I hang out at SDN a lot (student doctor network), reading things that others write about and every now and then adding a comment. I'm more of a lurker than anything. They have threads for acceptances, rejects and accepted student statistics (as well as a ton more). I particularly like the statistics... however, they also tend to make me feel awful. I just am not up to snuff with a lot of them. It's scary, because I'm not a bad student, and so long as my grades to continue to be consistent, I won't be a bad applicant. It's just that there are so many very, very good applicants for vet school, and acceptance is regarded as a "crapshoot" by many.
Which leads me back to the title- I should never read SDN before bed. For some people, maybe it's scary movies that do it. For me it's apparently vet school stats. Last night I of course dreamed that I didn't get in to either school that I applied to (in my dream I had applied VMRCVM and CSUCVM), because I had both got a C in cell biology and didn't have enough shadowing hours. I then woke up earlier than usual and studied cell.
I think I need an intervention. That's really pathetic. I'm cutting myself off from SDN for awhile.
~Melissa
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
I know it's a little late but...
I figured no one really minded since I didn't get any angry comments! (Probably because I have so few readers!). So I guess some more detail about the ER is in order... I will tell you about the worst case and the best case- that way I'm not being overly long-winded!
The worst case was definitely the cat with saddle thrombus. The techs knew what it was the second it walked through the door (or was carried, rather). This is because cats with this condition scream, and scream terribly. Cats are creatures that will normally hide illnesses and injuries pretty well, they don't complain much. They explained the condition to me thus: Saddle thrombus occurs when a cat with heart disease (which is very difficult to detect without ultrasound) throws a blood clot. The clot gets wedged where the aorta splits at the pelvis, and blood supply is thus cut off from the heart. The back legs (normally one or the other, though sometimes both) then lose blood flow and feeling. It is extremely painful for the cat. One of the first things done to the cat was to cut a back toenail on each foot. The left did not have blood flow, while the right did. Thus it was determined that the clot became lodged on the left side. Due to lack of blood flow, the cat then went into cardiac failure. He was severely panting, and you could see his heart beat in his breathing pattern. He screamed, and hissed at the pain. We placed him in an oxygen tank and gave him a painkiller, and still he tried to drag himself around, in severe distress. He pawed at the glass and it was the most heart-breaking thing I think I have seen. The owner would not consent to euthanize for at least 20 minutes after the cat arrived, as she was hysterical. The owner's husband was screaming and yelling at everyone (including his wife). Finally, they consented, the paperwork was signed, and she came back to see him one last time. This was not the vet's idea, but the owners, and was not ideal, as she continued to cry and talk to the cat for at least another 10 minutes, despite the efforts of her son. I sympathized with her- obviously she loved the cat, and her husband was being a complete idiot (something along the lines of "It's just a cat... you'll be back in a week with another one... stop being ridiculous... get over it" continued to be repeated to her). However, I did not respect her for letting that cat be in pain for that long. There is no good prognosis for saddle thrombus. There is no cure. If caught early enough, sometimes the underlying heart conditions can be treated. But at the stage this cat was in, he was just in complete and utter pain. No matter how many times they explained this to her, she just didn't get it. Finally it was all taken care of. I, and the rest of those present, were relieved when the cat screamed for the last time. Truly that is human euthanasia.
The best case was a 17 year old jack (yes 17!), with a huge tumor on his side. He had fallen down the stairs and the owner was worried that the dog had broken his leg. After an x-ray, it was determined that it was only a soft tissue wound. To put him on the pain killers, they wanted to check the function of all of his organs. And they were truly as functional as a 2 year old! Despite his age and massive tumor, the little guy was happy, healthy and well-loved.
