quite a few practices over the years and the two I’ve been working in in recent weeks have been warm and welcoming places. I know not all are so harmonious.

I feel a bit sad that I’m not likely to have time to explore Wolverhampton as I did Paisley, but my body is telling me I need to rest. I’ll see how I feel tomorrow, but I suspect a quiet day in will be in order, though I shall probably go to church and maybe try to find somewhere nice to walk Triar. I don’t have many photos. The one at the top of the page is Halfway House, at the intersection between Albert Street and Tettenhall Road, near where I am staying. It’s now a dental practice and pharmacy, though it used to be a pub and, before that, a staging post, which is what, to me, it looks like. It’s after the time of Jane Austen, but still easy to imagine travellers stopping there, back when the horse was the main means of transport and it took days, rather than hours, to get anywhere.

I’ll leave you with the few pictures I’ve taken while wandering round, as well as one of Triar in his new Practice Dog role. And now, I’m going to grab a coffee, then kick back and watch Ludwig on the TV. Triar is asleep on the sofa beside me. What better way to spend a day? Thank you for reading and I hope you have a good week.

…Must Come to an End

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Another photo of Paisley Abbey to lead this entry. It looked so beautiful this morning as I was walking Triar along the riverside. He then led me straight to the Square Café Bistro, clearly reading my Saturday morning intention and thoroughly approving. It was a different lady this morning though, so he almost didn’t get his sausage and I had to order it. Fine by me, though it’s not a habit we are going to get into routinely!

Yesterday was my last day at the PDSA. I suspect there may have been another last – the last time I do surgery. I may be wrong, of course. Who knows what’s round the corner? But when I left Tu Dyreklinikk in Norway in 2016, that wasn’t a thought that crossed my mind. I finished what was possibly my last stint in small animal practice with a very odd case. A dog came in with a very unusual wound or sore on its hind end. I admitted it for sedation, but even once it was cleaned, it still looked strange. It might have been due to urine scalding, exacerbated by the fact the dog was wearing a nappy, but I’d never seen anything like it before and nor had the nurses or the other vets who had a look. It just goes to show that, as a vet, there’s always something you haven’t seen before, even after years and years in the job.

I was very touched to get a gift of a notebook with, “Paws for Thought,” on the front, as well as some hand cream and a small bar of chocolate. These were from Liv, the senior vet, who hoped the notebook would help inspiration strike (her wife is also an author), that the hand cream would sooth my skin after all the scrubbing up I’ve done and that the chocolate would give me a lift when I’m missing them.
There was also a card, with messages from the staff, which were genuinely touching. The nurses I’ve worked most closely with said they enjoyed working with me and Lauryn said, “You’ve taken the stress off the team,” and if that is true, then I’m really happy. They’re a lovely group of people and there is a huge amount of work to do. If I’ve helped to reduce a big neutering backlog, that seems like a worthwhile achievement.

So what next is the question and the answer is, I don’t know. There are other small animal practices needing locums, but I really want to get back to APHA to help with the bluetongue effort. On top of that, there was a BSE case reported recently which was also in my region. I went into the Dumfries office on Thursday and found there were two vets working there from Inverness and one of the new team members from Kilwinning was there too. It’s not like I wouldn’t be useful, if only they could get me back on board.

In the meantime, APHA England told my agent that they were reluctant to take me on as a locum, lest I got too used to it and didn’t want to return to a permanent contract. I’ve offered to locum in Dumfries until my permanent job is confirmed (there’s no good reason to turn me down, but it’s not a done deal until the paperwork is signed) but that’s not happening either. The member of staff to whom I made the offer said, “oh but you’d have to be signed up with one of the companies that supply locums,” at which point, I must confess, I felt very frustrated, because everything is set up and ready to go on my side. I know they must be up to their eyes in report cases, but it’s just crazy that I’m here, with plenty of relevant experience, and raring to go, but nobody will take me on. The agent reapplied to APHA England on Friday as they’ve already been let down by some of the people they took on. Hopefully I should find out in the next week or two.

