TOO often in my career, I have worried about things needlessly.

I have fallen asleep too many times going over and over in my head a procedure that I was due to carry out the following day.

I have fretted about outcomes and imagined all the things that could go wrong, usually completely pointlessly.

But I was right to be anxious about Charlie.

This amiable young Boxer had experienced way more than his fair share of woes.

First there was the loud heart murmur that indicated a significant issue.

In his breed, the most common cause is narrowing of the aorta, the main artery leaving the heart; a condition called aortic stenosis.

Sudden death, especially during exercise, is a possible outcome.

Then there was the fairly obvious absence of one of his testicles. It may have been a little bit undignified for him (I did make sure and warm my hands first) but careful palpation failed to reveal its presence and so it was assumed to be abnormally retained inside his abdomen, where it has a ten-fold increased chance of becoming cancerous.

And then there were his stenotic nares. In simple terms, his nostrils were anatomically pinched so close together that he sounded like Darth Vader with a head cold when he breathed.

This condition is linked with lung problems, as the inspiratory effort required to get oxygen inspired is huge. Which is also not good for his heart!

Luckily for Charlie (and surely he deserved some luck), he has a temperament that causes everyone who meets him to smile spontaneously and his owners have a wonderfully philosophical attitude to his life.

They want him to be the best he can be. They are keen for him to enjoy the good things in life. And they are able to balance the risks with the benefits. Which is why, after careful discussion between themselves and a number of our vets, Charlie came to be on my operating table, with heart and respiration monitor bleeping away comfortingly and veterinary nurse concentrating calmly but exclusively on his vital signs.

The surgical removal of his normal testicle was routine and uneventful. A small incision was made in his abdominal wall and (delightfully, because it could have been anywhere from the base of his kidney to the extreme posterior of his abdomen) the retained testicle was readily located, exteriorised, ligated and removed.

Wound closure posed absolutely no problems. Our patient was then repositioned on his sternum, with his head supported, so that there was good access to his nose.

You can’t have a faint heart to fix those nostrils. A size 11 scalpel blade, which is shaped like a small sword, is plunged deep into the tissue. A second incision allows a triangular wedge of nostril to be removed.

Careful suturing pulls the central curved part of the nostril outwards, so that the nasal passage is enlarged.

As you might expect, there is a fair bit of blood. Generally, a little bit of pressure will stem the flow.

But in Charlie’s case, it didn’t stop running...(find out his fate next week in part 2).