After a sleepless night, I dragged myself from bed to feed the animals, gather the one egg that had already been dropped, and start my half hour drive to G-burg by 8:15 am. My first class was organic chemistry- the class that I have been dreading for what seems like years. It has always been that monster looming on the horizon, the one year-long class that I knew could make me or break me. I suppose I had always picture the professor as some mean old man, bent on making students' lives hell. Instead, my professor was a thirty-year old redheaded man with a great sense of humor, and an obvious passion for not only teaching, but also organic chemistry. It makes all the difference when your professor loves what they teach- they can excite you about it too. And so I was. I took a little bit of organic in high school and I remember loving it. While this year promises to be considerably harder, I am hoping that that enjoyment, and a true understanding of the subject are on their way! The professor's last few words to us were along the lines of "contrary to popular opinion, this class is not meant to weed you out of med school- instead it is to teach you about the intricate workings of systems, and how organic chemistry can relate to everything you have learned- biology, pharmaceuticals, genetics, and the world around you." Pretty cool stuff! I also have the class with a lot of people I know, including some very good friends. Study buddies!
My physics class will be a bit more interesting. The teacher has a very strong accent from somewhere in Europe, and it takes my mind almost a full 30 seconds to process and understand what she has said. She also mentioned that the class was trigonometry heavy, which is something I haven't touched since sophomore year in high school... I will be trying to do some reviews tonight and see if I can refresh my brain. It should be fairly interesting though- who does not want to learn about why things do what they do?
Since we didn't have orgo lab the first week, I then had nothing to do from 11 am till 5pm when we had colorguard dinner, sectionals, and then rehearsal. So I went to the SPCA with my friend Gael (who I missed terribly this Summer), and played with some adorable puppies- chihuahuas, a rotty, and a shepherd mix. We even stopped by the cat room for some kitten time before leaving. I would definitely consider it a success. While there, I did my customary talking to the techs about the possibility of observing surgeries and spay and neuters. I got a fairly positive response, but they said the shelter manager would have to talk to the vet and give me a call. She knows me fairly well, as she was an animal control officer before she became manager, and has come out to the club almost every year to give a talk. I am also up there almost every week volunteering, and I observed a few spay and neuters last year. So I am hoping that will work out.
I need to stop by the local hospitals and try to get a shadowing on a weekly basis.
~Melissa
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Test Anxiety
One day before school starts, and I wake up with a cold. I think this happens to me almost every year! I felt it coming on yesterday and took echinacea all day, but it didn't help near enough. Now I'm stuffy and sniffling, and will most likely be bereft of the company of Jared for the next couple of weeks until I get over it- I don't want to get him sick, and he doesn't want to get sick, and so will most likely go live full time with my brother until I get over it.
Speaking of school- it starts tomorrow! This Summer flew by so fast, and I had such an amazing time with everything I was able to do- riding along with the vet, vacations, getting engaged, working with my horse, and the work down at the tiger rescue. Tomorrow I begin a year long sequences of organic chem and physics, and my semester classes of the Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem (I couldn't get into Nutrition) and Rebel Women (the second to last class I will be taking for my English minor). It will certainly be interesting! My classes are chock full of people I know this year (minus my best friend Jenn who is studying abroad in Australia!) and I am anticipating a fun but hard semester. In the Spring I will be taking Cell Biology, one of the core classes I need for my major and for vet school, and reputed to be a gpa killer. I am terrified! But glad I still have a semester to go before I have to put myself through that.
I need to ace orgo and physics both to keep my science gpa up for vet school. Because I was advised wrong my first year, I am a year behind other students my age in chemistry, and with orgo being pretty much the hardest class you can take at Gettysburg College, I am quite worried that it will be my make it or break it course. Right now I have an overall gpa of 3.8, with my science gpa being more like 3.6. This is not exactly an ideal science gpa for vet school, and if it gets much lower I will be losing my chances of getting in. For those of you who scoff at this, a lot of vet schools look through the traditional applicants, pick out the top 100 gpas, read only their personal statements, and ignore the rest entirely.
Anyway, we are moving the horses back to my mom's farm today so that I don't have to worry about taking care of them for the first few weeks of school. This way when I get back from marching band practice at 10pm on Mondays I don't have to run down to the barn. It also saves me from having to get up as early, and my mother likes having them at her farm as well- it gives her a reason to get out of the house!
I'm going to go start loading the truck up- I'll try to post tomorrow and let you know how my first day back went!
~Melissa
Speaking of school- it starts tomorrow! This Summer flew by so fast, and I had such an amazing time with everything I was able to do- riding along with the vet, vacations, getting engaged, working with my horse, and the work down at the tiger rescue. Tomorrow I begin a year long sequences of organic chem and physics, and my semester classes of the Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem (I couldn't get into Nutrition) and Rebel Women (the second to last class I will be taking for my English minor). It will certainly be interesting! My classes are chock full of people I know this year (minus my best friend Jenn who is studying abroad in Australia!) and I am anticipating a fun but hard semester. In the Spring I will be taking Cell Biology, one of the core classes I need for my major and for vet school, and reputed to be a gpa killer. I am terrified! But glad I still have a semester to go before I have to put myself through that.