Anyway, here I am, still in Paisley and wondering what to do now. There’s nothing to keep me here, but nothing pressing to do at home either. Usually there’s somewhere I need to be, but now there isn’t. If I’d loads of money in the bank, I’d probably go away for a couple of nights, but due to some first-time locum fumbling, I’m not going to get paid for the last six week’s work until mid September. The mortgage and other payments are covered, but additional hotel fees, not so much.

When I arrived here in Paisley, it was not long past midsummer and it was light until eleven at night, but the days are getting shorter. The sun is just rising as I take Triar for his six am walk, but it’s dark now by nine thirty, when we go out in the evening. It feels a bit sad that I won’t see autumn here, but I look at the stone pavements and think how slippery they will be on icy winter days. If I was years younger, I think I would be tempted by city life and a permanent job at the PDSA, but the slower pace of Dumfries is calling. Anyway, I will leave you with some photos I took last night. If anything, the darkness enhances the old world feel of some of our haunts.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a good week.

Unwanted and Underwhelming Events

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One of my bitch spays bled on Monday. I had operated on her in the morning and was consulting when she was checked with ultrasound and taken back into theatre. Obviously these things are terrifying for the owner, but they are awful for the vet too. Which part of what I did went wrong? Will they find work so bad that they won’t feel safe with me working here? Will the poor animal die? It’s all my fault…

The realization that she was bleeding internally was also so late in the day, that I had to go home without knowing the outcome. Thankfully, the lovely vet who did the second surgery let me know just before 9pm that the bitch had been transferred to the overnight vets, so she had obviously survived the operation and was fit to be transferred, but I still didn’t sleep well.

I guess this is a particular peril of returning to something I haven’t done for a long time, but I have received incredible support from all the PDSA staff, as well as a vet friend. It was a very large dog and a breed which, so my vet friend tells me, are very prone to bleeding. To understand more, when vets do a spay operation, it’s necessary to tie off the fairly large blood vessels that supply the ovaries at one end of the uterus as well as the ones that supply the cervix and the uterus itself, at the other end.

Tying off the ovaries can be difficult because they are tied to the body wall by ligaments that attach high up near the spine and kidneys. These ligaments mean that you cannot easily get the ovary up to where you’ve made the incision, near the navel. They can be stretched a bit, but that carries its own risks. Anyway you can probably imagine, it’s easy to tie a knot round something when it’s clear of all obstacles. It’s much harder when bits of fat and other abdominal contents are all trying to get in on the act. You can’t afford for any of them to be caught in your knot. Your knot also has to be far enough away from where you eventually sever the artery, and tied tightly enough, that it can’t slide off.

But from what I understand, the main bleeding was from the other end of the uterus, down at the cervix. My ligature was still in place. I had stitched it in. She just bled past it or round it somehow. She was also bleeding a lot from other places, such as the layer under the skin. Some times, that’s just how it is.

Fortunately (to my huge relief) she lived. I am very grateful to the vet and nurse team that recognized there was a problem and fixed it, but it has shaken my confidence. I did two spays yesterday. The first went perfectly, I tied everything off without problems and the abdomen was dry with not a trace of blood. The second, which I had expected to be easier, was actually more difficult and the operation took a lot longer. I have modified my ligature technique and have learned to tie a self-tightening Miller’s knot. Even with that, I still stitched up that second spay with trepidation, but she went home fine, at the end of the day.

With time, it will all fade, but I can still remember, with horrible clarity, back in 1992 when a bitch I was spaying because she had pyometra (infection in the womb) bled out on the table. That one was my fault. I didn’t have enough experience back then and should have made sure someone was assisting me. I did learn a lot that day and my record from then till now has been good, partly because I’ve been careful and partly down to luck. This time round, it was a combination of things, but mostly just unfortunate. I will learn and move on, but this is one of the things that makes being a vet hard.

I haven’t done much this week, outside of work. Looking back through my photos, I see I took one of Triar last weekend. It’s not one of my usual shots of his shaggy, smiling face. It’s a shot of the back of his head and neck after he decided to explore a bush in my garden. I didn’t know there was Galium aparine under there, but I do now!

