Running and Running and Running

I think I broke myself today. I finished the longest run of my life a little while ago (15 miles plus a little bit), and I am exhausted. Everything hurts, my lungs fell out, and I think I have frostbite. Well... not really... but I did two *just under* 8 mile loops (so I could use the bathroom if I needed to) and thank God because I needed running tights and gloves after one round! It didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would - my knee and ankle are holding up decently, I actually felt like I could keep going after I got home the second time, so that is an improvement from the 13 miles two weeks ago!

Our small animal surgery exam was today, I feel sort of awful about it - but I'm sure that it will be fine. It isn't worth too many points, and there are a lot of online quizzes that add up to a lot.

Ugh, I need a shower... and food!

Client communication... and sickness.

We worked yesterday as always - but KJ woke up in a state of dying (he NEVER gets sick) so once we got to work, I told him it was okay with me if he sat in his mom's office and slept unless we needed him. It ended up being a pretty uneventful day, thankfully. We work with two other people on Saturdays, even though it doesn't feel like it because they still need supervision. Its been many months since they started working there, so I don't get it... but thats not what I want to talk about. As frustrating as it is and as much as I want to tear out my hair or punch a wall, I deal with it and stay incredibly busy doing the jobs of multiple people. I don't mean to sound conceited, but hopefully you get the idea. You've probably worked with people like this before.

As KJ sat in the back slowly slipping into a sleep coma, I ran all the lab tests (CBC, Chem, UA, fecals, etc), I held all the animals for both doctors, filled every single prescription... and still checked in/out half of the clients. I really actually did KJ's jobs and mine (plus part of theirs), so I was exhausted by the end. At one point, KJ crawled into the car and sat for an hour with the heat up as high as it could go. When I finished up, I came outside and opened the car door and a heat wave overcame me. Poor guy.

The day did have some good parts - mini dachshund puppy (11 weeks) that only comes on Saturdays for boosters. I LOVE HER. She has a dapple coat and is just beautiful. Plus, she weighs all of 4 pounds. She totally made my day - plus her owner is a tall, big guy - and always comes in holding her in his arms. ADORABLE!

I also made friends with another really sweet Rottweiler - the owner was in last week with her other Rottie and I charmed the collar off of that sweet dog, so I think the woman liked me when I gave her other dog the same attention. Plus, she was glad that I was the one holding her in the room.

It is so nice to see clients over and over again and have them recognize me and vice versa. I can't wait to start building my client base - plus, KJ and I are really blessed to be walking into such a successful, busy clinic. The clients adore his mother and are very glad that her son (and me) will be taking over so that it "stays in the family". The business is a family owned one, and I intend to keep it that way. Although I have worked in "corporate vet med" - I enjoy our version of vet med better. That is strictly my opinion - there are definitely benefits to the corporate run animal hospitals, it just isn't my thing.

VetPrep and Shy/Khloe

Months ago, my class was sent an email about applying to be the VetPrep student rep. If you got the position, you got a free subscription to VetPrep and a few minor responsibilities - worth at least $269. I finally got an email today asking if I wanted to accept position. Maybe I was the only one to apply, maybe not - but I get a free VetPrep subscription which is AMAZING and saves me $269 of my own money! I'm pretty pumped about this one - for those not in the know, VetPrep is a very popular online study tool for the NAVLE (our version of a national board exam). I know many, many of the fourth years used it to study this year and all recommended it, so that is at least some money saved toward actually paying to take the pricey exam.

Also, I found out from the hospital yesterday that I qualify for 100% coverage for all of my summer medical bills (shattered finger, had a plate and screws put in, rehab). That situation cost a pretty $3000 out of pocket (and insurance covered A LOT), so that is LOVELY, LOVELY news.

Also, we started the online raffle to (hopefully) raise the rest of the money for Shy/Khloe's surgery. I'm constantly impressed by animal people. They are incredibly generous, selfless individuals - words cannot express my gratitude toward all of those donors and all those involved in the raffle set-up. I hope to one day return the favor.

Information about the raffle can be found at Two Pitties in the City.


If you are interested in donating and being entered into the raffle, please visit the ChipIn page for Shy/Khloe.
ChipIn Page.

I spoke with our Ophthalmologist about Shy/Khloe and he recommended a 30 day pre-op antibiotic - I'm tempted to try to start her on it, but I refuse until we hit the goal. I'm thinking positively, but I don't want to count my chickens if you know what I mean. I can't wait to finally announce that the goal has been reached and for the pretty girl to have vision again so she can clearly see her new world and family.

89% of the way there!

