Stressed, Surgery.. and Naughty Dogs

I feel like I'm under a world of stress these upcoming two weeks. Today was our poultry final (thank God that class is over, hope we all passed). Wednesday is our Critical Care final. Friday is our Ruminant and Small Animal Surgery finals. Monday is our Radiology final and Tuesday is our Large Animal Surgery final. Tuesday afternoon is our white coat ceremony (which signifies our transition from a third-year-classroom-student into a fourth-year-clinical-rotation-almost-doctor), Sunday is Easter and Monday starts clinics!

YIKES SCHOOL.

Plus, we have a case presentation due, and ICU case to turn in, a handful of online quizzes due at random times, and surgery responsibilities this week and next week. PLUS, I am trying to catch up on emails and plan my visit for home in a couple of weeks and plan our trip this weekend for the wedding in Michigan (right before finals... GREAT).

Anyway, I had my third spay yesterday on a sweet beagle that reminds me of our 18 year old family dog, Gypsy. She is about 2, has clearly had puppies before and happened to be in heat. Surgery was very uneventful compared to my pregnancy surprise four weeks ago, which was nice, so I took it as another opportunity to better my surgical skills. I located the linea like a champ and found the left uterine horn on my first attempt.

The only odd thing to happen was bleeding from "external" structures - which was coming from outside of the body, such as the ovarian artery after the left ovary and uterine horn were exteriorized - so we just clamped the artery since we were removing the structure anyway. Our surgery tech walked by and asked if she was in heat (which she was) because of all the blood on the drapes and offered to bring more sponges, but we just replied "It looks MUCH worse than it actually is!" And it did - there was no blood in the abdominal gutters, no blood anywhere IN the abdominal cavity - we only used four gauze squares for the whole surgery, but it just looked like a mess on the drapes.

All-in-all, a successful surgery - patient woke up a little cold (98 degrees), but was conscious and wanting to move around after we tried to warm her with the heating blanket and towels, so her and I took a few laps around the surgery ward to increase her temperature. She said hello to a few groups and by the third go around, her temperature was 99.7 and increasing, so she got to go back to her run and sleep for the rest of the day.

I always breathe a sigh of relief when I check on my patient a few hours later and they are doing well. Then I check again a few hours after that... and again early the next morning, and so on. I just want to make sure my animal survives :)

I was on a high after finishing surgery and I studied for the rest of the morning and afternoon. KJ and I got lunch on campus (Chipotle for me and hot dogs for him) and we chatted for awhile, prolonging our break from studying for poultry. Around 5:30, I decided to go home to let the dogs out and feed the zoo. I get home and Jazz doesn't meet me at the door which is VERY strange. I see her trembling in fear on the couch... so I know she did something wrong. I see little black plastic remnants on the floor, which look like a plastic bag was ripped to shreds. I wondered what she had gotten into this time as I tried to read the writing on the plastic, but it looked to be written in German. I then happened to glance down the hallway and see a HUGE (20+ in diameter) pool of BLUE vomit with blue chunks. At that point, I saw a cardboard box sitting on the floor that was missed a corner (eaten by Jazz) which contained an opened bag of blue paintballs

Oh crap.

I immediately rushed over to her and checked her mucous membrane color and CRT (capillary refill time) - those indicate perfusion and oxygenation. She was pale, slightly tacky, and CRT = 2.5 to 3 seconds. Her abdomen was significantly distended and hard as a rock. I checked the cardboard box with paintballs again - the bag was mostly full, so she hadn't consumed that many of them. Plus, she had vomited - another good sign.

(What did I learn about paintball toxicity in toxicology? Didn't we just learn about this in critical care?)

So, I freaked out. I called the animal hospital immediately, talked to Dr. MD and she suggested I call Dr. SH, since she used to work at the ASCPA poison control - I couldn't get a hold of her, so I call my friend JA, who worked as poison control over the summer and is super smart - she told me that paintballs are an osmotic and cause hypernatremia along with other signs. Jazz and I jumped in the car and drove to the animal hospital where they calmed me down and gave subcutaneous fluids and ran electrolytes (specifically checking her sodium level).

At this point, Jazz had really perked up, her color was great, CRT less than 2 - so I relaxed a bit. Her electrolytes were normal and she handled the visit like a pro. I decided to study at home for the rest of the night to keep my eye on her (obviously, I wasn't about to leave her so she could try to kill herself again...) - but I lose massive focus when I study at home. I finished going through my poultry notes, typed up my surgery report and waiting for Kyle to call so I could pick him up (he was still studying at school, even though he offered to come with me to the animal hospital and all at - I didn't think it was necessary for both of us to lose out on an afternoon of studying, especially since I'd already studied more than him for the exam).

All in all, a very long, exhausting and stressful day.

Furball Pictures

New collar photo shoot!




Awkward Jazz.


The boys, doing their usual thing.

Exciting news! And more to come!