I guess if you’re reading this in a distant part of the world, you won’t have experienced the eclipse on Thursday. Not that it was worth noting in Paisley! It matched my memories of the one in (I think) 1999, which was another partial eclipse where I was. I’m sure seeing the real thing, where the sun is completely obscured, would be amazing, but on both occasions I’ve experienced, all that happened was that the light went a weird, dull grey colour for a while and that was that. Polar night is much more interesting, though I can see, as with the aurora, why our ancestors might have marveled or been afraid.

I’m thinking of visiting Crookston Castle today, after breakfast out, probably at Harry’s Fuel Bar. Hopefully next week at work will go smoothly, though as I said before, the staff could not have been more supportive and I am incredibly grateful for that. I will leave you with a few more photos from Paisley, taken as I wandered at different times of day. The picture at the top of the page is a lion from the 2016 exhibition, “Pride of Paisley”. I see it every time we walk to the grass in the morning.

Thank you for reading. I hope you have a good week.

Exploration

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I’m back in Dumfries today, because I’m going to another “mini writing retreat,” with A Novel Approach, the writing group from Lockerbie. Not that I have done much writing recently, outside of this blog. Life has just been too full-on for me to find the mind space.

It’s been another great week at the PDSA. As well as neutering, I’ve started to do some consultations. I’m not very confident yet, partly because the PDSA provides care that is, by necessity, somewhat more limited than private vets might offer. It’s also more than twenty five years since I was in general practice in the UK. I did emergency work after that, and also worked in a small animal practice in Norway, but all those things were different, so I’m feeling my way back in. Happily, I’m getting plenty of help from all the staff, from the animal care auxiliaries, nurse and vets.

On Saturday, following a recommendation from Martin in the comments last week, Triar and I visited Barshaw Park. My original intention was to go in the afternoon, when the miniature train might have been running, but I wasn’t hungry first thing, and felt at a loose end, so decided to go in the morning, with a view to going back later. As it was a half hour walk, and I wanted to save energy for when I got there, I decided to go on the bus. It was easy enough to find where to get on, but when I told the driver I wanted to go to Barshaw Park, she didn’t know where it was. On the spur of the moment, having seen an all day ticket advertised, I decided to go for that. So Triar and I went on the bus to Barshaw Park.

It was a nice park, though we didn’t explore too much of it. I saw the track for the little railway as well as a boating pond with lots of birds and an adventurous looking play park. There were a lot of dogs though and as Triar tends to get excited when that happens, it was not the most relaxing visit. Still, we enjoyed our walk around the pond and then took the bus back to Paisley centre.

As I was now hungry, we went to Harry’s Fuel Bar, where I decided to get the pancakes again. I continue to be amused by the sign on the wall beside the counter. The pancakes were just as delicious and filling as they were the first time.

On leaving Harry’s Fuel Bar, I noticed the bus stop outside, which said the bus went to Clydebank, so on a whim, given I had bought an all day ticket, I decided that we would go there and see what Clydebank had to offer. With Triar in tow, rather than walking round the town centre, I decided to go find what used to be the docks. Clydebank was once a huge shipbuilding hub. There are few signs of that history left, other than seeing the sturdy bollards along the river bank, where the ships used to tie up, and standing alone, the massive Titan crane. At 150 feet tall, it dominates the landscape. It was open to the public for a while, but the maintenance costs are so high that it was closed in 2018 and now its future is uncertain. For now though, it stands as a reminder of Scotland and the Clyde’s shipbuilding past.

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Triar and I continued our walk along the river bank, then back round into the town, to catch the bus again, back to our temporary home in Paisley.

I had a day off on Wednesday and decided to go and explore Paisley Abbey. It’s now the Church of Scotland’s parish church, but was originally established as a priory, back in 1163. The current church is a mosaic of buildings, created at different times. The oldest part is from the 12th century – a Romanesque door through which visitors now enter. Parts of the building have fallen down, been sacked and burned, rebuilt and restored until as recently as 2012, though most of the rebuild was completed in the 1920s. There is beautiful stained glass, old and new. Perhaps the most striking is a window near the organ, designed by John K Clark, dedicated to James Davidson Drewette Shaw and representing light and music.

