Week 5: Internal med recap & the start of Exotics!

So internal medicine was a whirlwind. Most days were incredibly busy but it was really enjoyable, albeit time consuming and labor intensive. I learned a ton! I actually kind of miss it, but I've got to say I'm thoroughly enjoying myself on my exotics rotation. I just finished my first week, which was incredible! I have the amazing opportunity to work with THE Dr. James Carpenter (author of the exotics formulary and many other books and publications used by zoo veterinarians). We see client owned exotics (rabbits, guinea pigs, bearded dragons, birds, etc) and we work with the Sunset Zoo. I wish I could give all the details, but all I can say is that this one short week has reconfirmed over and over that this is what I want to do. I basically love everything about zoological medicine. I enjoy the team work between veterinarians, curators, keepers, etc, the organizational aspect of things, the excitement of learning about new species (sometimes even endangered or very rare), and the fact that there is still so much to explore through research. I JUST LOVE IT!

I have been debating whether or not I wanted to go the internship route, but I've officially decided that I will. So I'm planning to apply for not only exotic/zoo internships, but also small animal rotating internships. I believe that God will lead me to where I'm supposed to be, so whatever I get (if anything) will be what is meant for me! After that, I hope to go into a residency program and become board certified in zoological medicine. It would be fantastic to get lucky and land a job in a zoo immediately, but I'm willing to put in the effort and go through all of these steps to get where I want to be :) The great thing though is no matter what I'm still going to be a veterinarian in less than a year, and I'm going to be happy regardless of what I end up doing (with the exception of being a food animal vet...that's a nope)! I'm so excited to be where I am. I'm so LUCKY to be where I am. God is good :)

Oh, and did I mention the veterinarian I work with has a CLINIC NAMED AFTER HIM?! Kind of amazing!

Week One of Fourth Year - Internal Med

I've officially completed my first week of internal medicine! I can't give any details about any of the cases I've had, but I can tell you how the rotation is going :)

It has been pretty busy overall. I generally work a 12 hour day (7 or 8AM to 8PM), and there isn't much time to take breaks. We've actually gotten lucky on a few days and were able to use the afternoon to review cases and study, and then leave at 5. Our appointments are pretty packed in the morning, and depending on how soon we discharge patients, we may be working on the same case into the afternoon or we can tag along on a classmate's case. We get our cases assigned the day before they're scheduled, so if we know it's a patient with renal disease for example, we can go back and review our renal notes to refresh our memory and prepare for the next day. If our patients stay overnight in ICU, we are required to present the case in rounds the next morning. I did this for the first time yesterday! At first I was nervous, but then I reminded myself that we're still in school. We aren't expected to have ALL of the answers, but we are expected to at least have prepared for the questions that they may ask. It also really helps to review the disease process/diagnostics/treatment options in the evening, because that sort of solidifies it in your mind. I know I have a ton of learning to do still, but even just this week of hands-on experience and talking with clients has really boosted my confidence and I actually look forward to school/work every day, even though I'm not getting paid. That's how I know this is the right field for me :) I still want to go the zoo/aquarium route if possible, but I know I'd be happy being a small animal vet. I actually have my exotics rotation in 3 weeks - cannot wait!

On top of our 12 hour plus work days, we're assigned ICU/ER primary or backup shifts. These run from either 330 or 5pm until midnight. So far I've only been backup, but I got called in for my first emergency this week. I was so disoriented when my pager went off! I had only been sleeping for about 3 hours and by the time I got to school it was midnight. I stayed until about 1AM and got another 5 hours of sleep. A little whacky, but it wasn't too bad. I tend to get really nervous in the face of an emergency - literally my mouth went COMPLETELY DRY while I was driving to school, and I felt my heart pounding and racing hahah. Hopefully with time I'll become more confident in emergency situations.

I have this weekend off pretty much, I'm just on call for ICU tomorrow. It's really nice to be able to take care of things I need to do (laundry, errands, etc) and not feel like I have to study for 12 hours a day like I was doing most weekends for the past 3 years! It's a breath of fresh air. I'd rather go in and take care of patients ANY DAY than to study for exams! I do have to start reviewing anesthesia (because that rotation is apparently horrible) and start studying for the NAVLE. But it's not the same as studying for an upcoming exam. I've finally made to the good stuff!