I applied for the Pfizer Animal Health Veterinary Scholarship months ago, and today I found out that I was awarded it! It is for $2500, which will definitely go a long way! I was so bummed when the scholarship awards were distributed because I applied for a lot of them this year and didn't get anything. This definitely makes up for it!

Also, stay tuned for some very exciting news tomorrow at Two Pitties in the City.

I am slowly recovering from the nasty cold I've had for the past couple of weeks - I was able to run 6 miles (very slowly) on Tuesday and 9 miles (also kind of slowly) today. Since I am still recovering, I'm holding off on my long run until Sunday morning - they are calling for "54 degrees, cloudy, chance for rain", so I'll take my chances and cross my fingers that the rain holds out because 18 miles won't be fun in a downpour. I'll take a little light sprinkle though! I used to love rainy runs.

I'm also nursing a very mildly tweaked ankle from... tug-o-war. Yep, it is Vet Med Olympics time and KJ, our friend JW, and myself were our class's team captains for tug-o-war. Yesterday, we competed against each other within our respective classes and it was the longest, most difficult tug-o-war game I have ever experienced. EVER. It was minutes long - and my abs and back are killing me today. Plus, I rolled an ankle trying to dig into the grassy field during those tortuous minutes. We went up against the other classes and faculty today and won the "championship" - much easier than yesterday's match up, by the way - it just shows how awesome we are. I'm not competing in the other events - football, volleyball, softball, dodgeball, or basketball because I didn't want to hurt myself (I tend to overexert and injure myself quite frequently - I'm a huge klutz) and I ended up getting hurt in TUG-O-WAR! How ridiculous :) The culminating event of the week is the barcrawl on Saturday - it will definitely be great time!

Any other vet schools have fun events like this?

I think my fish finally died.

Marley, our dear clearance fish, has been "floating in limbo" for the last few months. So, we diagnosed him with a swim bladder problem with a secondary ick infection... I use the term "diagnose" very, very loosely :) He's been hanging vertically at the water line for a few months - but he'd occasionally eat and sometimes I'd find him swimming at the bottom, so I'm not entirely sure what his major malfunction was. Anyway, he stopped eating a long time ago, although I continued to pour food in the tank, semi-thinking that he might scour the bottom for food when we weren't home. The cats even lost interest in him since he pretty much quit swimming altogether. Every morning I tap on the tank to see if he flinches - he always does, so I know that he is alive. KJ and I considered "euthanizing" him... but 1. we thought it was weird because he is a fish, and 2. neither of us wanted to do it, and 3. we thought flushing him down the toliet was cruel, even in his half comatose state.

This morning, he was upside down floating at the bottom. I did my usual tap good morning - nothing. I did it again this afternoon - nothing. So, I officially call the day of death as today. RIP Marley, you were the greatest free fish we've ever had (the lady who sold us him at Meijer was too lazy to find out a price, so he officially became Marley, clearance fishie).

We're not too broken up about his passing - KJ just said, "oh yea?" when I told him I thought Marley had died. I tried to break it gently to the dogs and cats that one of their own had passed and I got a lot of blank stares, so I think they'll be okay. I think KJ wants more fish, maybe more than one at a time this time around, so the cats will be pretty pumped once they figure that out. After all, they didn't realize Marley was even there for the first year. Our animals aren't the brightest group of cats and dogs, but thats why I love them.

Also, Jazz's collar from Collar Mania came in the mail today - its a pink Burberry knock off pattern and SUPER CUTE, but I just put Revolution on them, so I'll take a picture once that dries :) I also need to order new tags, since her Boomerang collar tag won't fit on this new collar... I love buying new dog tags! I used to buy new ones every month from PetSmart, because Jazz loved to chew on metal when she was a pup (I told you they weren't bright animals...) and she was so flexible that she could chew on her own tags... Brilliant!

I also need to start looking for collars or something special for the dogs to wear in the wedding. We have a flower dog and canine ring bearer so they need to look GOOD! Any ideas?

Cows, They're whats for Dinner.

I love steak. This makes it difficult to sit in ruminant health class. It makes me hungry - is that weird? Unless we are looking at weird pathology pictures, in which case I totally lose my appetite for beef and move on to sushi... because I'm always hungry for sushi. In fact, I'm just always hungry. Its the driving force behind my working out and running.

Speaking of cows - I completely forgot that we have a ruminant health exam on Friday. My lovely week after Spring Break was just ruined by this fact. We have a zillion small animal surgery quizzes due this week and next that I've been chipping away at - I try not to procrastinate when it comes to really simple things. That way, I feel like I am still doing "school" work, but it is sort of fun because I get to look up all the answers and watch TV at the same time. Everybody wins.

We also have our poultry final next week. In case you were wondering, this doesn't make me hungry for chicken because the pictures are really gross. How about I promise to NEVER treat a chicken, and maybe they'll just let me pass the class? In fact, I'll even offer to NEVER treat a cow in practice in exchange for letting me become a fourth year in a few weeks? I'm just not production medicine oriented. I look at animals as family members, as members of society. Cows, pigs, chickens, etc are not pets (usually). I get the realities associated with economics and production - but it is not in my interests to factor those issues into medical care. Randomly choosing animals to cull to monitor disease spread and things of that nature is just not my cup of tea. Mad props to those large animal students and vets - the USDA needs you! America needs you! The world needs you!