I need to ace orgo and physics both to keep my science gpa up for vet school. Because I was advised wrong my first year, I am a year behind other students my age in chemistry, and with orgo being pretty much the hardest class you can take at Gettysburg College, I am quite worried that it will be my make it or break it course. Right now I have an overall gpa of 3.8, with my science gpa being more like 3.6. This is not exactly an ideal science gpa for vet school, and if it gets much lower I will be losing my chances of getting in. For those of you who scoff at this, a lot of vet schools look through the traditional applicants, pick out the top 100 gpas, read only their personal statements, and ignore the rest entirely.
Anyway, we are moving the horses back to my mom's farm today so that I don't have to worry about taking care of them for the first few weeks of school. This way when I get back from marching band practice at 10pm on Mondays I don't have to run down to the barn. It also saves me from having to get up as early, and my mother likes having them at her farm as well- it gives her a reason to get out of the house!
I'm going to go start loading the truck up- I'll try to post tomorrow and let you know how my first day back went!
~Melissa
Monday, August 20, 2012
GO-RIL-LA
"You look like you are getting mauled by a bear" is not exactly the way you want to be described when attempting to gracefully dance with a flag. In high school, I did indoor color guard for three years, and while my good friend Teresa tried to teach me some dance, I was never very successful at learning it. Besides that, my only experience with dance happens to be the classes I took when I was five. Needless to say, that was a long time ago. So when our color guard instructor and fearless leader announced that we were going to be doing dance this year, I groaned inwardly.
Generally my idea of dancing nowadays is earplugs in, empty house, and the vacuum as my accompaniment. I have certainly never been considered "graceful"- I am more like to be compared to a yearling filly than a swan. I don't know how many of you have seen a yearling filly, but they are all long neck and body, narrow chest, unruly legs and have no idea where their body parts are. That about describes me. I try really, really hard to sote and sashe, soften my arms, hold "walnut-hands," etc., but as soon as I concentrate on one bit the rest of it goes haywire. We were lucky enough to get some really good dancers in our group of 8 girls this year, but this means that those of us who cannot dance for the life of us look really, really ungraceful next to them.
Amanda, our amazing senior/undergrad staff, tried to help me and the other girls out today by having us do all sorts of free-style dance moves around the room, focusing on different parts of our bodies, and trying to get us to learn from watching each other. I can't say that it was a huge success, but I at least FELT a little more graceful afterwards.
Anyway, band camp is going well, though I sorely miss my home by now, and being able to see my animals and my Jared. Wednesday Doc is coming over to give the horses their last three vaccinations for this round, and then Jared and I are heading up to my uncle's house to see my father- he lives in CO but is flying out for basically one day for his brother's birthday. I'm pretty excited to see him. I might ride along with Doc on Thursday or Friday if I have time/he has appointments. I miss vet work already!!
~Melissa
Generally my idea of dancing nowadays is earplugs in, empty house, and the vacuum as my accompaniment. I have certainly never been considered "graceful"- I am more like to be compared to a yearling filly than a swan. I don't know how many of you have seen a yearling filly, but they are all long neck and body, narrow chest, unruly legs and have no idea where their body parts are. That about describes me. I try really, really hard to sote and sashe, soften my arms, hold "walnut-hands," etc., but as soon as I concentrate on one bit the rest of it goes haywire. We were lucky enough to get some really good dancers in our group of 8 girls this year, but this means that those of us who cannot dance for the life of us look really, really ungraceful next to them.
Amanda, our amazing senior/undergrad staff, tried to help me and the other girls out today by having us do all sorts of free-style dance moves around the room, focusing on different parts of our bodies, and trying to get us to learn from watching each other. I can't say that it was a huge success, but I at least FELT a little more graceful afterwards.
Anyway, band camp is going well, though I sorely miss my home by now, and being able to see my animals and my Jared. Wednesday Doc is coming over to give the horses their last three vaccinations for this round, and then Jared and I are heading up to my uncle's house to see my father- he lives in CO but is flying out for basically one day for his brother's birthday. I'm pretty excited to see him. I might ride along with Doc on Thursday or Friday if I have time/he has appointments. I miss vet work already!!
~Melissa
Friday, August 10, 2012
Last Day of Vet Work :(
My final day out with Doc this Summer was a great one. We started the morning with my two horses. Doc showed me (and let me under careful supervision) sedate my own horse, give her her injections, and float her teeth. This is the first time I have ever done a tooth floating, and boy is it hard! But I enjoyed the effort and learning the angles and tools. Doc had to finish it off for me because I took so long that Sweets started to wake up! She was shaking her head like a dog to try to wake up from the sedation- which was somewhat dangerous as my arm was in her mouth and she very likely could have cracked either me or Doc on the head. It is not a reaction I have seen very commonly with horses, but it is a normal reaction for sedation. Sweets has hooks in her mouth (spots where there are no teeth on the upper/lower side of the jaw to grind against the lower/upper molars and keep them short), but this year they were not as bad as they were last year. Last year they had to be ground down with a Drumel tool, but we were able to hand float them today. I also found out that my horse has a slight arrhythmia, where her heart beats three times and then pauses, then beats three times and pauses. The pause is in time with her breathing, and this makes it a rather common arrhythmia. It is also regular- meaning the pattern did not change when I was listening to it. Doc said it was no big deal and that a lot of horses had it.
