Are you familiar with the beluga who underwent surgery at the Shedd aquarium? I would like to hear your thoughts!
Yes! I’m very fortunate to know several members of Kimalu’s team (which included 17 veterinarians in addition to their invaluable support staff*) and Kimalu herself! She’s a very sweet, very personable girl, and it was heartbreaking to hear she wasn’t doing well. For those unfamiliar with the case, Kimalu developed subcutaneous cysts around her blowhole that were causing her noticeable discomfort. It was determined that surgery was the best option for providing her relief.
The surgery itself was groundbreaking, but what’s even more miraculous is the anesthesia. General anesthesia was once considered impossible in cetaceans, due to their size and incredibly unique anatomy and physiology. For example, just intubating them requires manually dislocating the “goosebeak” (modified larynx that transects the esophagus) to allow for access to the trachea. That’s also why they can’t breathe through their mouth! Furthermore, they are voluntary breathers, and must be ventilated until conscious enough to breathe on their own again.
While general anesthesia has now been performed successfully a handful of times in smaller cetaceans, it had never been done in a beluga. In fact, Kimalu was only the second beluga in which anesthesia had even been attempted—and now, she is the first ever beluga to have woken up!
This is a gamechanger for belugas in human care (and maybe, somewhere down the road, in the wild). Now that we know surgery and anesthesia can be performed successfully, the scope of care we can provide them just got a whole lot wider. This is only the first step, but it’s a monumental one. And it goes to show the remarkable care zoos and aquariums provide their animals, as well as the contributions they make to scientific advancement.
You can read the full press release here:
On Tuesday, July 1, Kimalu, a 12-year-old beluga whale at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, underwent a first-of-its-kind surgery to remove a growin
Here are some pictures provided by Shedd, including Kimalu’s CT images:
*The veterinary team at Shedd Aquarium was joined by experts from Colorado State University, Innovative Veterinary Medicine, the Veterinary Specialty Center, Brookfield Zoo Chicago, SeaWorld, North Carolina State University, ZooRadOne, Indianapolis Zoo, University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine and Zoological Pathology Program, and Arthrex Vet Systems.
Huckleabbot and post-wisdom teeth removal anesthesia anyone? 🦷💤
Dennis didn’t really… go to the dentist growing up. His parents were serial about brushing every morning and night, flossing every day, and using mouthwash. He grew up with fine teeth—one of the few of his brothers to not have a wicked crossbite. He just never went to the dentist.
Dennis’ wisdom teeth came in when he was eighteen, and his teeth stopped being fine. They grew cramped, his bottom teeth in particular getting snug enough that he could barely get a string of flows through. But as a freshman in college he still didn’t have dentist money. Twenty, twenty-one, and twenty-two passed without any serious issues related to his wisdom teeth, and he got used to working around them. He did medical school and started his residency, used to his teeth.
And then his teeth started hurting. It was subtle, at first. A little tightness in his jaw when he woke up. A mild ache when he’d spoken a lot in one day. A sudden increase in liquid spilling from his mouth whenever he drank without a straw.
Abbot noticed, because Abbot noticed everything.
Dennis didn’t know exactly what was happening between him and Jack. There was no label to it, so far. Dennis got switched over to night shift the last two months of Robby’s sabbatical, and between the craziness of the hospital in the evening, and the gnawing loneliness of being on the opposite schedule of Trinity, Dennis found some level of socialization in Jack.
It started with talking during the shifts, and moved on to breakfast at Waffle House afterwards, and Jack driving him home. It was the eighth time in two weeks that they were together, and when Jack dropped Dennis off at his apartment, he leaned across the seat of his truck to press a kiss to his lips. Dennis froze, then, one hand on the door handle and the other on his bag, before he surged back to meet Jack again, practically falling over the console. Something twinged painfully in his jaw when he did it, but he didn’t care, his focus entirely on the way Jack’s arms wound around him, holding him close, wanting.
And then he started sleeping at Jack’s, among other things he also did at the older man’s home.
One mid-afternoon, Dennis and Jack didn’t have work, and had woken up late. Dennis meandered into the bathroom while Jack went to make them food. Dennis borrowed Jack’s toothbrush, running the bristles under the water before adding a dollop of toothpaste, and began to scrub at his teeth. A searing strike of pain so obtrusive and shocking keeled him over, his hand gripping his jaw tightly, eyes squeezed shut as it emanated through him. Jack found him swishing his mouth, grimacing, eyes brimming with tears.