Plus, I just really love steak and we need those vets to make sure my steaks are all right for eating :)

Welcome home Pittie smiles

I originally intended to spend a few days of spring break at home with my family. I planned on doing my 16 mile run on the trails that I used to frequent, but was super excited because I would get to explore many more of the trails with this extended distance. I planned on shopping at the outlet mall (I heart you, Vera Bradley - you are my version of a debilitating drug habit) and I planned on visiting this newly famous brewery, Two Brothers. I randomly discovered them at school and was happily surprised to find that they reside in my hometown... like down the street and around a corner.

What did I end up doing?

I took an adventure downtown on the train to meet some friends on the first day - I made the train by ONE MINUTE. I discovered my hair straightener was broken, took a minute to mourn, then realized that I was running late anyway. I then realized I needed money to park the car. I contemplated using the only bill I had (10 dollars) to pay for $1.25 parking, then decided I'd rather be late and drive to the city than do that, until I realized I had stolen 13 quarters from Kyle to pay for the parking meters at the gym. WIN. I dramatically swung into a spot, jumped out - and discovered that I am not a train conductor and I do not get the privilege of free parking. As I was putting money in the meter, I saw the train in the distance. So I ran and tried to play it cool as I approached the platform. I met my best friend from college at the train station for lunch since she works around the corner. When she had to leave, she walked me to Starbucks, as I was in great need of caffeine. Of course, there was no place to sit and read my new book, so I aimlessly wandered back to the train station and wasted 30 minutes waiting for one of my best college man friends to meet me to hang in the city. Since it was freezing out and I was completely inappropriately dressed for the 30 degree weather, we had coffee in the train station (I didn't know it was there earlier...) and then moved on to the train station bar. Thus, I successfully spent a complete afternoon in the train station, getting drunk on mocha lattes and miller lite. At this point, my throat started to burn and it was getting painful to talk, so I realized I might be getting sick.

That day, I learned that not only did I get to enjoy spring break, but my immune system was also going to enjoy spring break and take an extended vacation.

I did not get to enjoy a run on my trails... or any run for that matter. I didn't get to visit the brewery or go shopping. I did get to sit on the couch and watch quality shows like The Price is Right, Let's Make a Deal, The Newlywed Game, and the movie Knocked Up. Twice. I also attempted to be productive and work on some online surgery quizzed - since I was high on cold medicine, I'm a little scared to see what I put as the "correct answers" - but I'll worry about that later.

I broke free from the sickness haze this morning and attempted to drive home. Aside from almost plowing my car into the back of a tractor moving at 10 miles an hour (the semi in front of me maneuvered around it so quickly, I stared in shock and almost hit the tractor myself), I made it home in one piece and was greeted at the door by my handsome boy - not KJ, but my Benjamin Dog.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE pittie smiles? To some, they may appear ferocious - baring his teeth, moving his body in a crazy, haphazard fashion - but to me, they are smiles of the purest joy. It is the best way he knows how to show me how happy he is that I am returning home to him. He doesn't mind that I brought the beagle beast home with me, or that I am sick and dripping bodily fluids from my nose - he is satisfied by my mere presence. I laid on the couch to recover from my drive (since that was the most activity I'd done in days) and he laid next to me. I rubbed his big head until I started to fall asleep - he proceeded to talk pittie to me to tell me that I needed to keep petting him. He also kept rearranging himself to be as close to my face as physically possible. He's my good boy and a great friend :)

Last Spring Break... EVER.

Thank you again for all of your support and emails. I appreciate all of your caring words, I'm saving the emails/comments for a scrapbook that I am making for my (eventual) veterinary career - a way to look back when things get tough and for me to know that I am making a difference out there, no matter how small. The winners of the raffle will be announced Friday and items will be sent out shortly after!

I heard this quote today that made me smile, "Pet owners want to know how much you care before they care how much you know." With my worries about not knowing enough when I graduate, I know that caring about my patients and clients won't be a problem. I may be short on relative clinical knowledge right out of school, but I will never be less than impressed with the strength of the human-animal bond and will do my part to strengthen that however possible.

I'm excited to "celebrate" spring break, but at the same time, I am excited to see the light at the end of tunnel, so to speak. Clinics are starting in exactly 1 month. Incredible! I never imagined the years would go by so quickly; the hundreds (thousands?) of hours spent studying seem so far away now - I'm so ready to get out there and make a career for myself - well, for ourselves really, KJ and I.

Speaking of spring break, KJ and I took engagement photos in Chicago yesterday. Our photograher is Amy Aiello, and she is incredibly artistic and talented - she has an amazing eye for great shots and made us look like rock stars. It was chilly and windy and my hair got a little crazy, but it was fun! Enjoy!