Meet a Cayman patient

Meet a caymanian young sweet dog. His name is currently Travis (after being named Fire/Flash/Apollo) but anyway. He has been in the clinic for 3 weeks and is in intensive care. Well, not as much nowadays, but still taken half an hour of my daily routine. And is one of the most rewarding things I get to do (at least this week when I am in charge with the morning rounds:)
Travis has got a huge problem. He was tied to a tree next to a burning house/shed? something. He suffered severe burns and what you see in the following picture is an amazing healing process. When he came in his skin was still covering his body on the left side of his trunk, but was soon to be necrotic and harboured a large amount of pustular discharge underneath. 3 debridement surgeries later, daily change of bandage and a combination of silver sulfadiazine cream (and initially honey too but we gave that one up) he looks like this....

And this is me and on of my nurses, M., changing his bandages today..... You may wonder why I wear this street gang hood top on me (and having underneath a shirt and the official scub). Well, the answer lies in the climate wars. Basically, we (vets) have to spent a long time at the laptop writing the daily treatments, reports, etc. right underneath the heavy blowing air conditioning. (they) nurses walk up and down, take dogs in and out and are hot. We turn the AC up (or even off;), they turn it down. And so we have fun every day. Normally there are 1-2 vets in the hospital area and 5-6 nurses so vets are outnumbered. Sometimes we loose. Today I had to give up and put the hood on;)))

Us, posing with the pacient...

Finally, getting to work, starting up my bandage. Luckily, he is a very good and sweet dog and sits very patiently for that.

And the finished product. Tomorrow we begin again! An E collar was about to complete the picture. I will try to post some more pics as the weeks roll on;)

Latest from around here

In an attempt to bring some of my old life over here, I had the empty boring walls covered with various random pictures. These ones are in my room:)

Yes, ladies and gentleman, this is the3rd successful recipe from the book "Cooking basics from dummies", and it turned out definitely yummy and will feed us for days. Seafood linguini !! Hurray to cooking!

And last but not least, the mighty map hanging above my bed. It's a Grand Cayman diving sites map, and the pins represent dives already done (in white 2008, in red 2009). It's not 100% accurate as some places overlap but it comes to serve a point. Most dives are in the most popular places over here, namely the North side and the West side, but currently I am focusing on the wild East End that has a lot of potential (and a lot of rocky waves, reason for which is not very popular). Unfortunately, the South side is still very much virgin, due to very strong currents and the lack of dive operators over there. Hoping to add more red to the map till the end of the year:)

Post hurricane

From the category "all is well when ends well" so was hurricane Gustav, at least as the Cayman Islands are concerned. Everybody was super prepared, and all activity has ceased during the storm. Winds of up to 70 km/h, some rain, water level rising quite a lot, but in the end, all finished without consequence and the sun is out again. And so are the usual invited visitors, like this huuuge male crab from the above picture.

Gustav...the perfect storm?

It started on Tuesday. At work. One of the computers was opened with a satellite image of a storm over Haiti. "What is that, a hurricane, haha" I said, passing by. "Maybe", my boss said quite seriously. "well now... what's it called? Gustav?"

I didn't understand nor took it too seriously. Yes, the hurricane season was opened on 1st of June. Yes, 4 years ago there was Ivan. Al thou the island has been 100% rebuilt after the 2004 grade 5 hurricane, I have seen plenty of pictures, on books and private collections. What force is enough to bring a huge fridge from inside a normal, big villa and smack it in 2 in the middle of the yard, 100 m away? What takes a jeep and brings it in the middle of the pool?

Well... still these stories seemed far away. Not this year, it is one in 200 years of that magnitude. I still hope that. But, as Gustav kept bouncing back and forth from tropical storm to hurricane status, and slowly progressing towards us, the good inhabitants of Cayman Islands became prepared.

It is very unusual for an European that has not experienced anything like this before.
All the houses seem to have their eyes closed. With hurricane shutters, or for the cheaper versions, with pieces of wood hammered across. Everybody got dozens of cans and water and candles. Some cars, and even 2 small plains, have been safely parked across the few, rare, higher places of the island. Everything is shutting.

Even us...the hospital is empty. The 4 full time residents have been fostered. Not far away, the Humane Society shelter is also trying hard to evict the animals. I have one of them, a big dog called Molly. We're only doing very big emergencies for the days to come.

It's right now across Jamaica, moving slowly (which is bad) and has been quite unpredictable. One can only meditate thou on the modern technology available...100 years ago such hurricanes were deadly and unexpected.

I...am quiet. Took the dogs to the beach tonight, watched a fantastic sunset. The quiet before the storm. Nothing announced Gustav's closeness...

And yet, as I was safely tucked in tonight in front of the computer, all of a sudden, the more then normal winds have turned into very serious winds. More then I remember them in a terrible night on the ridge of Fagaras (that is my personal worse). And a rush of rain, beyond any torential rain I have experienced before.