Lastly, got my professional photos from white coat!

love my classmates :)

This is serious...

I have spent my entire life in school. Never took a break between high school and college, or between college and vet school. So my 26 years of life have consisted mostly of sitting in lectures, and I know quite a few of my classmates are in the same boat. But tomorrow is THE LAST DAY OF FORMAL CLASS...EVER. It's the end of an era! I feel like something big is supposed to happen...like once class ends, confetti and balloons should fall from the ceiling, and a disco ball should drop down and "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang should start blasting.

If I feel this much excitement now, I can't imagine how graduation will feel! The only thing that stands between 4th year and me are 4 finals. BRING IT ON.

White Coat Ceremony!

White coat weekend was...eventful to say the least! My parents got into town on last Thursday and we decided to go out to dinner. All was well until about midnight, when I woke up feeling extremely sick and with my heart racing. I'll spare you the rest of the details, but yep, I got food poisoning. I was so scared I wasn't going to be able to make the ceremony! Luckily I was feeling a well enough (just really tired) and made it all the way through the ceremony. I didn't get sick again until that evening when I tried to eat, and ended up taking a trip to the ER the next day because I couldn't even keep water down. I was vomiting at least every 30 minutes (sorry for the graphic)! They gave me fluids, ondansetron and phenergan (which completely knocked me out) and I slept for pretty much the rest of the day. They also ran a CBC, which showed mild dehydration, a leukocytosis, and I basically had NO lymphocytes. Needless to say, I don't think I'll be dining out again anytime soon...I hate that I was sick all weekend while my parents were here, but I'm so glad I had them here to take care of me. My dad got new brakes put on my car, bought me groceries and fixed my curtain on my balcony that got destroyed by the wind. And my mom nursed me back to health (literally, she's a nurse haha). I'm so thankful for them!

But enough with the gross stuff, back to what this whole post is really about - the white coat ceremony!

It was pretty surreal! I loved seeing all my classmates dressed up and having their white coats put on. It reminded me how united we all are and how far we've come since August of 2011! Dr. Davis put on my white coat, and I think at that point I was in a daze. Apparently my parents were hollering and I didn't even hear them, heh. After we all got our coats, we recited the pledge of professionalism (which you can watch below!) I gotta admit...I got a little teary eyed at one point. It has been such a long journey to get to this point, and while I still have a year left, I think it's going to be the one in which I will grow the most. In a mere 2 weeks I'll be starting my internal medicine rotation - seeing clients, caring for my own patients, having to put together all of the information I've learned over the years. There is a mixture of fear and excitement, but mostly I'm just ready to start doing what I love - helping animals!

  

Before the white coats!

 

Lab partners from first and second year :)

 

 

Rhyley helping me to break in the new coat :)

 

Momma got me the Littmann Cardiology III stethoscope. I love it!! 

 Silly class photo :)

Post by Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine.

These next two weeks are going to be jam packed with "fun" - 5 exams in a matter of 10 days, 4th year orientation, my last clinical skills lab, shopping for "professional" clothing and comfortable shoes, and trying to throw in a little relaxation during my last 5 days of freedom!

Number Crunching

Just for fun.....

2800 days as a college student
407 days until graduation
354 days until Sea World
252 total credit hours
39 days until clinics
16 semesters of college
15 days until our white coat ceremony
8 exams remaining

UM ONLY EIGHT EXAMS?!

Getting the Grades

I've received two questions from pre-vets regarding grades, so I figured I'd address the issue and help give a little insight!

Question 1: I've failed two classes since I started college. Do you think I'll be able to get into a vet school?