I spayed a Bitch

Please don't be offended... but I did. And I liked it! Although she is my second spay, this one will be very memorable for years to come. First of all, she is a super adorable spaniel mix that was very scared and submissive initially - but definitely warmed up to us by the end :) I was sad to see her go without being adopted.

She had no other issues, other than being an intact female. She didn't defecate before surgery, so when we palpated the abdomen, we thought we were feeling feces. She also didn't urinate before surgery and we were unable to empty her bladder before inducing her(because, hey, we still don't really know if we are feeling bladder or not). I made my initial incision and immediately saw the linea alba because she had no subcutaneous fat.

(Hallelujah!)

I went through body wall and was immediately introduced to her bladder.

(Damn it.)

I learned how to express the bladder intraabdominally, which was cool. And good to know (you squeeze it... it empties... pretty basic). I then attempted to locate the uterus. I tried manually and with the spay hook... no dice.

(Damn it again.)

I continued looking. Still nothing. I located the broad ligament over and over - and could feel it attached, but there was no uterus.

(Damn it, Damn it, Damn it).

I searched visually and with my hands... I thought I felt the kidney, I thought I felt dilated colon filled with feces, but for the life of me, the uterus continued to evade me. Because that is the nature of women - we are difficult, but intriguing creatures. I even saw a huge, pulsating artery that looked really neat, but wasn't helpful in my uterine quest. A surgical resident was walking around, so I asked him to see if he could see anything - he told me I most likely was holding broad ligament, so the uterus should be "right there". It most definitely was not. Another surgical resident stopped by, and she offered to glove in and assist. I really dislike not being able to do things on my own and I knew the anatomy and what I was looking for... the uterus was just hiding! Silly, silly uterus. She starts looking and moving things around and says, "well, you may not have a uterus."

(DAMN IT!)

She says that she's looking for the stumps to confirm that she was spayed previously. My group had initially looked for a spay scar and not seen one... but again, what do we really know at this point? Then she stops and just says, "Oooooooooh, you do have a uterus."

(Hurray! I get to do surgery!)

She pulls it out and IT. IS. HUGE. She is obviously pregnant with 7 fetuses. My "colon" that I had been feeling? Uterus. The "kidney" I though I palpated cranially? Uterus. My group was shocked.

Hopefully I'm not coming off as too much of an idiot right now, but when you have only done one other spay, you don't have a lot of experience to base your second one on. I removed the uterus, and we were told to inject Fatal Plus into each of the sacs that the fetuses were in (excuse my lack of vet terminology, my brain is filled with radiology knowledge for my upcoming exam this morning). I did the spay as you'd normally do it - I just took extra care because of the increased vasculature. Oh, and that cool, pulsating artery? Uterine artery. Right up against the uterus that I ran away from me earlier.

After we had recovered our patient and she was warm and safely back in her run, we gloved up and tried to see how big the fetuses were. They ended up being only about the size of my pinky fingernail and a gooey mess of gelatinous tissue. Not really "puppy-like" at that early of pregnancy. But it was fun when one of my groupmates incised the uterus and a stream of fluid shot into the air... and we screamed in surprise. Just another reason to wear face masks in junior surgery! Apparently the screaming didn't go over well - a doctor came flying by to see why we were screaming in the middle of surgery...

Hypothyroid... Or Not.

Ben is not hypothyroid. This is good and bad for a couple of reasons.

1. This proves he really is that mentally dull and it isn't due to a metabolic disorder.
2. He doesn't have to be on real life-long meds yet (but he is on diphenhydramine BID due to skin issues and having a Grade 2 mast cell tumor removed last year).
3. When he acts like he wants to play at the farm and refuses to walk down the hill, we will actually have to get mad at him instead of blaming an unknown disease.

We actually found out the results of the test last week, but last night I found this blog and I started crying because I was laughing so hard - Hyperbole and a Half. Check it out - you'll cry too if you have dogs like mine.

So, we now have a "slow" dog (Ben) and an actual mentally retarded dog (Jasmine). Excuse my political incorrectness, but in light of this new blog that I found, I will be using this terminology to describe Jasmine. Its like the blogger wrote it about Jasmine. The cartoon even looks like Jasmine.

*Sigh*

Oh Jazz, I love you to death and I wouldn't change anything about you. Even if you are damn near impossible to train. I am just a bad owner and need to learn not leave my backpack on the floor so you can eat cough drops... and jolly ranchers... and blowpops... and my entire lunch... and the fortune cookie that I really wanted to each today... and the empty girl scout cookie box. Jazz recently learned how to open my backpack and lunchbox, so it is always interesting to come home and see what she has gotten into... I really need to learn to put EVERYTHING I OWN in my office and that NOTHING IS SAFE in the living room.

Saturday Morning Crazies. Part 1.