~Melissa
The worst case was definitely the cat with saddle thrombus. The techs knew what it was the second it walked through the door (or was carried, rather). This is because cats with this condition scream, and scream terribly. Cats are creatures that will normally hide illnesses and injuries pretty well, they don't complain much. They explained the condition to me thus: Saddle thrombus occurs when a cat with heart disease (which is very difficult to detect without ultrasound) throws a blood clot. The clot gets wedged where the aorta splits at the pelvis, and blood supply is thus cut off from the heart. The back legs (normally one or the other, though sometimes both) then lose blood flow and feeling. It is extremely painful for the cat. One of the first things done to the cat was to cut a back toenail on each foot. The left did not have blood flow, while the right did. Thus it was determined that the clot became lodged on the left side. Due to lack of blood flow, the cat then went into cardiac failure. He was severely panting, and you could see his heart beat in his breathing pattern. He screamed, and hissed at the pain. We placed him in an oxygen tank and gave him a painkiller, and still he tried to drag himself around, in severe distress. He pawed at the glass and it was the most heart-breaking thing I think I have seen. The owner would not consent to euthanize for at least 20 minutes after the cat arrived, as she was hysterical. The owner's husband was screaming and yelling at everyone (including his wife). Finally, they consented, the paperwork was signed, and she came back to see him one last time. This was not the vet's idea, but the owners, and was not ideal, as she continued to cry and talk to the cat for at least another 10 minutes, despite the efforts of her son. I sympathized with her- obviously she loved the cat, and her husband was being a complete idiot (something along the lines of "It's just a cat... you'll be back in a week with another one... stop being ridiculous... get over it" continued to be repeated to her). However, I did not respect her for letting that cat be in pain for that long. There is no good prognosis for saddle thrombus. There is no cure. If caught early enough, sometimes the underlying heart conditions can be treated. But at the stage this cat was in, he was just in complete and utter pain. No matter how many times they explained this to her, she just didn't get it. Finally it was all taken care of. I, and the rest of those present, were relieved when the cat screamed for the last time. Truly that is human euthanasia.
The best case was a 17 year old jack (yes 17!), with a huge tumor on his side. He had fallen down the stairs and the owner was worried that the dog had broken his leg. After an x-ray, it was determined that it was only a soft tissue wound. To put him on the pain killers, they wanted to check the function of all of his organs. And they were truly as functional as a 2 year old! Despite his age and massive tumor, the little guy was happy, healthy and well-loved.
~Melissa
Saturday, January 26, 2013
My first night in the ER
What a great introduction to the ER! I got to meet two of the ER vets (since I was there for a portion of each shift), and five techs (one of whom is actually a cousin I had never met before). We had a ton of cases in the 7 hours I was there including:
- Ruptured anal glands
- A dog who ingested pot cookies (and also, a McDonald's breakfast sandwich- found that in her vomit)
- A cat with saddle thrombosis (very, very sad)
- A very old cat with blood in his urine, hyperthyroidism and a huge mass in the abdomen
- A small dog who fell down the stairs (he just had a soft tissue injury)
- A chihuahua with possible hydrocephalus and definitely some sort of neurological issue
- A dog with a foot abscess filled with blood
- A dog that ripped his stitches out from a tumor removal
- A puppy who ate rat poison
- A diabetic dog who was vomiting (pancreatitis was revealed with bloodwork)
The hospital was very well-organized and I was quite impressed with the two vets I shadowed- they knew their stuff and were very good with the clients (even when one screamed at a vet to "get the *&^% out of the room"). The worst part for me is that I can't touch any of the patients since I haven't been vaccinated for rabies and it's an emergency hospital, so often the vaccine history is unknown or nil. So even when they just need an extra hand, I can't lend it, which sucks. I can't feel masses, listen to murmurs, restrain, or assist with much besides wiping up the floor and drawing up some meds, and the techs/vets are obviously not as used to having shadowers around as the small animal hospital. I guess I got spoiled there. I will get used to it though, and it is a very valuable experience. I'll give some more details in the morning about the cases (if anyone out there is actually interested).
For now, I'm hitting the sack!
