In an hour long operation, a 3 and a half months year old Baby Gorilla from Woodland Park Zoo was in pain and in need of rest. Surgeons from Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center join the vets at the zoo in their time of need. Together the surgeons removed a 3 to 4 centimeter cyst, that is near the spine, as Dr. Richard G. Ellenbogen claimed, as a neurosurgeon. After the surgery, the doctors concluded that the baby has a meek case of spinal bifida, on the other hand, the surgeons say this will be of no concern as this unnamed mammal grows older. The defect would have been noticed earlier, but because of the way mother gorilla's hold their new born babies, it was unable to be seen. All in all, the doctors were happy to see the baby may be okay, but the were even happier that this was, their 12th gorilla birth at the zoo and, the 3rd offsping of Amanda, 37, and the father, Vip, 28. It was heart- breaking to see that due to the growth of the cyst, the risk of meningitis has grown and the baby had been infected, according to tests. Doctors have their fingers crossed that if they do another operation when the gorilla is older and more tolerable to the pain, that he/she will be alright. Before the operation the mother was trained to hand over her baby to the zoo keepers to be given antibiotics to help reduce the pain of the infection. Although after the surgery the baby was resting in a cozy blanket for half an hour. When the vet gave Amanda back her child, her reaction was stunning. Amanda had swept her love out of her hand s and began to nurse her as if she had found her lost child. "It was a touching reunion between mom and baby," Helmick said. Amanda got a little manicure, painting her nails red to distract her from her natural habit of picking/ cleaning each others skin by eating the bugs, away from her baby's incision. At this rate recovery will take place over the course of two weeks. For the adorable baby many have made contributions for the up coming operation. Ellenbogen and other hospitals have donated up to $60,000 worth of spinal instruments for their new pal. In conclusion, "What we were able to do here was parallel to what we do in the human world," he said. "We were prepared for the worst and it turned out to be something we could treat and cure."