Absolutely! Failing a course or two is not the be-all end-all, so don't sweat it too much. I can speak from personal experience because I failed O-chem 1 (I typically don't blame professors for my grades but this was genuinely the professors fault - he would test us over like 10 chapters of reading each week and his questions consisted of fill in the blank sentences that came from minute details in the readings...but he never actually taught O-chem!) Even though I had a few bad grades, I still was offered interviews to 3 out 4 of the schools I applied to. So nope, you don't have to straight A's. You do however need to make sure that dedication and hard work shows through on your application. If you can only manage mostly B's and a few A's and are putting in time and effort to get experience outside of school, then you're on the right track! Vet schools look at the big picture - experience, grades, personal statement, etc. I would however suggest aiming for at least a 3.4 and definitely work to get the highest GPA possible during your last 45 hours (they often look at that separately). Even if you have killer experience, chances are low that you'll get accepted with a GPA less than a 3.0 (possible, but unlikely). And of course check with your schools of interest to see the average (or minimum) GPA of accepted students!

Question 2: I was recently accepted into the class of 2018 and my main concern is how I will keep my GPA up with such a heavy load. Do you have any tips for an over-achiever like me?

Hello fellow over-achiever! Congrats on the acceptance :) I honestly don't have tons of advice on this subject because it's really up to you to just study your butt off, but I do think that setting a schedule and staying organized is the most important key to success. For me personally, my calendar and endless to-do lists are a major way that I stay on top of things and I don't know if my grades would be as high as they are without the organizational and time management aspect. Cramming is not an efficient way to commit things to long term memory, and obviously a lot of what you learn in vet school (especially third year) should really be stored long term. Make sure you plan plenty of time to study for exams (I recommend at least a week in advance if possible). Just keep on top of things and that will take you a LONG way! You can also check out my post on keeping your sanity, which refers to using flashcards (yeah..I used to HAND WRITE all my flashcards...yikes) and I still do use them, but I use studyblue.com instead. So if that works for you I definitely recommend it! Remember that in the end, grades aren't everything (C=DVM) UNLESS you want an internship/residency after graduation. You definitely need competitive grades if you're going that route. I can tell you this though (at least for KSU) - as long as you put the effort in to learn the material, then 98% of the time you will be successful on exams. Persevere and you'll do great...good luck!

Spring Break & Cows!

What. A. Week. I faced my fears head on and worked with over 700 cows!

My week long mentorship started at the sale barn. I had no idea what to expect, just that we would be "processing" 200 cows. So basically what happened was someone would gather a group of cows and put them in to the chute, and then one by one we would age them (based on their teeth), record their tag numbers, and preg check them. It's a very quick process (less than a minute per cow). We did this again on Tuesday and Wednesday. The sale was held on Wednesday, so I watched it for about an hour. It was...interesting! They put groups of cows into a pen in the center of the auction room and people bid on them. One person bought a group of cows for 44,000 dollars! I couldn't believe my eyes!

  

On Thursday I visited KABSU, KSU's bull stud service. I watched how they collect and evaluate semen samples. The bulls will mount a steer, and someone will collect the semen in an artificial vagina. Even though I plan on never working with cattle, I can use the knowledge of semen evaluation in both small animal and aquatic animal medicine. During the day I was also able to do a physical on a Jersey steer named Rocky. He was adorable! On Friday, I went back to the sale barn and helped the vet process another 100 cows. Afterwards I was able to watch the vet band some calves (a method of castration), and I gave some injections and palpated some more cows.

It wasn't terrible, but I can't say it was the best week of my life...I have a lot of pretty strong opinions about the food animal industry. It's just hard for me to understand a type of medicine that revolves around keeping costs low for the producer, even if that means slaughtering an animal that could've been treated. So with that being said, I would've much rather spent my last spring break doing something I enjoy rather than working with cattle! But all in all, I'm glad for the opportunity to expand my knowledge, meet new people, and to really be aware of the type of medicine I do and don't want to be involved in!

 

Guts and eyeballs!