~Melissa
- Ruptured anal glands
- A dog who ingested pot cookies (and also, a McDonald's breakfast sandwich- found that in her vomit)
- A cat with saddle thrombosis (very, very sad)
- A very old cat with blood in his urine, hyperthyroidism and a huge mass in the abdomen
- A small dog who fell down the stairs (he just had a soft tissue injury)
- A chihuahua with possible hydrocephalus and definitely some sort of neurological issue
- A dog with a foot abscess filled with blood
- A dog that ripped his stitches out from a tumor removal
- A puppy who ate rat poison
- A diabetic dog who was vomiting (pancreatitis was revealed with bloodwork)
The hospital was very well-organized and I was quite impressed with the two vets I shadowed- they knew their stuff and were very good with the clients (even when one screamed at a vet to "get the *&^% out of the room"). The worst part for me is that I can't touch any of the patients since I haven't been vaccinated for rabies and it's an emergency hospital, so often the vaccine history is unknown or nil. So even when they just need an extra hand, I can't lend it, which sucks. I can't feel masses, listen to murmurs, restrain, or assist with much besides wiping up the floor and drawing up some meds, and the techs/vets are obviously not as used to having shadowers around as the small animal hospital. I guess I got spoiled there. I will get used to it though, and it is a very valuable experience. I'll give some more details in the morning about the cases (if anyone out there is actually interested).
For now, I'm hitting the sack!
~Melissa
9 am on a Saturday
An update on my first week:
I am taking cell biology, organic chemistry, physics and contemporary American poetry. This semester all my pre-reqs for vet school except for biochem will be fulfilled! I am very excited about cell, as it is incredibly fascinating. It is, however, terrifying when the professor puts in his syllabus that the class average since the 1980's has remained roughly same... being a 2.4. At least a few students in the class are taking it for a second time, since they did not pass with above a C- the first time. I am determined to make above that!
I also love poetry, and this is my last class in my English minor. I have had the professor before, so I know the workload and the expectations, which is helpful. My class schedule isn't too bad- I have classes/lab from 8-5 on Mondays and Wednesdays, lab on Tuesdays from 1-4, lab every other Thursday from 1-4, and class from 8-3 on Fridays.
Today I start my new job cleaning a house in the next town up, and I also start a new internship at an Emergency hospital! I will be going there once a week for the evening shift to learn about emergency procedures and diagnostics. Since I don't have a rabies shot, I can't actually handle any of the patients, but I can still assist and observe in some capacity. I am hoping it is a great experience!
The pre-vet club schedule for the semester is almost complete, and I am quite pleased with how things worked out. We typically spend the Spring semester sending students out to a Standardbred breeding farm to get experience. Since they were shorthanded, we were unable to do this this year. Luckily, I was able to find an alternative that I think will be just as cool. Remember how the cattle vet I rode along with owned a dairy goat farm? Well his wife and son (who run it), as well as the vet, have agreed to let students come out every Sunday to learn how to handle goats, learn about the dairy, see ultrasounds, vaccines, and kidding. It should be a really neat experience, enhanced by the fact that they will be getting vet experience with Dr. C, and seeing a side of small ruminant medicine many of them would probably not have the chance to (quite a few are city kids). They have also put me on-call so that if there are any surgeries or unusual things going on, I can send out a notice to the students to see if anyone is available to head out there (it's only 20 minutes away from the school).
We are also heading to a neurologist's hospital for a tour, going to various breed and species shows in the area, having an exotics vet in, a relief vet in, talking to a current vet student at Mississippi (a sibling to a club member), and going to the VMRCVM open house. We are still trying to work out our fundraiser (we wanted to do a community dog wash), since we haven't been getting a response from anyone in any of the departments as to the feasibility of it.
All in all, I'm pretty excited.
Melissa
I am taking cell biology, organic chemistry, physics and contemporary American poetry. This semester all my pre-reqs for vet school except for biochem will be fulfilled! I am very excited about cell, as it is incredibly fascinating. It is, however, terrifying when the professor puts in his syllabus that the class average since the 1980's has remained roughly same... being a 2.4. At least a few students in the class are taking it for a second time, since they did not pass with above a C- the first time. I am determined to make above that!
I also love poetry, and this is my last class in my English minor. I have had the professor before, so I know the workload and the expectations, which is helpful. My class schedule isn't too bad- I have classes/lab from 8-5 on Mondays and Wednesdays, lab on Tuesdays from 1-4, lab every other Thursday from 1-4, and class from 8-3 on Fridays.
