Saving a Life! (Graphic images)

Hey Tim! How 'bout an update on this little one?!?!?!?

How's she doing???

Steve

Steve,
I will be updating soon. She is doing fine, and the wound appears to be closing and getting better every day. What I have been waiting on prior to posting an update, is that she should be shedding today or tomorrow. After that, I was going to attempt a feeding. I will take some updated pics of her once she sheds, as she is a very pretty Spider. I think her sister, after shedding, might be the best looking Spider I have ever produced, and this girl is going to give her a run as well. Updated pics coming tomorrow probably, and hopefully a farily uneventful shed (I say that because I am quite sure that there will be a few shed problems near hear sutures).

Glad to hear she's still doing well! I kinda wondered about shedding around those sutures too. The shed skin is pretty fragile, and its already got holes in it, so hopefully there won't be problems!

Steve

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hoo-t

Glad to hear she's still doing well! I kinda wondered about shedding around those sutures too. The shed skin is pretty fragile, and its already got holes in it, so hopefully there won't be problems!

Steve

---

Steve,
Funny you should metion it. I've got some Not good news (I say it tht way, because I don't believe it is bad, but not what I wanted). She shed today. When I opened her tub, there was a very small ball of shed skin, which I did not think was enough to be whole. However, after I picked her up, I was amazed at how well she shed, with her humidity being so low. When I flipped her over to look at her underside is when my heart dropped. During the shedding process, she ripped all of the sutures out of the left side of the wound. They were all matted in with some shed pieces and hard to discern. I went ahead and carefully removed all of the sutures from her since they were no longer doing any good. The positive news is that that the skin appears to be healed very well over the hernia, but the scales are not healed and helping to protect the fragile inner layer of skin. I know that snakes are very resilient, and that skin is tougher than we give it credit for, but I feel that she is still in a fragile state, until she gets some more protection in that area. The portion over her heart is healthy looking, but still somewhat thin, as I can see her heart beat fairly well. What I am hoping for now, is that the scales will start to grow together from the backside of the opening, and work there way closed toward the head, without the aid of sutures to help hold them together. I say this, because it appears to me that the most inward pushing out stress is at the front of the hernia directly over the heart.

With all of that said, I still have faith that she is a strong one, and will pull through just fine, but she can still use all of the prayers that you guys can send. I was telling Monica today, that if the scales do not appear to be growing towards each other in the next 6 to 8 weeks, I am probably going to take her to LSU School of Veterniary Science, and see if they can cut her back open and put some better sutures in the hernia. I know that if she has made it this far with everythig she has gone through, then she deserves to live, because she has heart.

Sincerely,

Seems like she is a fighter and I really hope to see her pull through so I am sending good vibes your way.

Thanks for the update and please keep them coming.

Will keep sending prayers and vibes.
She seems to be a little warrior.

what a tough little girl. :)

one of my crested geckos had surgery a few days ago to remove a bunch of eggs that she was unable to lay and the vet gave me something called "Tissuemend II" to use in case the stitches started to loosen or come out too early. from what he told me it is basically like a sterile type of super glue. anyhow, i mention it in case you think something like that might be helpful in your girl's case.

Something my vet gave to me when Kisasa had a wound on top of her face is called Collasate Dressing. It's specifically for dressing postoperative wounds, and if I remember correctly, it acts like an additional layer of skin. Not an adhesive, but an extra layer of protection over the wound that will allow the scales to grow together correctly.


It worked very well in K's face. Up til I started using it, the wound was getting bigger with each shed because the shedding process would tear off freshly healed stuff before the wound could close completely. This helped it heal faster and the next shed went fine.

Tim, thanks for the update! At least the "wound" is staying closed even without the sutures! You aren't still planning to feed her right away are you?
And she will continue to be in my prayers!

Steve

Tim, from the first post about this snake I've nicknamed her "your little Brittany snake". The reason being my brother's baby daughter Brittany was born 3 years ago with what's called a "giant omphalocele" which means her liver and connective tissues were outside her abdominal wall. Your snake has what in a human baby would be called "ectopia cordis" being that it's the heart and not the abdominal organs involved. Anyways...

I hope that your little "Brittany snake" does as well as my beautiful niece did. She's in our hearts, that little snake, and we watch every day for news she's still making it.

What's the plan for getting nutrients into her? Some sort of slurry tubed into her? I can't imagine constriction or swallowing would be a good idea at this point.