Not a whole lot has happened in the past week since we had two exams which kept me pretty busy. We did have a small animal ophthalmology lab last week though. It was fun actually doing all the things we've learned about in class - checking pressures (the tono-vet is awesome), schirmer tear test, direct and indirect ophthalmoscopy, and a few other things. I've always really liked ophthalmology (that was going to be my second option if I didn't get into vet school) but looking in the back of the eye is definitely more complicated than I thought it would be! Especially when you can't tell a dog to look right at you ;)

The only other excitement from these past two weeks was doing a resection and anastomosis on real intestines. It's way more intense than I imagined it would be, but the outcome is really satisfying! It just looks so pretty when you're all done :D And then you leak check it and nothing comes out and you're all like...boom shakalaka :)

A Week of Firsts

You guys...I touched a cow for basically the first time this week! And as it turns out, I'm a little scared of them...and I am not kidding, more scared of them than I am of ALLIGATORS! Give me an 8 footer any day over a cow! Ugh, I am dreading my month long food animal rotation this fall. Don't get me wrong, cows are super cute and I will never eat them, but I also never want to touch them. I did get a kick out of listening to the heart and rumen (especially when they tubed her and I heard bubbles in the rumen), but other than that I mostly watched everyone else do the more hands-on activities. I really don't know why I'm scared of them. I guess the fact that I feel so small next to them contributes to the fear, and they kind of just fling their bodies and heads around everywhere. But then again a killer whale is a whole lot larger and more dangerous, yet nope...no fear of them at all! Sigh. Maybe I'm just weird :) But really, is this not terrifying?!?!

On a less scary note, I also built my first snowman this week! It was on my bucket list, so I feel a little more complete now that I've checked that off. She turned out slightly skinny...she just wasn't blessed with the curves that most snow-women have, hahaha
 

 

Harriet :)

 

           Morgan's snow dragon. Kiiiiind of amazing.

The Typical Week of a Vet Student

I recently got asked what a typical week in veterinary school is like. It definitely varies from year to year, week to week, and person to person. I likely over-study for exams so if you're one of those people who doesn't have to study as much {lucky you}, then you'll have much more free time than I do!

First year: we were in class a lot more, from 9-12 Monday through Thursday, as well as afternoon labs. Most days I didn't get home until 5 and I would spend the remainder of the evening studying. Fridays were exam days, so I would usually just take the weekend to get caught up. I went to most social events throughout the year.

Second year: a little more hectic. We still had class from 9-12 and afternoon courses most days. I'm pretty sure exams were mostly on Fridays, so again that freed up the weekend and still allowed me to attend social events.

Third year: free time was extremely limited last semester. My busiest weeks would look something like this:

Monday
     7AM: discharge surgery patient
     8AM: exam
     10-12: lecture
     12-1: examine incoming surgery patient
     1-4: study and prepare for this week's surgery role
     5-6: SOAP surgery patient
     6-9: study
Tuesday
     715: SOAP surgery patient    
     8-12: lecture
     2-3: lecture
     3-5: study
     5-6: SOAP surgery patient
     6-9: study
Wednesday
     715: SOAP surgery patient
     8-12: lecture
     12-5: surgery (sometimes stayed until as late as 8)
     1030PM: back to school to SOAP and medicate surgery patient
Thursday
     715: SOAP surgery patient         
     8-12: lecture
     Afternoon off to study
     5-6: SOAP surgery patient
Friday
     715: SOAP surgery patient 
     8-11: lecture
     11-12: exam
     2-5: clinical skills (communication training, equine exams)
     5-6: SOAP surgery patient
     6-8: study
Weekends - SOAP surgery patient at 8AM and 5PM, study for Monday exams

This semester is truly nothing compared to last. I feel like I have tons of free time, and I'm so much less stressed! I also feel like I'm absorbing the information much more easily. A typical week this semester is something like this:

Monday
     8-12: lecture
     Remainder of day free to study
Tuesday
    8-12: lecture
    1-3: surgical skills lab
    3-9: study
Wednesday: same as Monday
Thursday
    8-9: exam
    10-12: lecture
    Remainder of day free to study
Friday
     8-9: exam
    10-11: lecture
    1-2: lecture

We have occasional afternoon labs {maybe 2-4 per month} which are hands on, clinical skills labs that are way less stressful and a lot more enjoyable than surgery labs last semester! I take Friday afternoons off, and sometimes {like today} all day Saturday off. I feel like I was able to accomplish so much in so little time last semester that I can afford to take some time to enjoy myself now! I'll pretty much study all day Sunday {8AM-8PM} with short breaks. And I actually have time to exercise and go out for dinner and drinks with friends. So it's definitely doable most of the time to fit exercise and social time into your calendar.

