"Nina Kiriki Hoffman - Past the Size of Dreaming" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hoffman Nina Kiriki)

could cripple her. She should sedate it. If it were asleep, she could operate without worrying whether it
was going to bite her. But anesthesia was difficult to handle without her vet tech; an operation was really
a two-person job. First the shot to sedate the animal, then a short wait for it to fall asleep; not hard.
Monitoring the tracheal tube that kept gas flowing to anesthetize the animal while she operated,
positioning the animal, help with equipment during surgery, and keeping the patient warm during
anesthesia by surrounding it with hot water bottles and covering it with towels, those were things her tech
usually did.
Maybe she should call Angie. But Angie would be home having supper with her husband and
three-year-old daughter.
Maybe there was another answer.
She studied the coyote, and it studied her.
тАЬOkay. IтАЩm going to take a look.тАЭ She reached slowly forward.
It let her lift its paw.
The cut was deep, and looked fresh.
тАЬHereтАЩs what I have to do. I need to clean this out. First shave around the wound, then reshape the
edges so I can suture it, then sew you up. So I want to put you to sleep, because this is going to hurt, but
itтАЩll help in the long run. Why am I telling you this?тАЭ
тАЬWhuff.тАЭ A breath of bark.
тАЬYeah, because I always talk to my patients, thatтАЩs why, except when AngleтАЩs around to hear me.
She already thinks IтАЩm crazy.тАЭ She took a look at the coyote and judged its weight at about forty
pounds. She opened a sterile syringe and plunged the needle through the rubber cap of the anesthetic
bottle, drew out the dose, and approached the coyote. тАЬThis will hurt a little, but a lot less than the
operation would if you were awake,тАЭ she said, showing the syringe to the animal. Would it let her grab
the scruff of its neck and give the injection?
The coyote growled.
тАЬOkay, thatтАЩs it. I canтАЩt do this for you if youтАЩre going to protest.тАЭ
It lifted its left paw.
тАЬYou want me to operate without anesthesia? You canтАЩt guarantee that you wonтАЩt bite me when I do
something that hurts you, can you? Of course youтАЩll bite me. ItтАЩs only natural.тАЭ
тАЬWhuff.тАЭ
She tossed the filled syringe in the SHARPS biohazard waste can. тАЬWeтАЩll try it one step at a time,тАЭ
she said. тАЬGuess I should have realized before now that youтАЩre not exactly natural. First IтАЩm going to put
some lubricant on the wound so I can shave around it and not get hair in it.тАЭ
The coyote put up with jelly, electric clippers, and her vacuuming the hair away. No flinching, no
untoward movements, nothing that threatened.
Deirdre scrubbed up, put on surgical gloves, sighed again. She got out the cold tray of sterile
instruments she would need if she went any further.
She drenched cotton squares in Nolvasan, then gripped the coyoteтАЩs paw in her right hand and gently
pressed the antiseptic to the wound.
тАЬBowoooo!тАЭ The coyote lifted its head and howled in soprano.
The three dogs in the kennels barked at the tops of their lungs, setting up resonance and echoes.
Some of the cats snarled, hissed, growled. She glanced through the open door of the surgery into the
treatment room, where kennels lined the back wall. The catsтАЩ fur had bushed up.
Strange that the cacophony had waited until the coyote howled: usually everybody would be excited
to some extent whenever she brought another animal into the treatment room. One that smelled as wild as
this should have driven the dogs mad from the start.
She finished cleaning the wound and preparing it for surgery.
The coyote whimpered. But it didnтАЩt bite her.
The other animals settled down again, not even the ambient growl.
 Then she turned to the cold tray. тАЬHow about a local anesthetic?тАЭ