Blossom, my mother's horse, did great. She is normally terrified of shots and everything else, but she was awesome today. She got a shot of tri-histamines before she got her vaccines since she normally swells up at the injection shot. We also floated her teeth (though I did only about a third of her teeth since she was more awake with the sedation than Sweets had been). Blossom as well had a heart arrhythmia, though hers was a little more serious. I originally heard a steady rhythm, but right before I took the stethoscope away I heard a pause and kept listening. I then heard an stream of random starts and stops- nine beats, a pause, three beats, a pause, two beats, a pause, four beats, etc. So she has an irregular arrhythmia. This means that if she were every put under anesthesia for some sort of surgery she would need to be monitored closely. In the terms of sedation however, she was just fine.
Doc then gave my iron-tail english lab her lyme's and distemper vaccines. So that takes care of my outside pets for the year!
We headed out on the road and stopped by to check on the foal with the crooked legs- his legs are almost perfect now, for they straightened the rest of the way by themselves. We took some blood for a complete blood chemistry workup. And then I found out that the owner had 5 kittens she had just got... If I were superman, kittens would be my cryptonite. Doc wrote up the bill and talked with the owner, and I played with a pile of purring, lovely smelling, wet nosed, soft bundles of love. It was fantastic <3.
Our next two calls were foot abscesses. I quite enjoy podiatry work and learning about the hoof structures, as well as seeing how many things can go wrong just from one hoof- whether it is an abscess, a split, a bad trim, an infection, a bruise or a foreign object. Something wrong with a hoof can put a horse out for years. The first one we looked at was a short little buckskin quarter horse who had had an abscess last year and had just developed one in the same spot. What I found very interesting about this one was that he did not respond to hoof testers (most likely due to the fact that the owners had buted him up), but that Doc found the abscess anyway, just by knowing the history of the horse. It was a large, mud-filled abscess, but was very close to the surface and fairly new. This means that it will heal fairly quickly and without too many complications, though the horse did have some disfigurement of the hoof wall due to the last abscess in that spot.
The second horse was not happy with what was being done, and kept yanking the foot out of Doc's leg-hold, leaving rather painful bruises on him I am sure. Even after we twitched her, that mare did not want to let him have her hoof. And it took awhile, because this abscess was quite the opposite of the previous one. This was about as sucky as it gets- a small hole leading to an abscess right up against the sensitive tissues of the horse's hoof (right next to the frog), and about as deep as you can get as well. Doc had to dig at least 1/2''-1'' to get the pocket opened up. He did this very, very carefully, scraping away layer by layer. He said it is very similar to when you are doing spinal or brain surgery. When he opened it up it smelled foul, and the liquid that drained out was slightly red and murky. Basically it was bloody pus. The mare would have to be kept on stall rest for a week and bandaged for at least 3-4 weeks (Lucky owner there- she gets to deal with that horse every time she changes the bandage!).
A wonderful surprise today was that Doc and Ms. S. took me out to lunch at the restaurant where both my fiance and my brother work (though neither of them happened to be working then). It was incredibly nice of them, and Ms. S. even gave me a gorgeous necklace that she had made for me herself. The colors in it set off my dark-skin, hair and eyes and of course it has a horse on it! It was very thoughtful and I will treasure it.
I suppose I will not have as many animal-related things going on now... I start band camp on Monday morning and will be there until the 21st, so unless anyone really wants to hear about flag twirling, I probably won't be posting too often. After that I am back home ( I commute to school), and will be starting school on the 27th! I will probably be posting about my school life, as well as the various activities I do with the the pre-vet club, classes and marching band. Stick around if you want to hear about my life outside of vet work!
Off for the night,
~Melissa~
Blossom, my mother's horse, did great. She is normally terrified of shots and everything else, but she was awesome today. She got a shot of tri-histamines before she got her vaccines since she normally swells up at the injection shot. We also floated her teeth (though I did only about a third of her teeth since she was more awake with the sedation than Sweets had been). Blossom as well had a heart arrhythmia, though hers was a little more serious. I originally heard a steady rhythm, but right before I took the stethoscope away I heard a pause and kept listening. I then heard an stream of random starts and stops- nine beats, a pause, three beats, a pause, two beats, a pause, four beats, etc. So she has an irregular arrhythmia. This means that if she were every put under anesthesia for some sort of surgery she would need to be monitored closely. In the terms of sedation however, she was just fine.
Doc then gave my iron-tail english lab her lyme's and distemper vaccines. So that takes care of my outside pets for the year!
We headed out on the road and stopped by to check on the foal with the crooked legs- his legs are almost perfect now, for they straightened the rest of the way by themselves. We took some blood for a complete blood chemistry workup. And then I found out that the owner had 5 kittens she had just got... If I were superman, kittens would be my cryptonite. Doc wrote up the bill and talked with the owner, and I played with a pile of purring, lovely smelling, wet nosed, soft bundles of love. It was fantastic <3.
Our next two calls were foot abscesses. I quite enjoy podiatry work and learning about the hoof structures, as well as seeing how many things can go wrong just from one hoof- whether it is an abscess, a split, a bad trim, an infection, a bruise or a foreign object. Something wrong with a hoof can put a horse out for years. The first one we looked at was a short little buckskin quarter horse who had had an abscess last year and had just developed one in the same spot. What I found very interesting about this one was that he did not respond to hoof testers (most likely due to the fact that the owners had buted him up), but that Doc found the abscess anyway, just by knowing the history of the horse. It was a large, mud-filled abscess, but was very close to the surface and fairly new. This means that it will heal fairly quickly and without too many complications, though the horse did have some disfigurement of the hoof wall due to the last abscess in that spot.