Just kidding! Well, kind of...I will be straight forward and tell you that it's extremely easy to get burnt out. My number one tip would be to MAKE time, no matter how little, for some relaxation and activities that don't involve veterinary medicine! If you're still in undergrad, I'd definitely recommend working on time management skills. It's a HUGE part of being successful in vet school.

Well, I hope this has helped you pre-vetters to get a little bit of a better idea as to what vet school weeks are like! If you want to see more posts like this, subscribe via email in the box to your right!

Three Day Week? Yes, Please!

I am totally fine with a 3 day school week. We had two snow days last week, and I was so thankful because I needed the extra study time! Plus I got to experience my first real winter storm! I'm definitely not a fan of winter, but it was kinda nice watching the snow fall. And SO MUCH SNOW FELL!

 

This was a beast to clean off...

 

 

I'm clearly a superb snowman builder...{yep, those are granola flakes for eyes!}

All this snow has made me a little bit home sick...while we're enduring wind chills of -10 on some days, my Florida friends and family get to walk outside in shorts and tanks with their highs of 70-80 degrees! I can't even remember the last time I wore shorts! And I really hate not being able to take Rhyley on walks {she's not a huge fan of snow} or open my windows and let fresh air in {unless I want to freeze to death}. Getting a little bit of cabin fever!

Speaking of Florida, I've been thinking a lot about where I want to end up when I graduate. Originally I thought I would refuse to live anywhere other than San Diego, but the older I'm getting the more I'm realizing how important it is for me to be near family. A few of my family members are dealing with some health issues and I hate being far away and not able to see them. I do see San Diego in my future, but as of now my plan is to get a job either in Tampa Bay or the Clearwater area {or obviously Orlando if I land an awesome job at a theme park! I've seen enough snow to last me a lifetime!

It isn't easy being a vet student's pet...

ESPECIALLY when said vet student is also a total hypochondriac! Whenever I think something may be wrong with me I do a lot of research on whatever the condition is to help myself "make a diagnosis". Ridiculous, I know, and of course none of the things I think are wrong me ever are actually afflicting me {except paranoia!} but my anxiety transfers over to my dog's health too. So anyway, when I saw this brown mole type lesion on her butt, my brain is screaming MELANOMA! So we took a trip to the vet school today to have the spot checked out {and yeah, I snap photos of my dog's butt and post them on the internet...hahah, totally normal}! Thankfully the doctor didn't seem concerned about it because it isn't raised or invasive, so we'll just watch it to make sure it doesn't grow. Oh and the vet mentioned how "observant" I am...I'll take that as a compliment and pretend they didn't think I was a total weirdo for checking out my dog's butt!

The second reason I brought her in is because I noticed she has gotten a lot thinner since we got back home from Florida. I've had Rhyley on a weight management diet for roughly a year now, and she only dropped half a pound in that time frame, but recently I could tell she had lost the fat pads over the her ribs and her abdominal tuck is more obvious. So we weighed her today and in the past month, she has lost 1.6 pounds - TWELVE PERCENT OF HER BODY WEIGHT! I haven't restricted her food intake at all and she's exercising even less now that it's winter. I think that's a substantial amount in a short time frame for a small dog, so we ran a CBC/chem/UA to see if there is anything obvious and we'll go from there. It just alarmed me because I haven't been actively trying to get her to lose weight. I hope nothing is wrong but at the same time I'm not sure how that much weight loss could happen for no reason. It'd be great if she did just "magically" lose the weight though because she's actually right at her ideal BCS!

My crazy little girl :)

But anyway, I just ask that you keep my pup in your prayers, or at least send her some good vibes if praying isn't your thing! 

UPDATE:  Rhyley's lab work, including her T4, came back normal! Such good news! I'll bring her back to the clinic for a weight recheck in about 3 weeks. Hopefully she maintains her weight so we don't have to do any more diagnostics!

