Travelling Vets - 3. TV Chapter 3

“Pardon for interrupting Director, but this young lady was the first person that we reported the matter to, and she ignored us and virtually told us to go away and mind our own business,” Marcus said to the Director. “I see, well that was one very big mistake, Mary you are to clock off work, you are finishing early today, and report to my office in the morning for a meeting to discuss your future with us,” the Director responded as he frowned at the young lady, who turned and raced away looking quite upset.

A short while later, we were issued gumboots, overalls, protective glasses, face masks and shields, gloves, and a basic vet medical bag, before we returned to the animal enclosure, where we observed the animal for a while and saw that it was in no mood or condition to charge at us or cause us any harm, so we entered the enclosure, and approached the buffalo bull, who we were informed was just over three years old.

We were a little surprised when the animal allowed us to walk right up to it and pat its rough hide. It remained just standing there, as he as we did a preliminary examination, looking at its ears, nose, tongue and some of its mouth, before we looked at some of its manure droppings, and took several samples.

With the assistance of a needle on a pole, we were able to withdraw a sample of blood for testing, without too much of a response from the animal, who protested at first about being jabbed before settling down and letting us continue. Once we had everything we needed, we exited the enclosure, removed the outer layer of protective overalls, and placed them in a plastic bag, as well as the gloves, masks, shields and gumboots, which were sealed with a plastic strap, before been led to the laboratory, so we could start on some testing.

“Hello, I am Dr Anita Penhaven, Senior Zoologist for this park, I hear that you have spotted a problem with our Buffalo and that you alerted management about it. Do you have a diagnosis yet?” a lady said when she entered the labs, where we had been at work for the past few hours. “Hello Dr Penhaven, I am Dr Kendrik, and this is my partner Dr Sanderson, we are Vets from far Northern Western Australia, and we are meant to be on holiday, but thanks to Marcus here we are working,” I replied and the lady laughed at this.

“It was just meant to be just a day excursion, so it’s not my fault if my brilliant partner – Jexon here, spotted a problem with one of your animals,” Marcus responded in defence, and Dr Penhaven laughed. “May I ask, are you two business partners or life partners or both?” she asked us, and I reached over and held Marcus’s hand, which he squeezed lightly.

“Good answer, you make a great pair, I hope that we will become good friends,” Dr Penhaven said in reply to us holding hands, and for the next few hours, we worked together, checking and double checking our tests, until we confirmed that it was indeed Bovine Johne’s Disease, which meant that there are several other animals in the park that are susceptible to the disease as well.

“Where are you staying while in the area?” Dr Anita asked us after we had done one final check on the animal, before heading towards the exit to the park, which was well after it had been closed to the visitors for the day. “We have a hotel room in Tenby and we drove here in a hire car,” Marcus replied.

“Excellent, I live in that beautiful little town, how about if I treat you both to a nice dinner, as a thank you for all you have done for us today,” Anita asked, and after accepting the offer, we agreed to meet at the hotel lobby once we have cleaned up for dinner.

During dinner with Anita and her partner Grace, Anita asked us if we could stay and help out at the zoo for a couple of days until all the animals have been checked and tested, which we reluctantly agreed to do, and in the end, we ended up spending four days working at the zoo, which had shut down to visitors as a precaution, and we enjoyed having dinner with Grace and Anita twice more during this time.

With just two more days before we are due to start work at the Vet Practice near Newport, we said farewell to our new friends and set off for the two-hour drive back to Newport, where we booked into the same hotel as before in Oakfield, with the manager happy to see us returning.

Taking a bit of a drive around the area, including the Roman Baths and the Roman Amphitheatre in Caerleon, and after lunch at the Cheeky Monkey, we decided to check out the vet practice where we will be staying, and when we arrived at the Risca Practice, which is just down the road from another Vet Practice, we found the waiting room full and the reception staff appeared to be a little flustered, and I glanced over to Marcus who shrugged his shoulders.