The second horse was not happy with what was being done, and kept yanking the foot out of Doc's leg-hold, leaving rather painful bruises on him I am sure. Even after we twitched her, that mare did not want to let him have her hoof. And it took awhile, because this abscess was quite the opposite of the previous one. This was about as sucky as it gets- a small hole leading to an abscess right up against the sensitive tissues of the horse's hoof (right next to the frog), and about as deep as you can get as well. Doc had to dig at least 1/2''-1'' to get the pocket opened up. He did this very, very carefully, scraping away layer by layer. He said it is very similar to when you are doing spinal or brain surgery. When he opened it up it smelled foul, and the liquid that drained out was slightly red and murky. Basically it was bloody pus. The mare would have to be kept on stall rest for a week and bandaged for at least 3-4 weeks (Lucky owner there- she gets to deal with that horse every time she changes the bandage!).
I suppose I will not have as many animal-related things going on now... I start band camp on Monday morning and will be there until the 21st, so unless anyone really wants to hear about flag twirling, I probably won't be posting too often. After that I am back home ( I commute to school), and will be starting school on the 27th! I will probably be posting about my school life, as well as the various activities I do with the the pre-vet club, classes and marching band. Stick around if you want to hear about my life outside of vet work!
Off for the night,
~Melissa~
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Fly Away Another Day
This afternoon we headed out to see the horse that had colicked two nights ago. He is an older Morgan, and true to Doc''s intuition, he was just fine. Two poops (filled with mineral oil residue) had come out on their own, and a continuance of Banamine and hand-grazing was recommended.
Our next stop was at a farm down the road that I have done some farm-sitting work for when I was younger (about 4 or 5 years ago). One horse that I had worked closely with rehabbing when I was about 13 was there, and I was very glad to see him. When the owner had hired me on to change his wrap, groom him, clean his stall and hand-walk him every day, his back leg had been a mess, and the owner had told me he would probably not be rideable for years. Well, I suppose it has been years, but the big, gorgeous Warmblood is now jumping like a champ, and the owner of the barn ( a very prestigious hunter-jumper trainer), thinks this horse will be the next big thing. He still has the same sweet disposition that he had when I had spent some time with him, and I would give an arm and a leg to ride him (though I know that will never happen!). We floated his teeth.
The second horse we looked at there was having issues bending to the left and keeping the left lead. Doc noticed some tightness above the croup, and that the horse was less muscled on the left side of the neck than the right. He instructed me to take the horse out and hand-jog it in the field next to the barn, along the fence. So I jogged it, the stallion that they have came running, the horse got pretty excited but still behaved. We jogged up and down so Doc could look at it's movements. I spun her in tight circles to observe the placement of feet and to see if EPM was an issue (horses will practically fall over if they have it). She tripped on her feet a lot and seemed to have some issue with it. The final task was for me to hand-jog her while holding her head up high. She became a trippy mess.
And then the fun began... She braked, I slid on the wet grass, went down on one knee briefly, got back up, she started rearing, and I saw the two HUGE horse flies that were bugging her- one on her face and one on her back. So I try to get them off, she is freaking out, Doc instructs me to try to get her back inside the barn- she is bucking and rearing and trying in a panic to bolt, and all 135 lbs of me are dangling on the end of the lead rope trying to calm her down and get her under control. Well after a few moments of thinking this horse was going to inadvertently kill me, I got her into the barn, whacked the flies off and that was the end of that. I, panting and red-faced, patted the now very-chill horse while trying to exude a calm that-happens-to-me-everyday attitude. Pretty sure it didn't work... Anyway, based on what he saw, Doc thought it to be either Wobbler's syndrome (where the vertebrae slip in and out- it is genetic and hereditary), Lyme's disease, or EPM. The owner didn't want to test for Lyme's at the moment, as he thought Wobbler's was more likely as apparently her mother and sister had had similar issues. We then did a routine float on her teeth, though she had extremely sharp teeth and ulcers in her mouth from them. Due to her teeth problems, she had been having riding issues and even had a blister on one side of her mouth from the bit. This is common when people don't realize their horse's teeth need to be floated, or personally decide that it isn't worth it. It can, unfortunately, ruin a good horse and cause a lot of problems.
Doc and I had some good talks driving around today, and he told me that in a lot of ways I reminded him of himself at my age- both in life experiences, attitude and personality. I hope that means one day I will be as good of a vet as he is!
Tomorrow is my last day riding along with him for the Summer- amazing how fast the weeks flew by. I will certainly miss getting my vet fix, as well as Doc and Ms. S. themselves. I really hope I can work something out during the semester this year with one of the local small animal hospitals so I can keep building my hours and seeing some sides of vet med other than equine (not that I don't love equine, just that I would love to see what other things are in relation). We shall see!
~Melissa~
Our next stop was at a farm down the road that I have done some farm-sitting work for when I was younger (about 4 or 5 years ago). One horse that I had worked closely with rehabbing when I was about 13 was there, and I was very glad to see him. When the owner had hired me on to change his wrap, groom him, clean his stall and hand-walk him every day, his back leg had been a mess, and the owner had told me he would probably not be rideable for years. Well, I suppose it has been years, but the big, gorgeous Warmblood is now jumping like a champ, and the owner of the barn ( a very prestigious hunter-jumper trainer), thinks this horse will be the next big thing. He still has the same sweet disposition that he had when I had spent some time with him, and I would give an arm and a leg to ride him (though I know that will never happen!). We floated his teeth.