How to Get an Internship

I recently shared my blog with the pre-veterinary society at UCF and got a pretty great response, including a few PMs from students. {FYI, I'll be acquiring questions and placing them here, with links back to the response blog post!} I thought I'd start out with a question I received about getting internships and vet experience in general. Hopefully my advice isn't totally lousy and helps at least one person out :)

So I know that it's a tough situation to be in when you're first starting out, because many places won't hire without previous experience. So where do you begin? As for me, I spent hours applying to every veterinary clinic within a 20 mile radius of my apartment. Mostly it's just luck {and a lot of praying}, but you have to sincerely try. It took me about 3 months to find my first veterinary job in Orlando. Apply, get interviews, dress professionally and take it seriously. Hand your application and resume in to the office manager and introduce yourself! Call and follow up. Show them that even though you don't have experience, you want to pursue vet med for reasons other than just loving animals. Another option is to get started by volunteering at your local animal shelter. Most will offer a brief training course after which you can serve as an adoption counselor. That's at least something you can put on your resume to show that you have the ability to work around dogs and cats, and there may even be a staff veterinarian you could shadow occasionally.

Once you have a basic work foundation down, you can start applying to internships. Honestly, it's pretty hard to get internships without any previous experience because you often need multiple letters of reference. For specific internship opportunities where you live, the pre-veterinary student doctor forum is really helpful! Once you've found a few places to apply, your next step is to create a winning resume. As a side note, if you need help creating a resume or would like for me to critique yours, feel free to contact me by clicking the "contact" link above and sending me a PM! I'm kind of obsessed with perfecting my resume and it's a really important component of applying to internships, especially more popular and competitive places such as Animal Kingdom because you really want to stand out in a giant pile of applications.

The last major suggestion I have is to practice for your interviews. Have an idea of what to say when they ask you why you want the internship, what you see yourself doing in five years, and of course the typical questions like what are your strengths and weaknesses. Show that you are serious about getting into this field and passionate about the medicine aspect of the job (and have a reason for that too).

And most importantly, be persistent and don't give up!

What about my vet student readers? Do you have any other tips or tricks for pre-vets?
 

Advanced Equine Lab

The extent of my horse knowledge prior to vet school was that I watched a vet float a horse's teeth and clean out a wound. That's it! Which means I'm definitely a little uncomfortable around them as far as not knowing how to handle them or act around them. So I decided to sign up for the advanced lab and I'm glad I did! We observed how to pass a nasogastric tube and I was able to place a jugular catheter. And I finally located the digital pulses! For some reason I've always had a hard time finding them. We learned some other things like how to wrap a bandage on the leg, how to remove a shoe, and talked about different medications used to sedate horses. Totally worth the two hours! Even though I don't necessarily see myself working with horses, I can probably carry over the knowledge to species like the zebra which I do hope to one day work with :)

This is my friend Keira's horse Danny, he's just a little bit adorable :)

A light at the end of the tunnel...

...well, at least at the end of the lecture learning tunnel! Eight years of college have already flown by, and in just 4 months we'll be learning in clinics. It definitely makes me nervous but I'm excited for the change.

Since I didn't have time to post much last semester, let me summarize it in one word: HELL. Or what I imagine hell would be like...I had truly never been more stressed out in my entire life. Thanks to weekly surgeries and Monday/Friday exams, I had zero rest or relaxation. No weekends off, no evenings off. It was really rough but by the grace of God I made it through, and I really did learn a lot so at least there's that! Nobody said it'd be easy...

In other news, I thought I'd post a list of our last round of classes since that seems to be a tradition of mine. They're mostly food animal/equine focused this semester. We have surgery 2 (large animal), medicine 2 and 3 (one small animal, one equine), practice management/finance, nutrition, clinical pharmacology, advanced exotic animal medicine, public health, and surgical skills. Sounds a little intense but so far I've had way more free time than last semester (granted we are only 2 weeks in). We have Thursday/Friday exams, which means I can use Friday evenings to refresh my brain and recharge. We also only had one equine castration for the semester, which I've already completed. It was pretty exciting and was on a client owned horse! We just have a few more afternoon labs - an advanced equine lab this week, small animal ophtho and a few food animal handling labs later in the semester. It's nice to touch a live animal every now and then :)

Our first surgery exam is coming up this Thursday, the day after my birthday of course. As if that isn't lame enough, Kansas is VERY sweet and has planned a low of 5 degrees for me on my birthday... -_- Bah! Can't wait till spring gets here! It's actually slightly above 50 today though, so time to head out for a walk with Rhyley!

