00:00If he didn't have the operation tomorrow, his lifespan would probably be quite short.
00:28It's extremely important to all of us that we get this right and that we give him this opportunity to get better.
00:36It's such a special day, honestly.
00:43We want the best for him.
00:52I'll see you later when I can see how he's doing as well.
00:57I'm Romain Pizzi, I'm a specialist wildlife veterinary surgeon and I'm here to do Bucky's brain surgery.
01:273, 2, 1, right.
01:43Yeah, so I think if we flip him and we put him mainly on his back and see how his head lies.
01:48I mean, I might be able to get with less surgical wounds if I do this.
02:19X marks the spot.
02:25So at the moment Elliot's induced the anaesthesia in Bucky and he's had a lovely anaesthetic so far.
02:32Elliot's managed to keep him nice and calm and Donna and Gary have helped with doing the preparation.
02:38So we've done a very big clip so that everywhere that we could need to make, even though they're very small incisions,
02:43we can't plan exactly where we're going to need to run the tube.
02:47So there's a very, very big shave and we're just sterilising the skin now so that we can start.
02:52So we're about to go for it.
03:17So it's taken more than five and a half hours to do the actual surgery,
03:46which we'd hoped to be much quicker than that,
03:49but the anatomy's been quite different this time to the previous bed that we did the surgery on
03:54and Bucky gave me a couple of challenges.
03:56The anaesthesia was lovely and stable and he didn't react to anything I was doing with the brain,
04:01but it's just one of those days where there were a couple of things we had to work around.
04:04So he stayed stable. Everything's gone well now.
04:07There's been no major bleeds or problems, so we just have to see how he's going to recover.
04:38That's it. You lift your side. Rotate that that way.
04:46That's it.
04:48And we do have link to the cameras in the dens onto our phones.
05:06So last night when we all left, we were still looking, checking,
05:09and he slept pretty much throughout the whole night.
05:12He's a gorgeous bear and just everyone's investment and everyone's love for him
05:16and just his tolerance for everything we've put him through
05:19just means that you just want the result for him that he deserves.
05:23So to see him up and eating this morning, I have to admit,
05:27was at the point of holding back tears because genuinely he's just such a gorgeous animal
05:32and to see what he's come through and he's still willing to trust us, feed,
05:37have a scratch, you know, it's just, it's a lot.
05:52He is a very trusting, very friendly, very personable bear.
05:56You know, there's a little bit goofy about him and he is a real character
06:01and I can see why everyone so strongly supports him.
06:04He's a real character and I can see why everyone so strongly bonded with him
06:08and even this morning, the thankful bit is I've not done his anesthesia
06:12so he doesn't know who I am so he didn't mind me going and having a look
06:15and he is very trusting. We got him to take his medication
06:19and I think we all really, really want him to do well
06:22so we're all really keeping our fingers crossed for him.
06:34For more information visit www.FEMA.gov
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