Today I start my new job cleaning a house in the next town up, and I also start a new internship at an Emergency hospital! I will be going there once a week for the evening shift to learn about emergency procedures and diagnostics. Since I don't have a rabies shot, I can't actually handle any of the patients, but I can still assist and observe in some capacity. I am hoping it is a great experience!
The pre-vet club schedule for the semester is almost complete, and I am quite pleased with how things worked out. We typically spend the Spring semester sending students out to a Standardbred breeding farm to get experience. Since they were shorthanded, we were unable to do this this year. Luckily, I was able to find an alternative that I think will be just as cool. Remember how the cattle vet I rode along with owned a dairy goat farm? Well his wife and son (who run it), as well as the vet, have agreed to let students come out every Sunday to learn how to handle goats, learn about the dairy, see ultrasounds, vaccines, and kidding. It should be a really neat experience, enhanced by the fact that they will be getting vet experience with Dr. C, and seeing a side of small ruminant medicine many of them would probably not have the chance to (quite a few are city kids). They have also put me on-call so that if there are any surgeries or unusual things going on, I can send out a notice to the students to see if anyone is available to head out there (it's only 20 minutes away from the school).
We are also heading to a neurologist's hospital for a tour, going to various breed and species shows in the area, having an exotics vet in, a relief vet in, talking to a current vet student at Mississippi (a sibling to a club member), and going to the VMRCVM open house. We are still trying to work out our fundraiser (we wanted to do a community dog wash), since we haven't been getting a response from anyone in any of the departments as to the feasibility of it.
All in all, I'm pretty excited.
Melissa
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Just Because
Last week when I was at the small animal hospital, we had quite an interesting "sick fit-in." These two ladies had called in about their lab. They weren't clients, but their hospital couldn't fit them in. So, of course, we did. The two ladies were a little older and a little heavyset, and were sisters. Their lab as well was a little older and a little heavyset. The conversation went as follows...
"What seems to be the problem with your dog?"
"Well, she has had really, really awful diarrhea yesterday and this morning and we have a hard time getting her outside in time."
"Do you know of anything that could have caused the diarrhea?"
"Well no... we know she has some problems with dairy, so we avoid giving her that. But I don't think she had any. Of course, she does get her tidbits every night."
"What exactly do you give her?"
"Well, you know when anything goes bad in the freezer, starts to get a little freezer burnt, I just put it in a pot and cook it off for her and then she gets that and the broth every night on her food. You know, just some extra protein."
"You might want to trim down on the extra food. Her dog food is formulated so she should be getting all of her protein and dietary needs from it. She could stand to lose a little weight- she is getting older and if she goes down, you won't be able to get her back up. "
"Oh but she loves it so much! The other night I cut her up her own pumpkin pie, just two or three pieces, you know, and put little dabs of whipped cream on each bite for her. She just loved it!"
The doctor and I stared at her in slight disbelief.
"When did you feed her the pumpkin pie?"
"Oh I guess it was just the other night. A day or two ago."
"You know that most whipped cream and pumpkin pie has dairy in it?"
She looked distraught.
"... Oh dear..."
"We will give her something to help with the diarrhea, and I would really suggest stopping feeding her the extras, or else this might be a continual problem."
She looked at us plaintively. "But what am I supposed to do with my bad freezer food?"
Neither of us summoned up a response, though her sister slid in with a snide "I told you so."
"What seems to be the problem with your dog?"
"Well, she has had really, really awful diarrhea yesterday and this morning and we have a hard time getting her outside in time."
"Do you know of anything that could have caused the diarrhea?"
"Well no... we know she has some problems with dairy, so we avoid giving her that. But I don't think she had any. Of course, she does get her tidbits every night."
"What exactly do you give her?"
"Well, you know when anything goes bad in the freezer, starts to get a little freezer burnt, I just put it in a pot and cook it off for her and then she gets that and the broth every night on her food. You know, just some extra protein."
"You might want to trim down on the extra food. Her dog food is formulated so she should be getting all of her protein and dietary needs from it. She could stand to lose a little weight- she is getting older and if she goes down, you won't be able to get her back up. "
"Oh but she loves it so much! The other night I cut her up her own pumpkin pie, just two or three pieces, you know, and put little dabs of whipped cream on each bite for her. She just loved it!"