Oh and before I forget - please check out my flickr account by clicking this link! I've had it for 4 years now and always forget to mention it on here. I've recently had some really great opportunities to shoot photos of wildlife in Florida, so check it out if you're interested :)

Just breathe....

Quick blog entry while watching the spay video to say....I'M KIND OF FREAKING OUT.

Whoever said third year is "easier" than second is kind of insane. My day tomorrow consists of a 200 point exam from 8 to 9, class from 9 to 12, a clinical skills lab from 12 to 1 (no lunch break for me), and then a lab from 1 to 4. And unlike a full time job, I can't come home and relax. I have to study for my next exams, because I have another one this Friday, and another one next Monday, and another one next Friday...and the Monday after that. Sounds fictitious, yeah?! And then throw in my first surgery in the middle of it all. And externship applications. And maybe a shower or two...

Not quite sure how I'm going to make it through this, but the thought of having to pay another 25 grand to repeat this semester is enough to kick my butt into gear! Doesn't mean I'm not panicking though. Where is time travel when you need it?! I could use an extra 12 hours in a day...

And back to it.

That moment when...

...you finally get how to do a hand tie

It's the little things, people.

3 weeks in to 3rd year!

Well it's official. The weekly tests have begun! Today we had our first medicine exam, which actually went fairly well. It was over endocrinology, which I really enjoy, so what I was most stressed about was the time constraint. Up until now, we've had at least a few hours to take exams. Now we have 50 minutes. This exam was 60 questions, so I was really scared I wasn't going to finish in time. I kind of just flew through the questions and picked whatever answer matched closest to my first instinct rather than slowly reading through them and analyzing each option. Luckily I had just enough time to go back through slowly and confirm my choices, so it wasn't so bad. Definitely pressures me to REALLY know my stuff though, because there is no extra time for pondering over questions I don't know!

So these first three weeks have been relatively uneventful, but here's what has happened so far. We entered the senior rotation "lottery" system. What that basically means is we picked what rotations are the most important to us (EXOTICS!) and entered our preferred dates for our core rotations. I spent WAY too much time thinking about it, but overall I'm pretty happy with what I chose. Food animal and equine before the NAVLE (because those are what I'm least familiar with), a week of vacation before the NAVLE for studying, anesthesia FAR away from the NAVLE (way too much stress to have to worry about both at the same time), and I attempted to leave open a 6 week block (unlikely to happen) for an off campus externship. For my on campus electives, I chose exotics, advanced surgery, and cardiology. I REALLY need to start working on my externship applications though. There are so many places I want to apply to! The NMMP, San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld, CROW, the marine mammal center...I actually have a list of about 60 places I'd like to apply to, but that's slightly unrealistic so I need to work on narrowing that down, getting my LORs, and perfecting my CV. Most applications are due Oct/Nov, but ultimately I'd like to have everything done before I start surgery.

And speaking of surgery...MY FIRST ONE IS OCTOBER 9TH! I'm a little bit nervous. Okay, I'm really nervous. I don't know why...I've watched a million spays, and even assisted with one. And a neuter is really no big deal. I guess my biggest worry is dropping a pedicle. I have anxiety on a regular basis, so of course I'm going over all the things that could go wrong in my head. How do I break down the ligaments without rupturing arteries? What if I can't even FIND the ovary? What if I faint?! Oh Lord, please don't let me be the one who faints. Or vomits from nerves. I would just die. But seriously, it is HOT when you're scrubbed in. I don't doubt that I will be drenched in sweat (and I will be layering on the deodorant!). But yeah, it should be fine though...it's a part of vet school I know myself and the vast majority of my class has been anticipating for a long time, so it'll be a great experience :) I'm excited to find out what kind of dog I get! While the small dog-lover in me wants something like a chihuahua or OBVIOUSLY a min pin, I'll take whatever I can get :)


So far we've learned about anesthesia induction and monitoring, and this week we learn surgical techniques - what types of instruments we'll use, different suture patterns, how to scrub in, etc. And next week is our lab practical and the following week we do a mock surgery. To be honest, I'm usually kind of bad about really keeping up with classes. I tend to just start studying everything a week prior to the exam (rather than reviewing every day, which really is impossible anyway), but for surgery.......no. Keeping up is a good idea mainly because an animal's life is at stake if I don't know what I'm doing, but also because the professors LOVE to call out random names and ask them a question in front of the whole class. Nothing like looking like a moron in front of 100 and something classmates :) LOVE IT. I actually haven't been called on yet, but I know it's coming. I can feel it in my bones!