And it is still in Jamaica, and these small storms are only the messengers....
Brrrr.... Keeping you posted provided the net doesn't break down, which it will eventually together with the water and electricity, which will be shut down even just for safety measures.

It is still 18 hours away...

One of my nights

We are a 4 vet practice, and we kept considering what would be the best routine to split the on call nights amongst us. Our practice does after hour emergency service, and there is a lovely phone that we have to keep close to us in those nights when we are on call and answer it regardless of time. Originally we had a week each one of us, and for the whole week we would have the phone, on turns. Coming out fully drained out of the week on call (and somehow before you knew it...it was your turn again:) we decided to switch the strategy and just keep the phone one night at a time. Thus, 1 night in 4, I am on call.

Currently, due to holiday/ hurricane season, most people are away from the island and there is a certain feeling of relaxation, especially when it comes to the dreaded on call nights.

I was almost certain it was going to be one of those quiet Friday nights, when all else that remained on the island are out having a good time, and every animal soul will be safe and sound in their homes.

How wrong I was:) It started at 7 pm. Wife has got a parrot, husband gets bitten in the face by the parrot. Husband throws the parrot on the floor, parrot stunned, not moving, panic, why did you throw the parrot?!, aaargh, and that's when they called me.
We arranged a clinic meeting, half an hour later. By then the parrot had recovered uneventfully with all limbs intact, a pain killer for his contusions and off they went. Wife was happy, husband will probably not touch the parrot ever again.

At home, in bed, midnight. Dozing off happily, when the phone rings. Cat, attacked by dogs, just barely was found in the yard, unable to move hind legs. Panting, shocky, the whole picture. Again meeting at the clinic, thankfully i never fell asleep driving over. Exam, IV, fluids, steroids, antibiotics, XRays, temporary closure with surgical staples of the few superficial wounds.

2 hours and a half later, back in bed. This time, I think to myself contently, the night is nearly over, what can go wrong now, time to doze off.

Wrong;) 4 am, a seizuring dog and his worried owner were calling. Luckily, I may say, this is a dog known to have seizures for years, and all the meds don't seem to do much for him, they last a couple of minutes every time and he recovers uneventfully (so far, at least). Knowing the whole history, we postponed till the next morning, bright and early.

This time, I really adored the 1 in 4 nights on call. Another consecutive night like that....

What I saw lately...

Almost a month ran by, and no posts;) I hope y'all are holiday-ing somewhere keeping you away from computers. I don't have this excuse even... anyway, for your viewing pleasure, 2 interesting things I came across lately....

...this is a fun-to-watch 10 min short movie put together by a vet student from over here, it is an intro to mast cell tumors, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJuJQ3VCXlE . I liked it. Came in on good terrain, as I just referred a grade II mast cell tumor case post-surgical removal.

...second thing, far longer, about an hour and a half, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo , takes you onto the last lecture of a reputed american professor, that knowing he is about to die, puts together a very inspiring and optimist last lecture, going back to life's essentials. Inspired me as well to go back to a childhood dream, so I have decided to start again serious riding lessons. There are venues on the island for it now, and for once I can afford it;) The question will be now... will I find time?

...and third of all...to all of you that know me...this is what my climbing gear is doing lately...actually apart from one climbing trip, this is the sole task of my quickdraws nowadays. No comment. They are solid thou:)

And that last picture... is my unreliable dock buddy. I keep a fair distance, but he's harmless. There is a snake around thou...brrrr....

Talking about wild life...

One sits quietly at home, and... does mundane things, such as for instance, writing emails... all of a sudden, quite an ordinary thing for Cayman standards happens. Not for the Romanian in me!!

A massive iguana crawls quietly in the sunshine, onto the front deck, about 30 meters from where i sit quietly onto the couch, writing my stuff. They are pretty much everywhere, and I am sure by now one as let's say Ovidu, would have 3 pet iguanas around...well, not me:) I respect them, and I am happy to see them in their environment, but i do like to keep my distance. We do get them in the clinic at times thou, with road injuries, or attacked by dogs, but mainly they thrive well, and actually have completely managed to push aside the indigenous species, the blue iguana, that is currently on the brim of extinction.

There is a breeding programme for the blue iguanas, but sadly an ugly incident has shaken the caymanian community recently, as somebody broke in and killed a few of the main breeders one night. They did not yet identified the guilty party, but at least it has raised the awareness onto the blue iguanas ... and here it is, the famous one, only to be found here...























Living on a small island, there is so much one can do inland...but there is plenty o life in the waters around. This is a view from the famous Stingray City, a place where loads of stingrays of all sizes gather up, in very shallow waters, and currently wait for tourists to bring them some delicious squid.
Traditionally it started as a place where fisherman came to clean out their fish, and stingrays quickly learned they can have the rests.

