Thank you.

Thank you everyone, for your kind and caring words - I couldn't believe that when I checked my blog this morning, I had 19 comments - I really, really treasure the love that you showed her and all of us humans that were helping her. Everywhere in blogland, I have found tidbits about her, and I truly appreciate everyone for working so hard to spread the word about Shy Shy. Thanks A and E for all of your hard work - you were a light back in the day when I had no idea how to help Shy - and you have continued to be there to support and contribute however you could to help her. I made a list of the posts that I could find and shared them all with JH (my friend) and LU (JH's sister and Shy/Khloe's owner) - they were so touched to see how much she was loved by so many.

It seems cruel that the day after we reached our ChipIn goal for the surgery that she passed away. I had actually just talked to Dr. H (our ophthalmologist) about her appointment to check her retinas and make sure that she was still an eligible candidate and set up her surgery appointment. I came home 30 minutes later, and JH called me and told me what had happened. LU came home at lunch to let her out, and it looked like she was seizing on the couch and her gums and tongue were blue tinged. Thinking very quickly, LU gave her a bit of Karo syrup, thinking that she was having a hypoglycemic episode (related to diabetes). They took her to the ER right away, but it was just too late. I can't imagine how awful LU feels - but LU, it was not your fault and Shy/Khloe loved you so much. We all thank you for being there for her and giving her a wonderful place to live, even if just for a short time. You spoiled her like the princess she deserved to be, and I'm positive that her last month with you was the best month of her entire life. Is there a better way to go, knowing that you have a family and love by so many? I don't think so.

There must be a reason that her life was cut short and I'll hold on to the fact that she is up there in doggy heaven where she can see again and she doesn't need injections anymore. Maybe she can finally eat those tasty treats that she couldn't while here on earth. And maybe she will finally get to chase a cat... that seemed to be her life's ambition :)

As for the raffle and the ChipIn page, I will try to figure out if its possible to give the money back. The raffle ends today, so I will also be using an online radomizer (?) program to pick the winners of each item. For the money side - I'm not sure what else to do, unless we use the money to donate to a super awesome (or couple of super awesome) groups in Shy's name. That way her death and your amazing contributions will make a difference in the world. I don't have any in mind right now because I haven't had a lot of meaningful contact with rescue groups or animal-related organizations, but if we do that, I would like some sort of pit bull loving group. And hopefully one in Illinois, since that is where Shy came from.

By the way, KJ (I guess we know his name is Kyle now thanks to his post, ha ha) was very excited about writing his first blog post ever. He has been amazing, he is a wonderful, incredible man, and I am so lucky to have him in my life. Love you.

A sad day for eveyone who knew and loved her

This is Heather's fiance Kyle. I am talking to you all today on behalf of Heather with a heavy heart. We were just informed that Shy passed away today. The details of what happened are unclear, but we know it was not from a lack of love and care from her new owners and online followers. Please keep her in your hearts, and know that she will always hold a part of ours. We want to thank everyone for the overwhelming support that we received through this process. It reminds us of how truly generous strangers can be. Future posts will discuss what is to be done with the donated funds. Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts and know that Shy thanks you too.

We (YOU!) did it!

$2000 dollars - and you did it! We reached our goal of raising money for cataract surgery for Shy/Khloe! How amazing is this? How incredibly generous are you? I am in shock. I honestly never imagined that you, the animal lovers of the world, would embrace this sweet girl and take her into your hearts. She has come a long way - and through all of your help, donations, and suggestions - you helped find her a home and (fingers crossed) you helped give her sight back.

I will be speaking with our ophthalmologist today about how to set up a surgery date (YAYYYYY) and what needs to be done beforehand. KJ actually has Ophthalmology as his first clinical rotation (starting April 25th), which would coincide very well with Shy/Khloe's potential surgery day (since she needs to be on antibiotics for 30 days prior). That way, he'll be around to see her treatment firsthand and hopefully get to see a neat surgery on a dog that he helped save. And, of course, love on her a little bit when he has a chance. Since I am off for the first two weeks, hopefully I can sneak in and see her too during that time. I unfortunately do not have my ophtho rotation until a year from now... so that is completely out of the question for me!

Congratulations everyone! Thank you for your love and generosity and I will definitely take some before and after pictures of her as it comes closer to surgery time so you can actually SEE what a difference we made!

Side note - spring break is in TWO DAYS! My friends and I are going to St. Louis for a few days. KJ and I have engagement photos on Tuesday, Mom and I are doing wedding stuff Wednesday and Thursday, and I'll probably go riding Friday (in my new boots from KJ for valentine's day!). BUSY BUSY!

Until then, enjoy some funny and adorable pictures of my fur kids.

Pacino being awkward... how did he get my sports bra on?


My beautiful, precious girl.


Mystique and me - one of my favorite ponies.


The pups after an afternoon at the farm.

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...