Alright, back to work! But first...

Last few days of summer!

Well, it has officially been over four months since my last post, so I figured I would try to update this thing while I still have some time :)

Second year ended pretty well for me, despite the fact of how stressful it was. It's like you get to this point where your brain literally will not comprehend things because you have crammed so much information into it. It even becomes hard to hold a normal conversation that doesn't involve school, hahah. Luckily this summer has helped me regain my ability to act a little more like a normal human being :)

So speaking of this summer, it has flown by WAY too quickly! Sea Vet was incredible, I met and learned from some very esteemed aquatic animal veterinarians, got to play with dolphins and work with manatees, and finally was able to see Winter the dolphin in person (she's incredible, btw - I definitely recommend going to Clearwater to see her!). We learned so many different things - dolphin surgery, cetacean, sea turtle, sting ray, shark, and manatee medicine, ophthalmology of marine animals, health assessments and a whole lot more. I loved every minute of it! :) After that was over, I had Brittney's wedding to go to which, believe it or not, was the first wedding I've ever been to, and I was a maid of honor for the first time too! It was one of the most fun events I've ever been to, and I could not be happier for my best friend. I've actually known her now-husband since we were like 5 years old, and I've known Brittney since we were 10, so it was amazing to see them joined in marriage! A few days after that I started my job at Banfield, which has already come and gone. Despite some of the negative things I've heard about the student job program, I actually really enjoyed it. It definitely helped that I love the people I worked with. They have amazing attitudes and I know that they're passionate about what they do and take it seriously, but still know how to have fun. Besides my lovely coworkers, I gained a TON of experience. When I started out I was a little rusty on my small animal skills because I've been working with marine animals for so long now. I feel so much more confident now in basic skills - prepping for surgery and monitoring anesthetic depth, drawing blood, restraining animals, having good communication with clients, asking the right questions to get a good history, what types of diagnostics are good for certain clinical signs, reading radiographs, reading cytological samples and a whooooooole lot more. I saw a lot of interesting (and some terrifying at the time) cases that will definitely stick in my mind for a long time - suture dehiscence, death from parvo (VACCINATE YOUR PETS!), open pyometra (SPAY YOUR PETS!), osteosarcoma, heartworm positive animals, liver cancer, liver failure, mastitis, pyelonephritis, foreign body removals, CHF...I'm sure there are tons more I just can't think of right now but my time at Banfield really helped me feel more prepared for the future and I'm glad I decided to spend my summer the way I did! I managed to stuff some fun in there too - obviously some trips to the beach, Sea World, Disney, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood studios (tried to get my roller coasters fix while I can) and seeing my friends whenever possible! It has been nice to be home, but I'm starting to get really excited to go back to school. I miss my apartment so much that I actually had a dream last night that I was back in it..hahah. I'm getting a little stressed out looking at our schedule for the fall but we get to do so many new and exciting things so I'm pretty ready to get started! My schedule consists of general medicine, food animal medicine, exotic animal medicine, surgery (!!!!), theriogenology, ethics, clinical skills, lab diagnosis, and pain management classes. We finally get to spay and neuter pets, learn how to perform physical exams, draw blood (which thanks to this summer I now feel pretty pro at), learn how to communicate with clients...and basically finally apply the knowledge we've acquired over the past two years and through our experiences. I AM PUMPED!

So I'll try keeping this updated a little more frequently this year, since it should be a little bit more fun/interesting than the past two years of sitting in a classroom all day ;) For now I'm off to enjoy my last 3 days in Florida...I get to ride a horse for the first time tomorrow!

Oh and I may have fallen in love with bats this summer...probably because their faces remind me of Rhyley HAH! Anybody else see the resemblance?!