The doctor and I stared at her in slight disbelief.
"When did you feed her the pumpkin pie?"
"Oh I guess it was just the other night. A day or two ago."
"You know that most whipped cream and pumpkin pie has dairy in it?"
She looked distraught.
"... Oh dear..."
"We will give her something to help with the diarrhea, and I would really suggest stopping feeding her the extras, or else this might be a continual problem."
She looked at us plaintively. "But what am I supposed to do with my bad freezer food?"
Neither of us summoned up a response, though her sister slid in with a snide "I told you so."
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Last Day at the Small Animal Hospital!
Well today was a long day, and also a sad one, because it was my last day shadowing for awhile at the small animal hospital. I did a full day today, from 8-7:30, and it was a really good day. Not only did I get to see quite a few interesting things, but there were also no euthanasias! Apparently the week I was gone, Dr. J. put down at least 3 animals a day. Today was pretty calm, and I got to see a neuter, an ultrasound on a cat with bowel tumors, and an x-ray on an elderly, un-neutered dog who had an enlarged testicle, prostrate and bladder, on top of a thousand skin conditions which had been being treated previously. There were two puppies, a lab and a shih-zu. A pekinese came in with a huge anal gland that was about to burst. Dr. J. tried to express it, but decided to let it rupture on it's own since it was ready and willing. I stained some slides, and made a basset hound bleed everywhere (because she was super aggressive and, I admit it, I suck at nail trims).
The end of the day was the saddest; saying goodbye to everyone. I won't be able to shadow next semester because I really just don't have time. On top of physics, orgo, cell biology and a 300-level English class, I wouldn't be able to shadow more than once a week (probably on Saturdays), and since they only take one intern at a time, I don't want to take someone else's spot. But they invited me back whenever I wanted to, and I will probably go back next Fall if I can.
Dr. J. told me she would be very happy to write me a letter of recommendation for vet school, and also invited me to come help sheer her sheep in March! The techs were the hardest to say goodbye to- they have taught me so much, had so much patience with me, and really just showed me what they loved about vet med and the practice. They were an invaluable resource for me and I will miss all of them and their varied personalities. Dr. J. and all the techs assured me when I left today that I had made an impression on them, and that they believed I would make a wonderful vet and would have no problems at all getting in to school. I can't tell you how heartening it was to hear.
Last night I did call the emergency hospital about shadowing occasionally on night shift during the semester. They were really positive about it and had me send them an email with my information. I am still waiting to hear back, but am hopeful that that will work out. If I am able to do that I will have seen equine, cattle, small animal, exotics and some emergency work! I am so grateful to have seen so many different sides of vet med already and I am really looking forward to the future... This is the year, after all, that I will be applying, and I am quite terrified that I won't get in the first shot (though it won't stop me!). I am doing my best to make myself a strong applicant and to get all the experience in that I can.
Tomorrow is my last day out with the cattle vet!
~Melissa
The end of the day was the saddest; saying goodbye to everyone. I won't be able to shadow next semester because I really just don't have time. On top of physics, orgo, cell biology and a 300-level English class, I wouldn't be able to shadow more than once a week (probably on Saturdays), and since they only take one intern at a time, I don't want to take someone else's spot. But they invited me back whenever I wanted to, and I will probably go back next Fall if I can.
Dr. J. told me she would be very happy to write me a letter of recommendation for vet school, and also invited me to come help sheer her sheep in March! The techs were the hardest to say goodbye to- they have taught me so much, had so much patience with me, and really just showed me what they loved about vet med and the practice. They were an invaluable resource for me and I will miss all of them and their varied personalities. Dr. J. and all the techs assured me when I left today that I had made an impression on them, and that they believed I would make a wonderful vet and would have no problems at all getting in to school. I can't tell you how heartening it was to hear.