So, he and Jack weren’t dating. They were just fucking, getting food together, and working at the same establishment. But Dennis was on Jack’s insurance, and Jack was paying to get Dennis’ wisdom teeth removed. None of it made any sense—regardless, that’s how he ended up here, gauze packed thickly into his mouth as the orthodontic surgery nurses helped him into Jack’s truck.
“He’s been very brave,” one of the nurses nodded emphatically as Jack leaned over the seat to buckle a gooey, droopy Dennis into the passenger seat. “Lots of our older patients get pretty emotional after. I think he just needs a nice nap!”
The nurses and Jack chuckled, and Dennis deflated into the seat, tired eyes slipping shut.
“Yeah, he’s a good kid,” Jack smiled at them, “thanks for all your help.”
The door shut, and Dennis was alone with Jack, about to be staying at the older man’s place for the first while of recovery before he’d get carted back to his and Trinity’s apartment. Jack’s hand came down on Dennis’ thigh, gently squeezing, as he began the drive home.
Dennis was delirious. The words flowed from his mouth before he could stop them.
“‘Dey thought ya were my dad, Jack.”
“Did they?” Jack laughed, and drummed his fingers against Dennis’ knee. “Maybe it’s cause of my grey hair.”
“Y’could be,” Dennis breathed, and slouched further, knees spreading further apart haphazardly, “if you’d had m’when you were, uhm,” Dennis’ jaw ticked, the gauze soaking up the blood, “twenty two?”
Jack’s hand slid away from Dennis’ thigh, moving instead to curl around the back of his neck. Dennis sighed, leaning into the touch.
“I could be, yeah. I don’t mind that, though.”
There was something smug in Jack’s voice. A little pleased. It flew over Dennis’ head, the warmth of Jack’s hand perfectly distracting. A laugh tumbled from Dennis’ mouth, garbled, muffled.
“I like it.” Dennis admitted, free, easy. Jack’s hand massaged his neck more firmly, thumb rubbing at the side with the perfect sort of pressure.
“Y’know what?” Jack hummed, and turned the music up with a button on the steering wheel, “I think I like it too, baby.” He glanced over to Dennis. “And I like you.”
“Y’do?” Dennis glanced over. “For real?”
“For real,” Jack grinned softly. “I’ll ask you out when you’re coherent, sweetheart.”
I've seen so many tiktoks with this idea and I've seen some great writers play with it, so I decided to try my hand at it with our favourite drummer. And as always, thanks to @19blackbutterfly97-blog for working with me on our little universe! <3
Pairing: Rockstar Bucky Barnes x Reader
Word Count: 1,151
Rating: T (fluff, slight angst)
Chapter: 1/1
Summary: Coming out of surgery is weird enough. Coming out of surgery and discovering your boyfriend is a ridiculously handsome, tattooed rockstar named Bucky Barnes? Even weirder. Especially when you keep looking at him and asking the only logical question: Why?
Author's Note: Please check the tags for any possible triggers. Thank you!
Your eyelids feel ten pounds each. Your mouth is dry. The room is all soft beeping and pale curtains and fluorescent light that somehow feels both too bright and too far away. Your thoughts are swimming in syrup, bumping into each other like sleepy bumper cars.
You blink once. Twice.
There’s a man sitting in the chair beside your bed.
A very handsome man.
A ridiculously handsome man.
Dark shirt stretched over broad shoulders, skin covered in tattoos, hair a little messy like he’s been running his hands through it too much. He’s leaning forward, elbows on his knees, staring at you with this look on his face that is way too soft and way too intense for a stranger.
You squint at him.
He immediately perks up, relief washing over his face.
“Hey, baby. There you are.”
You stare. Because, okay…?
One, he is very pretty. Two, he is definitely not a nurse. Three, why is he talking to you like that?
Your brows pinch together.
“Who…are you?”
He freezes. Actually freezes.
The relief on his face gets replaced by a very specific kind of panic.
“…what?”
Your eyes drift over him again, suspicious and a little impressed despite yourself.
“Why are you in my room?”
His mouth opens. Closes. Then opens again.
“I’m—”
He glances at the nurse by the monitor like maybe she’s going to jump in and explain this better than he can.
She does not.
In fact, she very obviously bites back a smile and busies herself with the blood pressure machine.
The man looks back at you, now fully thrown.
“I’m Bucky,” he says carefully. “Your boyfriend.”
You stare at him for a long, long second. Then glance around the room like there might be hidden cameras.
“My boyfriend,” you repeat.
“Yeah.”
You look at him again. Really look.
At the tattoos. The jawline. The shoulders. The concerned blue eyes.
