Kilpeck Castle has a little operation

A strange thing happened to me this week…..

Carnac, Stonehenge and I are our own little herd and we’re usually not allowed to be with the rest of the Golden Valley Llamas.  We young boys have a field to ourselves and the girls and older boys have their own field.  It seems that I am the problem and I can’t play with Loupin, Tintagel, Hazelton and Anne Howe which is a shame as they are great fun and I like them a lot.

But apparently the girls and I could get too friendly and so every year the young boys on the farm have a visit from the Doc who does something which means we can play together again.

I was told about this by Carnac and Stonehenge who had an appointment with Doc last year.  The first part I remember quite well, and Stonehenge and Carnac have told me what happened later on as I can’t recall that.

The day before Doc’s visit we were brought up from our field to the yard.  This was nice as we had free access to hay and had some of the ol’ tasty mix.  We slept in the yard and next morning were penned in the barn as it was about to rain.  Our people swept and cleaned the barn, and then scrubbed the mats.  Everything was dried and we waited indoors till Doc showed up.

Now, in order for Doc to ‘operate’ on me she needed to give me a hair cut on my neck.  As there would be sharp things like scissors around it was thought best if I be held tight so I couldn’t jump around.  Having strange things done is a bit worrying and it’s best to not have a bouncy little llama on your hands.  I walked into the crush like a Good Boy and put my neck through the gap at the far end.  Extra ropes were attached to my halter so I couldn’t move and the Barber/Surgeon did her work.  I’ve got the best coat (Official!) and my soft white ringlets were trimmed on the side of my neck.

The trick is, to place the needle in the vein on the side of the neck, but this is hard on a llama as the vein is partly covered by muscle.  Doc knows what she is doing and found my vein, but my skin is the thickest the Doc has ever seen (Ha ha).  I think rhinoceros hide was mentioned at one stage.  I bent two needles and Doc had a bash at the other side of my neck.  More barber work first of course, and more soft ringlets on the floor.  Right-handed Doc had to switch things around, but she found the vein straight away and Bingo, needle was in, cold liquid was coursing, rapid untying of ropes, feeling drowsy, standing on the oh so clean mats, and gently lowering myself to the floor.  Black.  Nurse Mum put a towel over my eyes and monitored my breathing.  Nurse Dad kept my tail out of the way whilst Sweeney Todd did her work.

Carnac and Stonehenge stood on the other side of the manger quite concerned for me, but not so worried that they couldn’t keep munching hay as they watched.

The operation didn’t take ten minutes and I was jabbed with some of the good stuff to take away the pain when I woke up.  It can take a while to wake and I was asked a couple of times if I was ready to get up, but I was really drowsy for a while.  After a bit Doc and the nurses rolled me into a normal kushed position and tucked my legs in so I wasn’t splayed.  My stomach gurgled.  Holding my head up I was prepared to give it a go.  Up!  Walk to the manger.  This not of interest.  Ah!  A dipper full of mix held for me.  That’s more like it.  I try to eat, but our people realise I’m practically asleep in my food.  I really want cereal and it slowly goes down.

Doc approves.  All is clean and well.  We three llamas are re-united and they are gentle boys so there’s no rough-housing.  Lots of good food for a couple of days in the yard and then back to our fields at the bottom of the slope.

I’ll be playing with the girls again in a very few weeks and then we’ll be one big happy herd again.

More news from the Golden Valley Llamas herd soon

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