The second horse we looked at there was having issues bending to the left and keeping the left lead. Doc noticed some tightness above the croup, and that the horse was less muscled on the left side of the neck than the right. He instructed me to take the horse out and hand-jog it in the field next to the barn, along the fence. So I jogged it, the stallion that they have came running, the horse got pretty excited but still behaved. We jogged up and down so Doc could look at it's movements. I spun her in tight circles to observe the placement of feet and to see if EPM was an issue (horses will practically fall over if they have it). She tripped on her feet a lot and seemed to have some issue with it. The final task was for me to hand-jog her while holding her head up high. She became a trippy mess.
And then the fun began... She braked, I slid on the wet grass, went down on one knee briefly, got back up, she started rearing, and I saw the two HUGE horse flies that were bugging her- one on her face and one on her back. So I try to get them off, she is freaking out, Doc instructs me to try to get her back inside the barn- she is bucking and rearing and trying in a panic to bolt, and all 135 lbs of me are dangling on the end of the lead rope trying to calm her down and get her under control. Well after a few moments of thinking this horse was going to inadvertently kill me, I got her into the barn, whacked the flies off and that was the end of that. I, panting and red-faced, patted the now very-chill horse while trying to exude a calm that-happens-to-me-everyday attitude. Pretty sure it didn't work... Anyway, based on what he saw, Doc thought it to be either Wobbler's syndrome (where the vertebrae slip in and out- it is genetic and hereditary), Lyme's disease, or EPM. The owner didn't want to test for Lyme's at the moment, as he thought Wobbler's was more likely as apparently her mother and sister had had similar issues. We then did a routine float on her teeth, though she had extremely sharp teeth and ulcers in her mouth from them. Due to her teeth problems, she had been having riding issues and even had a blister on one side of her mouth from the bit. This is common when people don't realize their horse's teeth need to be floated, or personally decide that it isn't worth it. It can, unfortunately, ruin a good horse and cause a lot of problems.
Doc and I had some good talks driving around today, and he told me that in a lot of ways I reminded him of himself at my age- both in life experiences, attitude and personality. I hope that means one day I will be as good of a vet as he is!
Tomorrow is my last day riding along with him for the Summer- amazing how fast the weeks flew by. I will certainly miss getting my vet fix, as well as Doc and Ms. S. themselves. I really hope I can work something out during the semester this year with one of the local small animal hospitals so I can keep building my hours and seeing some sides of vet med other than equine (not that I don't love equine, just that I would love to see what other things are in relation). We shall see!
~Melissa~
Long Day Wednesday
Yesterday was fun (but long!). Jared and I went crabbing with my grandfather at the last minute- we left the house at 4 am, and got on the water by 5:30. The weather was a lot balmier than last time, and the crabs were hitting! We got 2.5 bushels (roughly 180 crabs) and 150 peelers, which, compared to the last couple of weeks as well as what DNR said the other crabbers on the water were getting (one only had 12 crabs), was awesome.
Late Tuesday night Doc had called me for an emergency colic, but I had missed the call and by the time I called back it was too late for him to get me (the call was .5 hours+ away). This was the same horse that we had gone out for a suspected colic last week (or the week before), and the horse was fine. This time it was not. Yesterday I went up for a 4 o'clock call at a farm not too far from home and Doc showed me the ultrasounds, which displayed extremely thickened walls in the small and large intestine. He said that as of yesterday morning, the horse was not passing bowels by itself, but he thought it would be okay due to whatever veterinary intuition/knowledge that he has. He had done a rectal palpation, given it mineral oils, and done the ultrasound (at the least).
Now about the call yesterday... Getting one vet to be on time is almost unheard-of- to get two to be on time is a miracle. Well yesterday was not, of course, a day for a miracle. The case was a horse that ate everything under the sun, had a lot of digestive problems, and that Doc had diagnosed as Colitis after an ultrasound. This would be, naturally, an inflammation of the colon (part of the large intestine). A digestive specialist who was in the area (she is from New York) was scheduled to meet us at the barn at 4 pm. I had a crab feast at 5:30, which my entire family was coming to (very rare to actually get everyone together), and to which I really wanted to make it. So I drove myself and met Doc at the barn. Doc for once was on time, and I started with high hopes... and then the other vet said she would be an hour late. Doc still had to vaccinate and take blood for coggins on EIGHT horses after this appointment, so he groaned a little to hear this. As did I, for it was a half-hour drive to get there. So I called my family and said I would be late. And waited. And waited.
At 5:40 we still had no sign of the other vet, and I was getting anxious to get home. I really, really wanted to see what they were going to do ( a video endoscopy) and meet the specialist, but I also know that I will have the rest of my life to miss family dinners, birthdays, funerals, anniversaries and every other occasion that is important... right now I don't have to. Plus my grandfather is getting really old, and I'm honestly not sure how long he will be able to continue doing this sort of thing. Every second with my family is precious to me. So needless to say, I left. Feeling really bad about myself, really wanting to stay, but also really wanting to go home (and really freaking tired from getting up at 3!), I headed home.