I LOVE working on Saturday mornings. I have worked every Saturday morning since third year started, minus two - 1. I ran a half marathon and 2. I visited my undergrad for the alum swim meet. I'm completely, dead serious. I love it. Do you know why? Because I love crazy people. Some people get frustrated with the crazies, some people get angry and curse the crazies... but me? No, I embrace them. "Oh, Mrs. Nutter! We have a cancellation this morning! Please bring your mini-poodle-mutt and even tinier chihuahua-land-shark for vaccines! I know we have a lot of openings later in the week like you requested, but today is the perfect day to come in and entertain me!" I just like the interactions with these folks. It really makes the morning exciting and something to look forward to in the coming hours.

For example, Mrs. Forget-Me-Not came in with her 65 year old cat that weighs about 2 ounces and is literally dying in front of her. It sounds like this will be a sad story, but the cat is still alive as far as I know and the docs have recommended many, many times to euthanize the cat because he isn't eating and cries when he walks. Yes, I feel awful for the cat, but that's not the point of the story. She was sitting in the waiting room while KJ and I were talking in the pharmacy around the corner with his mom. Mrs. F-M-N starts talking about "the owner and her son and his fiance". She asks the girls about us and how far we are in school and how she spent her last visit talking to the "owner's son's fiance" all about vet school and life in general. The girls say my name and she agrees with them and "yes, thats the girl I talked to". She keeps talking for awhile, and I finally come out because I've heard my name 20+ times at this point. I say hi to her and smile and she says, "I was just talking to the girls about HP and KJ, what a lucky couple they are to have each other and be in school together!" I must have looked confused but without even thinking, I blurted out, "but I'M HP". Then she looked VERY confused and didn't say anything for a few seconds and asked, "So how's school, how far along are you?" Whaaaaat? No... no, no, crazy lady, I've never seen you before and you obviously have no idea who I am, so I'm not sure which other HP you previously talked to, because I'm the only female that works there that is currently in school.

YES! Crazy person interaction 1!

Later in the morning, I was holding a sweet little 6 pound mixed breed with bat ears (very, very sweet by the way - she fell asleep in my arms while future mom-in-law doc drew up vaccines) for a blood draw. Her owner, Mrs. In-Your-Face, was holding her poodle mix (whose blood we'd already drawn) like a baby and put her face within a millimeter of Sweet Bat Dog that I was holding. First of all, I'm not big on needing personal space and I don't get claustrophobic, but this lady was basically standing in my shoes and leaning on me while I held sweet bat dog. I mean, that's further than I've gone with some first dates. I rolled the vein, KJ's mom got ready to draw blood and said "I'm a little uncomfortable with the fact that your face is touching your dogs while I'm about to take blood." Mrs. I-Y-F doesn't move, and while gazing lovingly into Sweet Bat Dogs eyes, says "Oh no, Sweet Bat Dog doesn't bite."

KJ's mom: You know, I've seen plenty of nice dogs snap when getting their blood drawn - I've even seen someone get bitten right on the nose standing exactly where you are standing.
Mrs. I-Y-F: Its okay, Sweet Bat Dog won't bite, I'm not worried.
KJ's mom: I can't draw blood with you standing this close. Really.

Yes, YES, YESSS! Crazy person interaction 2! A two-fer in a four hour work day = SUCCESS.

Really Mrs. In-Your-Face? I get you love your dog, and now you love me too judging by your proximity, but maybe for the 20 seconds it takes to get blood, you could just back off and avoid having your nose bitten off? I swear, you can have your dog back and you can make kissy faces all you want as soon as we're done.

I can't wait to spend 90% of my waking hours next year after graduation actually working instead of being in school. I know I'll get frustrated, and my love of crazies may wane a bit, but I hope I never lose my love of crazy people. Ever.

UnOFfIcial

Oh yes, today is that magical once a year U of I made up holiday where everyone drinks green beer starting at the crack of dawn. KJ and I went over to one of the bars and drank our green beer and had lunch with friends... but then had to go to class at 1... so a few beers later, we are in class (Advanced Dermatology). It is an elective that I don't really have to take (I have more than enough credits) but one that I thought would be interesting and very useful. However, in the middle of the afternoon on Unofficial St. Patty's Day, I'm not really feeling the school vibe. Oh well - you really can't learn enough about derm if you plan on going into small animal medicine (especially our topic of the day - pruritis).

A friend of KJ's and mine is hosting a giveaway on her blog: 906 E. Chic. So if you love Pier One and would like to follow her stylish and vintage blog, you can be entered in her giveaway :)

Happy Unofficial! We have two exams coming up next week in Ruminant and Radiology, so this weekend will be filled with lots of quality library time :) Only 23 days left of real class!