Then, very seriously, you whisper, “…why?”
The nurse makes a strangled noise that sounds suspiciously like a laugh covered by a cough.
Bucky looks like you’ve just shot him.
“Why?” he echoes.
You blink at him, still drugged to hell and trying to work this out with the two functioning brain cells currently available.
“You’re very…” You gesture vaguely at all of him. “That.”
He lets out one startled, helpless laugh. “That?”
“Handsome,” you say, like you’re doing him a favour by clarifying. “And tattooed. Like…a suspicious amount.”
He puts a hand over his mouth. The nurse fully turns away at that point, shoulders shaking.
You narrow your eyes at him and continue, “Are you sure?”
“Am I sure?”
“That you’re my boyfriend.”
He drags a hand down his face and looks at the ceiling for strength.
“Yes, sweetheart. I’m sure.”
You consider this.
Then, with total sincerity, “So I really pulled you?”
He just stares at you. The nurse loses it entirely and has to walk out of the room for “supplies.”
Bucky looks back at you, somewhere between offended and wildly amused.
“Yes,” he says finally. “You ‘pulled’ me.”
You nod slowly, deeply impressed with yourself.
“Good for me.”
That gets him.
He laughs, head dropping, one hand scrubbing over the back of his neck as he tries to recover.
“Oh my God.”
You’re still studying him, though, because this is a lot to take in while your brain is full of anesthesia fog and hospital ceiling tiles.
“You seem sad,” you say.
His head snaps up.
“What?”
“You looked sad when I woke up.” You frown. “Did I die?”
His entire expression softens so fast it almost hurts.
“No, baby,” he says quietly. “You didn’t die.”
“Oh.” You relax a little. “That's good. Dying sounds inconvenient.”
He leans closer, forearms resting on the bed rail now, like he can’t quite help himself.
“You scared me a little, though.”
You squint at him.
“Because I forgot your face?”
He huffs a laugh.
“Yeah. Little bit.”
You look at him again, really trying this time. The voice is familiar in a way the face still isn’t. Warm. Grounding. Like hearing a song you know through a bad speaker.
“I’m sorry,” you mumble.
“Don’t be.” His hand comes close to yours on the blanket, then pauses. “Can I?”
You look at his hand.
Big. Veined. Rings glinting in the stark hospital light. Familiar in a way that makes something in your chest tug even through the fog.
You nod.
He takes your hand so gently it’s almost ridiculous, thumb brushing once over your knuckles.
There it is.
That feeling.
Something in you settles. Your eyes flick back up to his face.
“Ohhh.”
He lifts a brow.
“Ohhh?”
“I know you.”
That smile he gives you then is so soft and relieved it makes you want to cry for reasons your medicated brain cannot currently process.
“Yeah,” he says. “You do.”
You squeeze his hand weakly.
“Still weird that I’ve got such a hot boyfriend.”
He chokes on his own breath. From the hallway, you hear a nurse laugh again. He points at you with his free hand.
“You are never living this down.”
You blink slowly.
“That sounds like a future me problem.”
“Absolutely is.”
You sink deeper into the pillows, still holding his hand.
“Are you famous?”
He stares.
“What?”
“You look a little famous.”
He barks out a laugh.
“A little?”
You nod, then immediately regret the motion because the room gets floaty again.
“Like if a tattoo convention and a cologne ad had a baby.”
He covers his face with his hand.
“Jesus Christ.”
You smile dreamily.
“I’m hilarious.”
“You are on so many drugs.”
“And yet.” You lift his hand slightly. “Still got you.”
He looks at you over his fingers, completely gone now. Amused. Wrecked. A little helpless.
“Yeah,” he says softly. “You do.”
There’s a quiet moment after that.
The monitors hum. The curtain shifts. His thumb keeps moving slowly over your hand like he’s reassuring himself you’re really okay.
You squint at him again.
“Do you have snacks?”
That makes him laugh again.
“I do, actually.”
“You really are my boyfriend.”
He nods solemnly.
“Emergency crackers in my jacket pocket.”
You gasp, scandalized and impressed.
“That’s husband behavior.”
He goes very still.
Then very, very carefully says, “You wanna maybe remember my last name before we discuss that?”
You smile, eyes already drifting shut again.
“Too late,” you mumble. “I’m in love with Hospital Boy.”
He leans forward and kisses your forehead, smiling into it.
“Tough break for Bucky, then.”
Your fingers tighten around his one last sleepy time.
“No,” you murmur. “He can stay, too.”
And if he sits there grinning like an idiot for the next twenty minutes while you doze off holding his hand?