I saw Doc later in the evening (have I mentioned he is practically my neighbor?), and he had cancelled the other horses that evening and rescheduled (for the other vet hadn't gotten there until six at the least) and he did not get finished until ten till eight. He said it was really awesome though! He also invited me on another colic call he had just gotten, but by that time I was already in my pajamas standing in the front yard talking to him, my eyelids sagging and my face pallid (he compared me to a zombie), and we both decided it was for the best that I just went to sleep. Hopefully in the next couple of days he will get an emergency I can actually go on!!! I feel terrible for having turned down two- the only two he has invited me on all Summer. Am hoping he isn't too upset with me for not going out with him on them- I don't want him to think I am not committed to vet med. It was just bad timing and a little bit of selfishness on my part.
Anyway, I am going out with him at noon today for some calls.
On a related subject, I have been scheduling, making phone calls and sending emails out for the pre-vet club, and it looks like things are working out pretty well! I am really excited to meet the incoming first years, and I hope that we get a lot of people who want to be involved this year. Among every organization and club there is a similar problem of getting people motivated, coming to meetings and sharing their ideas. I don't quite understand it, as when I join something I go to EVERYTHING (and talk loudly). Maybe because of my thirst for knowledge, maybe because I like the companionship. So I am crossing my fingers that what I have planned for this year will help everyone to get to know each other a little better, form some bonds and friendships, and keep them interested. I guess we shall see! We also had an officer resign so we get to start the semester with a search for a new Senate Rep. That is always fun.
~Melissa
Late Tuesday night Doc had called me for an emergency colic, but I had missed the call and by the time I called back it was too late for him to get me (the call was .5 hours+ away). This was the same horse that we had gone out for a suspected colic last week (or the week before), and the horse was fine. This time it was not. Yesterday I went up for a 4 o'clock call at a farm not too far from home and Doc showed me the ultrasounds, which displayed extremely thickened walls in the small and large intestine. He said that as of yesterday morning, the horse was not passing bowels by itself, but he thought it would be okay due to whatever veterinary intuition/knowledge that he has. He had done a rectal palpation, given it mineral oils, and done the ultrasound (at the least).
Now about the call yesterday... Getting one vet to be on time is almost unheard-of- to get two to be on time is a miracle. Well yesterday was not, of course, a day for a miracle. The case was a horse that ate everything under the sun, had a lot of digestive problems, and that Doc had diagnosed as Colitis after an ultrasound. This would be, naturally, an inflammation of the colon (part of the large intestine). A digestive specialist who was in the area (she is from New York) was scheduled to meet us at the barn at 4 pm. I had a crab feast at 5:30, which my entire family was coming to (very rare to actually get everyone together), and to which I really wanted to make it. So I drove myself and met Doc at the barn. Doc for once was on time, and I started with high hopes... and then the other vet said she would be an hour late. Doc still had to vaccinate and take blood for coggins on EIGHT horses after this appointment, so he groaned a little to hear this. As did I, for it was a half-hour drive to get there. So I called my family and said I would be late. And waited. And waited.
At 5:40 we still had no sign of the other vet, and I was getting anxious to get home. I really, really wanted to see what they were going to do ( a video endoscopy) and meet the specialist, but I also know that I will have the rest of my life to miss family dinners, birthdays, funerals, anniversaries and every other occasion that is important... right now I don't have to. Plus my grandfather is getting really old, and I'm honestly not sure how long he will be able to continue doing this sort of thing. Every second with my family is precious to me. So needless to say, I left. Feeling really bad about myself, really wanting to stay, but also really wanting to go home (and really freaking tired from getting up at 3!), I headed home.
I saw Doc later in the evening (have I mentioned he is practically my neighbor?), and he had cancelled the other horses that evening and rescheduled (for the other vet hadn't gotten there until six at the least) and he did not get finished until ten till eight. He said it was really awesome though! He also invited me on another colic call he had just gotten, but by that time I was already in my pajamas standing in the front yard talking to him, my eyelids sagging and my face pallid (he compared me to a zombie), and we both decided it was for the best that I just went to sleep. Hopefully in the next couple of days he will get an emergency I can actually go on!!! I feel terrible for having turned down two- the only two he has invited me on all Summer. Am hoping he isn't too upset with me for not going out with him on them- I don't want him to think I am not committed to vet med. It was just bad timing and a little bit of selfishness on my part.
Anyway, I am going out with him at noon today for some calls.
On a related subject, I have been scheduling, making phone calls and sending emails out for the pre-vet club, and it looks like things are working out pretty well! I am really excited to meet the incoming first years, and I hope that we get a lot of people who want to be involved this year. Among every organization and club there is a similar problem of getting people motivated, coming to meetings and sharing their ideas. I don't quite understand it, as when I join something I go to EVERYTHING (and talk loudly). Maybe because of my thirst for knowledge, maybe because I like the companionship. So I am crossing my fingers that what I have planned for this year will help everyone to get to know each other a little better, form some bonds and friendships, and keep them interested. I guess we shall see! We also had an officer resign so we get to start the semester with a search for a new Senate Rep. That is always fun.
~Melissa
Monday, August 6, 2012
Troll Toll
What a wonderful day. Sometimes it is nice to just do things on a whim (something that is quite hard for me!). Today Jared and I headed out into the world, intent on finding something to do... we stopped at an auction (one of our favorite pastimes), but the furniture was dingy and beat up, and neither of us saw much of anything that we were interested in. So we headed to the feed store and got the essentials for horses: shavings and fly spray. And some chicken feed for my flock.