Last night I did call the emergency hospital about shadowing occasionally on night shift during the semester. They were really positive about it and had me send them an email with my information. I am still waiting to hear back, but am hopeful that that will work out. If I am able to do that I will have seen equine, cattle, small animal, exotics and some emergency work! I am so grateful to have seen so many different sides of vet med already and I am really looking forward to the future... This is the year, after all, that I will be applying, and I am quite terrified that I won't get in the first shot (though it won't stop me!). I am doing my best to make myself a strong applicant and to get all the experience in that I can.
Tomorrow is my last day out with the cattle vet!
~Melissa
Monday, January 14, 2013
Money Honey
Can I tell you how wonderful it is to have a paying job, even if only for a few days? As a pre-vet student I do a lot of unpaid work. I shouldn't say 'unpaid' I suppose- it is paid for in knowledge and in experience. I even get free vet work sometimes. But in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't earn me any money, doesn't help me pay the bills or feed my animals. My part time job unexpectedly petered out a couple of months ago and left me with no income whatsoever besides a few random pet-sitting jobs. I really don't have time for a set-schedule job where I have to put in serious hours during the semester... I guess I consider being a student as my full-time job, but there again, it doesn't help with anything monetarily.
Quite nicely, my stepfather has been helping me out by letting me help fix up his rental properties. Just knowing that I will at some point in the future get paid something is a great feeling (though I would gladly do it for free as well). Plus a very nice Christmas gift from my family to help pay for books and expenses never hurt. And I have an interview tomorrow to get a job cleaning someone's house once every couple of weeks. All in all, my bank account has increased for the first time in months. It's as good of a feeling as having a full tank of gas in your car.
~Melissa
Quite nicely, my stepfather has been helping me out by letting me help fix up his rental properties. Just knowing that I will at some point in the future get paid something is a great feeling (though I would gladly do it for free as well). Plus a very nice Christmas gift from my family to help pay for books and expenses never hurt. And I have an interview tomorrow to get a job cleaning someone's house once every couple of weeks. All in all, my bank account has increased for the first time in months. It's as good of a feeling as having a full tank of gas in your car.
~Melissa
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Home Again, Home Again
Why hello! I touched back on Maryland soil last evening, after a delay of a few hours due to snow in Colorado. Boy did I miss my animals! My cats were thankful for my return, as was (of course) my lab. The chickens and my horse were fairly indifferent... Someone was feeding them, so they were happy! :)
I had a wonderful time in Colorado, revisiting many of my favorite places and hiking through a few county and state parks close to my Dad's house. We also headed up to Estes Park, CO and went for a short trail ride ( more about this in a bit). We got some bowling in, some card playing, and a lot of good quality time with my father and stepmother. I put in some of my favorite pictures below!
Since most of my life is fairly boring, I normally highlight most of the vet-related stuff and leave out the other bits, though this will soon change as I will be returning to school in a week (wow that flew...), and will have much less vet-related things to do. I actually just realized this on Thursday and scrambled to order my books and get stuff in order. I will be working on finalizing the pre-vet schedule for this semester in the upcoming week, which is always fun. And by fun I mean generally a day for my OCD self to go to town. I love schedules. And spreadsheets. :)
Anyway, back to the trail ride...Let me paint the scene for you. I have ridden in CO many times, but never here, as it was one of the few places open in Winter. So we drive up, and first of all, can't find the proper driveway for the place. Then, when we finally do, we drive through a lot of really old, pretty run-down buildings. Still kind of nice but... interesting. Once we get through the cabins and the lodge, we find the ranch part of the place. It's actually much nicer than the rest of the buildings... there were a lot of horses out in the paddock, but they all looked well-fed and groomed, and the barn was immaculate. The front office was filled with smoke and smoking older women. We checked in, and there were no liability papers to sign, or any papers for that matter, which seemed bizarre to me. Even when my friends come to ride, I make them sign a liability release.
We headed back outside, where the wranglers began to bring out horses and tack them up. There were ten going out for an hour through the mountains, and we composed four of those. Not too bad of a group. Their tack looked nice, and the horses were well-behaved. We checked out their longhorn and brama calves, petted some of the horses, and chased after the indoor, litterbox trained pot-bellied pig to get some pictures. We then leaned back to wait for the other guests to get there. I noticed one of the horses acting pretty restless, and then he started to lay down, still being tied to the hitching post. Well I wasn't about to let him ruin someone's saddle, so I hollered at him, and one of the wranglers who was a bit closer advanced toward him, at which point the horse jumped back to it's feet.
