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I don't have a photo of Bailey's
eye as it looked on Monday (November 7, 2005), because on Monday the eye
looked fine. At worst, it appeared that his head was starting to shed and
that *maybe* he had puffed his eyelid out a little as iggies are prone
to do when they have itchy, shedding eyelids. On Tuesday morning, however,
his eye and face looked like this. Naturally, Bill and I both entered an
instant state of panic. We separated Bailey and Mary, putting Bailey in
the upstairs bathtub, and did a quick but thorough body inspection of both
igs to determine whether or not there were any other signs of injury on
either of them. Thankfully, other than the horrible swelling on the left
side of Bailey's face, they both seemed fine. |
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An 8 a.m. phone call to the vet
revealed the fact that Bailey's regular doctor was off on Tuesdays. The
nurse referred me to Dr. Sulliban's wife, another herp specialist who works
at a different office. I called there, but Mrs. Dr. Sulliban also has Tuesdays
off. *That* nurse in turn referred me to the vet that handles the Sulliban's
cases when they are away, and another phone call got Bailey and emergency
appointment across town with Dr. Holmstetter. Sadly, there wasn't much
Holmstetter could do without expensive lab tests, x-rays, etc. In our flustered
state, we forgot to tell her that she was just our emergency fallback vet
- after we explained that, she gave Bailey an antibiotic shot, told us
he didn't appear to be in immediate danger of death, and sent us home with
instructions to see his regular vet as soon as possible. |
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Wednesday morning we got Bailey
an appointment with Dr. Sulliban that afternoon. I left work early again,
and we got Bailey to see Dr. Sulliban. At first look, Dr. Sulliban seemed
quite confident that he could fix Bailey right up with a bit of surgery.
Bailey got another shot, and a surgical appointment for the next day.
Dr. Sulliban spent nearly two hours
in surgery with Bailey. It wasn't anything that he expected it to
be. When we arrived to pick Bailey up that evening, Dr. Sulliban
was noticably disconcerted by the fact that he had never seen anything
like this before... and because he hadn't a clue what might of caused it.
Apparently, there is no obvious injury or source of initial infection.
The infected area was also much, much larger than Dr. Sulliban had first
assumed. The photo on the left outlines the size, shape, and location
of the cavity Dr. Sulliban discovered inside Bailey's head. The area
is roughly the size and shape of a quarter, and wide enough that he was
able to wiggle a Q-tip around inside of it. The ocular nerves and
muscles controlling the eye appear undamaged, but he was able to observe
the surface of the eyeball itself due to the amount of swelling - they
couldn't pry the left eye open at all, not even under sedation. |
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While Dr. Sulliban was explaining
what he had done and what he had found, he presented us with a sealed vial
which contained the various yucky bits he had removed from Bailey (photos
below). Some of it was the same chunky, hard mass that had been removed
from Bailey's infected foot earlier this
year; some of it appeared to be thick clots of blood and dead tissue.
After viewing the inside of the wound, he told us, Dr. Sulliban was even
more at loss for an explanation as he said he could not see any obvious
source of injury or where the infection might have started. |
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The "hole" in Bailey's mouth is
not a part of the wound itself; it is a perfectly normal part of iguana
oral anatomy. As you can see in the photo on the left, there is a
matching hole on the other side of his mouth - though the uninfected hole
is not inflamed and does not have anything oozing out of it, thus making
it a bit more difficult to identify. Click on photo for a larger
version with highlights.
Dr. Sulliban sent us home with liquid
antibiotics, liquid anti-inflammatory and pain killer, and a wound-flushing
solution. Once a day, we have to insert a fine-tipped syringe, filled
with antiseptic solution, into the hole and try to flush out any new gunk
that may have built up. |
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Four days after his surgery, you
can see that the swelling has not gone down any. One of the things
that worries me most is the fact that he isn't eating nearly as much as
he should be. For three days after the surgery, he wouldn't eat on
his own at all. To get around this, I started putting the usual iggie
food into a juicer and using a syringe to get liquid food into him.
Bailey is well enough now that he will also eat greens on his own if I
cut them up into very small pieces.
Click for larger image. |
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Replica
of iguana skull; bottom image highlights the cavity where Bailey's infection
is.
Click for larger image. |
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Sunday, November 20, 2005
Bailey had a checkup today.
Dr. Sulliban says that Bailey is coming along very well, and that we should
not expect a swift reduction in the swelling. We are getting "good
drainage" from the wound, and Bailey is getting his spunk back quite a
bit; he even wandered around the house some today before his checkup.
On a sad note, Dr. Sulliban told
me that two days after Bailey's surgery another couple came in with a wee
iggie (only 48 grams compared to Bailey's 7 pounds) who had the same problem...
except that his people waited too long to bring him in to the vet.
Dr. Sulliban recommended removal of the eye, but the couple insisted he
try to save it. The poor little iggie bled out during surgery.
One of the (many) reasons I like Dr. Sulliban so much - as he was telling
the story he kept one hand on Bailey, scritching him under the chin and
blinking misty eyes. Gotta love a vet with that much heart. |
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