The second week of April 2019 was extra special as I got to see my mom and friends in Holland and had the privilege to talk for enthusiastic veterinarians from the Nordic countries and Holland in beautiful Bergen, Norway.
Our organizers, Andrea and Neeltje, arranged 2 days of lectures and laboratories. The first day, Georgie Hollis talked about wound management (keep them moist and clean and they will heal) and Ulrika Groenlund about proper antibiotic management of wounds (often they are not necessary). I had the honor to talk about 5 tips for reconstructive surgery.
My tips included: simple local flaps and the importance of the panniculus muscle, axial patterns flaps including the caudal superficial epigastric axial pattern flap, the proper suture material and surgical equipment for derm surgery, the toe filet flap and the skin-fold flap.
The next day we had a laboratory of 4 hours, where the candidates learned to do a reconstruction of the head with a simple U-flap, a wound reconstruction of a neck wound with a omocervical axial pattern flap, a caudal skin fold flap for a lesion between the hind legs and challenge. The winners received some awesome prices.
Cool new gadgets: the organizers used slido.com to get questions from the audience and check out the ubercool nose plugs for when you are in areas that do not smell as good, they are pretty amazing! https://nosaplugs.com/
I loved being in Bergen and for all participants and my amazing organizers, thank you so much! Please note that the lecture notes are available for the participants in a special folder, check with Neeltje for the passcode.
Global Veterinary Surgery 