Nowadays, one can come and move about surrounded by 30 some friendly stingrays,....keep those thumbs down thou if squid is to be offered:)

Brac trip - visual random impressions

This would be the official address...and that was the sign posted on the door . There is
only one room designated for us in the very small building of the D0A in Cayman Brac. Everybody knocked;) !

And this is the official Agriculture Department in Cayman Brac...
These are a few aerian views of the island. Taken from the twin otter that brought us there, you can appreciate for yourself the clarity of the Tropical Atlantic around the Cayman Islands. Visibility is in excess of 100 feet....aaaahhm, I mean 30 meters:)






These are the boats of the dive operators that run their business in
the sister islands. Allegedly, the reef
is more intact then onto the main island due to a smaller amounts of divers going down daily. One can also see, in the bottom line of the picture, the main road that goes around the island.

The landing is done onto a small grass strip with a bit of asphalt in the middle.It still looks better then a regular romanian road;)

Sister islands

There seems to be a trend amongst us, with working on various little islands. Mihnea is in Palau, Irina and Ricky just returned from their little Greek island, Alina is onto the big British island.

Well, I left my normal island and set out to one of the Cayman sister islands, called the Brac. I had been already there for climbing, but this time we were onto work! It is a small island, about half an hour flight away from the mother island. A small, second world war plane, takes one there, with the pilot flying the plane with an open door...and so close, in arm length distance!
He says "How'dy folks" and then flies off:)

Once there, the typical small far away tropical island. 1200 people, few cars, churches, many post offices, and animals needing veterinary attention! Our clinic makes a monthly 2 day trip there, one day of surgeries and one day of appointments. Believe it or not, all the way out there, we had iso anesthesia, which to me is pretty amazing.

All else was pretty normal. a small traditional caymanian house that belongs to the Department of Agriculture, and we fitted nicely in one of their rooms. The feeling of far away into an exotic place was right at home! Some spays and neuters, lots of appointments, a few very interesting skin cases....

2 days of work, few Coronas with lime and salt later, another plane trip back and I was back to the mother Island!

Pictures to come soon!

Tourists and more tourists

Pretty much the same way Bucharest panorama is dominated by the House of Parliament, the view here,in Grand Cayman, as I drive down to work every morning, is dominated by a cruise ship. And not just a tiny cruise ship, but those gigantic ones, and not just one, sometimes 4 at a time. Endless groups of American tourists come out, thou I don't envy them, I find particularly boring that place where the cruises drop them off. And where do they go, in such large numbers....??
The other day, a huge Royal Caribbean figure. I took a detour from work, eager to see finally the one I was hoping it would be Freedom of the Seas. Or maybe even Liberty of the Seas. I care mostly about those 2 as a good friend of mine did time on them, as a photographer.
My heart was racing...only to reach closer and see it's none of them...
So i turn around and navigate to my own work.

I must post a picture soon. Somewhat spectacular, the view of 4-5 ships bigger then Titanic docked in!

Brac intermezzo

My first week on call just started. 7 long days, when I can expect emergency calls all weekend long and in the evenings. I also get to work and medicate the animals in the hospital. But, all fair and square, I am getting a big chunk of the emergency fee, and I also had Wed and Thu off to prepare myself for this first week of trial.

Did I stay at home? Did I shop for food, did housework, any regular activities? Nooo, how could I?

I went to climb ... this <-------:

There are 2 smaller islands besides the mother Grand Cayman... Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. The latter is the only one that contains some sort of height above water, more specific this "bluff" area, a long rocky cliff at the eastern end of the island. I heard there are routes set up there, so off I went. And boy, what a surprise was I to get! Truly spectacular climbing. There are several climbing places, and this one in the picture above is one of them. To begin with, one approaches the shore, sets an upsails and lowers itself at the bottom of the cliff, above the water at a reasonable distances, sets up the belay point (hardly even a ledge to sit on) and then, up we go again. It does take a bit of a commitment to get down 35 m above the sometimes raging see, but here's the thrill for you.

In exchange you get to climb while huge turtles swim underneath you and all sorts of birds come to check you out. It is very special. The rock is not as sharp as I would have said, but there are bits that are a bit wet and salty at times. And most of them, negative routes, pretty difficult.

All in all, an experience in itself:)

The flight over was another experience. Wish O. and I. were here, really! The feeling of a small bus station in rural Romania. All knew each other. Baneasa is a busy airport in comparison. One leaves with a small plain, a twin Otter for the connaiseurs, and the pilot didn't even bother to shut the door. We could see their every move:) And the main pilote had a cool fan planted right in top of his face. They said simply "Good evening folks" and off we went. Incredible. They made one stop in Little Cayman, and the passangers saluted the pilote by his first name as they went off. I love small plains like that.

Cayman Brac has some snorkeling to it, the reef is shortly off shore.

But that is a whole different story. I am off to bed, my week on call has began. Oh, boy...