Then, for contrast, I visited a much more humble offering: Sma’ Shot Cottages, which were originally a weaver’s cottage from the 18th century and a slightly later house that belonged to the foreman of a nearby mill in the mid-19th century. It’s always a salutary lesson in how fortunate we are now in how we live in the western world. Whole families used to eat and sleep in one small room, cooking over a coal fire that would have had to have been lit, summer and winter, to make food and boil water. The (restored and working) looms were in a room next door. They didn’t have to travel far to go to work!

If, like me, you are wondering what a small shot is, there’s an explanation here:

Anyway, I had better go now. My writing retreat starts at 10, so I’d better get organized. Thank you to all of you who’ve read this far. I hope you have a lovely week.

This was the only photo I took from the mill manager’s house – a beautiful writing set.

Further Adventures in Paisley

Blog, Food, Scotland, The Vet Who Came In from the Cold, Travel, Vet, Writing, , , , , , , ,

Well it’s a dreich morning here in Paisley. For the first time since I’ve been here, the streets are wet. Nonetheless, they are setting up market stalls in the square outside the flat and Triar and I will go explore those later. We will also be going out for breakfast at Harry’s Fuel Bar, a café just the other side of Gilmore Street railway station. We went there last Saturday before heading to Dumfries and had the protein pancakes and possibly the most daringly overfilled (but not spilled) latte, both of which which were delicious!

I took the photo at the top of the page last night, mostly because one of the most outstanding features I’ve noticed as I’ve been walking around Paisley is the number of churches. In addition to the cathedral, there’s an abbey, and seemingly churches of all denominations and none. Some of the buildings have been repurposed – like the PACE Youth Theatre at the top of School Wynd, but there are a lot of beautiful buildings, which I will probably try to capture at some point. In the photo above , you can see the top of the PACE building on the right and there are spires of two other churches also visible, just in one small area.

Although I mention Paisley in the title, I actually spent more time this week in Dumfries. I didn’t get the chest of drawers put together, but I did mow the lawn and get the bedroom partially cleared. I’ve been living with hundreds of boxes and a floor-drobe for most of the past two years, so it’s taken some sorting. Next time I go down, I will find the energy to complete the job.

On the way down, I got stuck in a country traffic jam, which looked like this.

It was a lovely contrast between the city life and the countryside I spend more time in. I had three whole days down there and I wanted to make the most of the time off as well as trying to keep up the number of daily steps I have been doing with walking Triar from a top floor apartment and walking to work. I didn’t quite make it, but we did get out for some lovely strolls.

The first was an old favourite – the path that leads through the woods beside Castle Loch in Lochmaben. I think I’ve shown some of the wood carvings from the forest before, but this heron carving looked particularly serene among the greenery.

It was cool and shady among the trees, but sun baked whenever we emerged, and filled with summer flowers.

On Tuesday we walked down Blackbird Lane and around in a circuit nestled in some scrubby fields near home. There were flowers there too and it was overgrown with summer.

Wednesday saw us going a bit further afield, towards Dalbeattie, where we stopped at a little car park beside Flycatcher Trail. This was another lovely wander through woodland and up a hill, from where we caught a brief glimpse of a lovely view.

After our walk, I checked Google for dog friendly cafés. It came up with Brambles just outside Dalbeattie, so we made our way there. The gardens were amazing and we sat in a courtyard surrounded by flowers.

I’m trying to eat low carb, which was unfortunate as they had lots of delicious sounding sandwiches and paninis, but I went for the 5 breakfast items of your choice, which was very well cooked and filled with thick cut bacon, tasty sausages and a perfectly fried egg. I will go back though, to try something else. They were incredibly welcoming towards Triar, which is always lovely.

The past two days at the PDSA have been very enjoyable. The staff have all made me feel very welcome and they have a lot of laughs in between the hard work. Again, I was neutering lots of animals. For those who don’t know, the PDSA (People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals) is a charity that provides veterinary care for those on benefits. They do a great job caring for animals that otherwise might not get treatment.

And now, Harry’s Fuel Bar should be open, so I am going to head down, see what they are selling in the market and then over for some breakfast. I will leave you with another view from last night’s walk. Thank you for reading and I hope you have a lovely week.