We then headed into the great town of Reisterstown, which reminds me of Boulder, Colorado (& even Carrboro, NC) on a small scale- a lot of random hippie stores, thrift shops, mom and pop food places, psychics, that sort of thing. I wonder if every state has a town like that?
Jared needed to pick up his last check from the job he recently left, so we ended up having lunch there as well and talking extensively with his old boss. She is a vivacious italian woman who kept proclaiming that Jared would come back to her "family" soon enough. Who knows? He is very good at keeping his doors and bridges unburnt. Anyway, a couple of the thrift shops were closed, so we headed to the Goodwill there, which is like the cadillac of Goodwill- everything is shiny, clean and in great condition. Not only that, but their prices are fantastic. I got two gorgeous shirts for school for $3.50 each, and my addiction... books. I got ten of them... in my defense they were .50 cents each (!) or 10 for $4.00. You can't beat that. I just bought four the other day for $5 after a discount (store credit) at my local used book store. So you can say I'm stocked up!
Jer and I then stopped at a local produce market and got tons of food... artichokes, avocados, nectarines, cherries, grapes, tomatoes, kiwis, onions, peppers, strawberries, cantelope... oh. yeah. This place has the best fruit and veggies at the cheapest prices around. Further adventuring, we decided to make the trip to visit his grandmother and grandfather. His grandfather has been doing poorly healthwise, but you wouldn't know it to talk to the handsome old devil. I quite enjoy his company, and his grandmother is a hoot as well. We visited with them for a good hour or more, and then headed to Jared's aunt and uncle's house down the road. They have four girls from 5 to about 11 or 12, and they are the most well-behaved kids I have met. If I could guarantee my kids would turn out like that, I would actually want children! We had a wonderful visit, and stayed through dinner and a couple hours afterwards. The second youngest girl, Morgan, just followed me around the entire time, and the others soon joined in- Jared's aunt joked that I should walk in circles around the house and see if they would follow me! It took them out of her hair for a little bit, and I certainly didn't mind playing with them and having them demonstrate their skills with various musical instruments and toys. The youngest put a crown on me and proclaimed me a troll... so I chased her around tickling her and telling her I was exacting my 'Troll Toll.'
Anyway, it was a really nice way to spend the day- just hand in hand with Jared and enjoying our random stops and detours. I loved visiting with his family- I feel as if they are my own at this point. Today through Wednesday I am off and just spending the time with him before we both go back to school and get incredibly busy with life again- there are too few days and opportunities to do this sort of thing, and I never take our time together for granted. Thursday and Friday I am riding along with Doc again, so I should have some more good vet stories! Then Saturday is Jared's family's picnic, and Sunday they (and we) are headed to Hershey park for the day. It should be a fun last week before band camp starts on Monday!
~Melissa~
We then headed into the great town of Reisterstown, which reminds me of Boulder, Colorado (& even Carrboro, NC) on a small scale- a lot of random hippie stores, thrift shops, mom and pop food places, psychics, that sort of thing. I wonder if every state has a town like that?
Jared needed to pick up his last check from the job he recently left, so we ended up having lunch there as well and talking extensively with his old boss. She is a vivacious italian woman who kept proclaiming that Jared would come back to her "family" soon enough. Who knows? He is very good at keeping his doors and bridges unburnt. Anyway, a couple of the thrift shops were closed, so we headed to the Goodwill there, which is like the cadillac of Goodwill- everything is shiny, clean and in great condition. Not only that, but their prices are fantastic. I got two gorgeous shirts for school for $3.50 each, and my addiction... books. I got ten of them... in my defense they were .50 cents each (!) or 10 for $4.00. You can't beat that. I just bought four the other day for $5 after a discount (store credit) at my local used book store. So you can say I'm stocked up!
Jer and I then stopped at a local produce market and got tons of food... artichokes, avocados, nectarines, cherries, grapes, tomatoes, kiwis, onions, peppers, strawberries, cantelope... oh. yeah. This place has the best fruit and veggies at the cheapest prices around. Further adventuring, we decided to make the trip to visit his grandmother and grandfather. His grandfather has been doing poorly healthwise, but you wouldn't know it to talk to the handsome old devil. I quite enjoy his company, and his grandmother is a hoot as well. We visited with them for a good hour or more, and then headed to Jared's aunt and uncle's house down the road. They have four girls from 5 to about 11 or 12, and they are the most well-behaved kids I have met. If I could guarantee my kids would turn out like that, I would actually want children! We had a wonderful visit, and stayed through dinner and a couple hours afterwards. The second youngest girl, Morgan, just followed me around the entire time, and the others soon joined in- Jared's aunt joked that I should walk in circles around the house and see if they would follow me! It took them out of her hair for a little bit, and I certainly didn't mind playing with them and having them demonstrate their skills with various musical instruments and toys. The youngest put a crown on me and proclaimed me a troll... so I chased her around tickling her and telling her I was exacting my 'Troll Toll.'
Anyway, it was a really nice way to spend the day- just hand in hand with Jared and enjoying our random stops and detours. I loved visiting with his family- I feel as if they are my own at this point. Today through Wednesday I am off and just spending the time with him before we both go back to school and get incredibly busy with life again- there are too few days and opportunities to do this sort of thing, and I never take our time together for granted. Thursday and Friday I am riding along with Doc again, so I should have some more good vet stories! Then Saturday is Jared's family's picnic, and Sunday they (and we) are headed to Hershey park for the day. It should be a fun last week before band camp starts on Monday!
