Pins & Needles

My co-worker, Jordan-Rama and his wife have a 7 month old Miniature Schnauzer named "Milli", A.K.A. Mill-pup, Millville, Millicent, Millburn, Milli-Vanilli, Mill-doo, or Millster. She is generally well-behaved, but can be a bit mischievous at times. Last week she somehow got into the sewing shelf and managed to ingest a 2.5" sewing needle! They noticed that Milli was a bit lethargic with some gastrointestinal discomfort, so they took her in to the animal hospital.

The X-Ray told the whole story of a large needle somewhere in her belly! Given the size (and sharpness) of the needle, it was obvious that it would not pass by itself - at least not without doing some serious damage! So they scheduled her for emergency surgery the next morning. While completing all of the pre-op paperwork, the vet gave Jordan a written detailed "estimate", itemizing each and every swab, needle and band-aid, with the grand total coming to $950-$1,596, depending on the length and complexity of the surgery. After picking his jaw up off the floor (and changing his shorts), Jordan went and got a second opinion, which resulted in a much lower estimate of about $600.

The surgery went well, and they successfully removed the needle from somewhere between the stomach and small intestine.

Milli just had her stitches removed and is back to her old rambunctious self.

She is on antibiotics to prevent any infection, and seems to be healing just fine.

The final bill came to $651 - much better than $1,596, but still one expensive needle! Keri said we are lucky that Clover didn't have a similar experience after chewing on our Christmas tree lights!