“Excuse me, young lady, we would like to see Dr Adam Matheson please,” I asked the receptionist, “I am sorry, do you have an appointment, if not then you will need to make an appointment, as we are short staffed,” she replied.

“I am Dr Matheson, how may I assist you gentlemen,” we heard a voice say from just to the left of reception, “G’day. We came to have a look around but…” I began to say, “Come with me you two, you have arrived at the ideal time,” Dr Matheson said, obviously picking up our Australian accents and guessing who we are, and we followed him down the hallway, and into a staff lounge area.

“Now which one is Dr Kendrik and which is Dr Sanderson?” he asked us smiling, and we both chuckled, before introducing ourselves. After a short chat, we were given coats and shown to vacant treatment rooms, and immediately began work, and we didn’t slow down for the who afternoon until we saw our last patients leave just before 6 pm.

“Wow, that was a full-on session,” I said to Marcus as I walked into the staff lounge, where he was making us both a cup of tea. “I won't argue about that, dear,” Marcus replied, and shortly after Adam walked into the room. “So, how did you enjoy your first stint with us? Sorry about throwing you in the deep end there, but as I said before we have a number of our senior staff off sick, not just here but at our other practices as well,” Adam commented.

After grabbing a cup of coffee, he directed us to follow him to his office, where we spent the next half an hour discussing the exchange programme, and with that, he mentioned that he planned to have us stay in an apartment upstairs and be on call for four nights of the week, which was not in the agreement that we had made before leaving home.

“I am sorry Adam, but that will not be happening. We have already made our arrangements for accommodation in Oakfield, and we will not be available for call-outs after hours away from the surgery, since we are not familiar with the region, but we will agree to two nights of call-outs each week, for work in the surgery after hours and that is all,” I responded to this.

Adam was not too happy about this, and it showed with his facial expressions, and we could see that he was trying to work out a way to argue the matter. “Before you even start to try and persuade us to change our minds, I may like to remind you that before we left Australia, we signed a legal document setting the terms and conditions of the exchange, and you agreed to them and also signed it.

We have no problem with walking away from this exchange agreement if you decide to break any of the terms and conditions. We have already spent four days working as volunteers at another location in the Pembroke region, and we would happily return to the area for the remainder of our stay in the UK if it comes to that,” Marcus informed Adam.

“You can't do that, we have an agreement,” Adam complained, “Yes, but we will not hesitate to do it, since you are trying very hard to make adjustments to the terms and conditions, that are not on, and we have no issues with taking this to court, if that is the direction you wish to go,” I added. After some thought and grumbling under his breath, Adam agreed to stick to the terms and conditions of the exchange agreement, and with that said, we informed Adam that we will see him the day after tomorrow as agreed.

“I don’t like the way this is heading, we need to call Auggie and tell him to keep a close eye on those two, that he is hosting at home, and to let us know if there are any issues,” Marcus said to me, once we were in our hire car. Back at the hotel, we called home. “Hello? You do know that it is after 3 am over here in WA?” Auggie said when he answered our call.

“Oops, sorry about that buddy, it’s after 7 pm here. This is very important, so it couldn’t wait…” I replied, and I spent the next twenty minutes talking to Auggie, with Marcus speaking now and then to put his suggestions in, but he left most of the talking to me.

After the call, we showered and went to bed as we were both very tired from a long day, and we slept in and ended up ordering room service for breakfast. “If things don’t work out with Adam, how about we head north and a little bit over the border and check out the famous Chester Zoo, I hear that it is quite impressive,” Marcus suggested to me after we finished breakfast.

“Really? The last time we visited a Zoo, we ended up staying for over four days, do you think it is a wise idea?” I responded, “Well, when you put it like that, then yes maybe it was a bad idea,” Marcus replied. “Hmm, let me think about it. Let’s look at other options, maybe do some more travelling around the UK,” I responded.

When we started work at the practice the next morning, it was a busy day, as it was previously, and we did what we needed to do, treating the patients and we left the other staff to deal with the pets owners, in regards to aftercare and payment for the treatments.