~Melissa~
Friday, August 3, 2012
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Upper Respiratory Distress
Our day with the vet started early- we were back out to the farm with the donkeys for a re-check by 9am. There was still some sensitivity on the foot, so Doc advised that the foot continue to be wrapped for at least one more week.
Our next appointment was over 2 hours away- much farther than Doc normally travels. The client was one that used to live close by, but upon moving away she still wanted Doc to treat her animals. Her horse, a 29-yr old mare who had been a champion endurance horse, had been having upper respiratory distress for a couple of months. Doc had been out and done an endoscopic exam and had not found anything. The lungs sounded clear, with no crackles or whistles. The horse was put on a nebulizer and some antibiotics, and while it helped slightly, the horse began to sound much worse the last couple of days. So we headed up today to see if we could find anything else. Doc admitted that he really didn't know what else to do at this point if he didn't find anything... Luckily, we did. What was not a big enough problem to show up on the first endoscopy showed up on this one- a large pimple-looking pustule on a vocal cord, and a paralyzed vocal cord. One of the vocal arch and cords were unable to be contracted to allow air to pass, and thus the horse made a rasping noise while breathing. Doc suspected that a foreign object had gotten lodged in the vocal cord, and the pimple-looking thing was something like an abscess. I unfortunately did not get to look through the endoscope, as the horse (unsedated) needed to be held quite carefully to avoid damage to the very expensive endoscope fiber optics.
Doc drew a diagram for the owner to explain what was going on, and I took a snapshot of it.
The picture here is from a human, but the idea is the same: inflammation and a bit of a saggy arch and muscle.
We then took x-rays of the neck to see if we could see any sort of foreign body. We took about five views (after sedating the horse so that we could stretch her neck out for the best view). One of the views showed a small sliver, but it did not show up on any of the others. Doc could not conclude that it was anything other than a fluke since it was absent from 4 views, though he suspected it could be a piece of hay. But now we had an answer for the raspy breathing, and Doc suggested she take the horse to a surgeon in New Bolton for a consult at the least. With a 29-yr old horse it is not an easy decision to spend a ton of money on surgery, so the owner wanted to have Doc talk to the surgeon and get a estimate for a consult as well as feel him out for the price of a surgery. The other option was to put the horse on antibiotics and try to clear up the infection- though of course if something is lodged there it will just continue to get infected. The owner was quite upset, though happy to have an answer. Her husband recently died from emphysema, and so the horse having breathing problems has been quite terrible on her, as well as the fact that the horse has been hers for so many years and they have been through so much together. Her love for her horse was incredibly beautiful and touching- I turned around after looking at the x-rays to find her smelling her horse's neck, tears streaming down her face, and I had tears come up in my eyes as well.
Doc gave her a hug, and we headed out to our last call, another foot re-check. The owners let the horses run around the property, with a couple different enclosures, but have their property fenced off in it's entirety. I got to see a fairly recent baby that they had, as well as their very handsome and good-natured stallion. The horse that we were looking at had a foot abscess that had spread under the sole, and the horse had grown what is called a false sole after the abscess had been drained. The owners had been soaking the foot in betadine and epson salts, and wrapping it with sugar and icthamol to dry out the hoof. Today doc went ahead and took off the false sole, including part of the frog which sloughed off on it's own. It was very neat because you could see the layers of sole, including the healthy one underneath the false one. Once doc took off all the extra stuff and filed down the hoof, it looked almost as good as new! Just a couple more weeks of wrapping it with betadine to keep it clean and duct tape to keep it dry, and the horse should be sound enough to ride.
After a stop at the grocery store, we made it back home around 8 o'clock. I was amazed to find I only have one more week before I start up with band camp! So next week will be my last week with Doc- he promised to call me for any emergencies in the next couple of days. I also have to schedule my horses for their shots and teeth floating. My horse has hooks in her mouth so she needs an extended dental to file those down. I will finally be able to take some pictures of that since they are my own horses!
On a very exciting note, Doc also said he would talk to the board that he is on at a local huge small animal emergency clinic to see if he could get me in during the school years on at least a night every couple of weeks to shadow. This isn't something they normally do- they let recent graduates of vet school shadow but not pre-vet students. However, Doc is pretty influential there, and since I have been with him for two years now, he knows me pretty well. I am really hoping he is able to get me a spot- I would LOVE to see some emergency small animal work. I feel like that sort of fast-paced environment would be very enjoyable. Keeping my fingers crossed!!
~Rich With Life~
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Beautiful Day on the Bay
The weather cleared, the skies blued, and it stayed the perfect temperature and with the perfect cloud cover for the rest of the morning. The crabs this year have been rather abysmal, and today was no different... we stayed out on the water until eleven o'clock or so, and only scraped a single bushel of crabs, and about 60 peelers (small females that are ready to breed). We take turns dipping and driving the boat, though my grandfather does most of the driving. Shirley and I took turns dipping the crabs with a long net as the rope is pulled up on a roller, and the boat is steered parallel to the line. We dip pretty much all the crabs that come up, dump them in a bucket, and then sort them for legal sized crabs (5 1/4" from point to point). I thoroughly enjoy sorting the crabs, but I LOVE dipping them- there is something exhilarating in standing on the side of the boat, leaning out over the water and darting in with a net to snatch the crabs off the chicken necks, or diving after them as they see the reflection of the sun and try to swim away.
~Rich With Life~
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