Strange, I thought. Most of the horses at the trail-riding places are used to their work and hardly notice the tack or the riders. So I kept watching him while the wrangler went to grab another horse. He appeared restless, and was tugging on his tie. I then noticed him starting to lift one of his back legs as if to kick at his belly. Little alarm bells went off in my head and I mentioned to Jared that it looked like the horse was colicky to me. He of course told me to keep my nose out of it- it wasn't my horse and I wasn't a vet. Luckily, the wrangler came to the same conclusion I did. He untacked the horse and tied him up, then called some of the other wranglers to come help out with the guest horses. He walked the horse and listened to it's belly. His body language got continually more stressed, and the wranglers attitudes began to plummet. The main wrangler, after seeing, I guess, that I got paired up with the most advanced rider horse, or maybe overhearing my comments, or seeing my troubled glances, came up and discreetly told me that they had recently lost 2 horses to sand colic, and he feared for this one. I asked if he had a vet close by, and he indicated that one was very close to the ranch.
From pieces of information dropped by the various wranglers, I gathered that they thought something to do with the hay they had been giving was causing the problem, and that they had been giving mineral supplements since the first horse had gone down. The hay they were currently feeding looked to be very green alfalfa. The colicky horse continued to get very bad, very fast. He began trying to lay down any chance he could get, despite the walking, trotting and circles that the main wrangler was getting him to do. The main problem began when he handed the horse off to a younger wrangler (about 16), who appeared to have no idea what to do with the horse. Not only did she let him get down and roll at least twice, she also just let go of the lead at one point when he started tugging and let the horse run away and then roll, and then later her own horse got away and ran around. It was terribly frustrating for me to watch this occur and be able to do nothing about it. They needed a vet and needed one fast, and I unfortunately, am not there yet. I do not have the knowledge, the experience or the authority to help, to give advice, or to work on the horse. All I could do was stand there and watch the horse deteriorate. Someone eventually gave him banamine paste and an injection of something, and they took him into the stall, and then took us out on the trail.
Because of the emergency, we got out half an hour late... but instead of giving us the full hour, they rushed us back after about 20 minutes on the trail. No one was in a mood to complain, especially not the other 6 members of the trail ride who had little to no horse experience and were quite wigged out by the scene that had unraveled in front of them. My mount was nice and responsive. I even got a few trot steps in, and made her wander off the trail a few times. I enjoyed the beauty of the short ride, and the companionship of my family, though a large part of me wanted to be in that stall seeing what they were doing. When we returned, one of the wranglers informed me that they could no longer get the horse up at all, and that they suspected he also had pneumonia on top of the colic. I left feeling a bit heavy-hearted, but also reminded once again of why I want to be a vet. I don't want to be standing on the sidelines, with my hands itching to help, feeling empty of knowledge. I know I won't be able to save them all, or even to have the ability to, but I want to have the knowledge and the opportunity to try.
~Melissa
I had a wonderful time in Colorado, revisiting many of my favorite places and hiking through a few county and state parks close to my Dad's house. We also headed up to Estes Park, CO and went for a short trail ride ( more about this in a bit). We got some bowling in, some card playing, and a lot of good quality time with my father and stepmother. I put in some of my favorite pictures below!
Since most of my life is fairly boring, I normally highlight most of the vet-related stuff and leave out the other bits, though this will soon change as I will be returning to school in a week (wow that flew...), and will have much less vet-related things to do. I actually just realized this on Thursday and scrambled to order my books and get stuff in order. I will be working on finalizing the pre-vet schedule for this semester in the upcoming week, which is always fun. And by fun I mean generally a day for my OCD self to go to town. I love schedules. And spreadsheets. :)
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| I got a double bulls-eye playing darts... purely by accident. |
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| A view of the rockies from our drive up to Estes Park |
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| Me and Sugar, the mare I was given to ride. |
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| One of the beautiful elk we saw sleeping in Estes Park. |
Anyway, back to the trail ride...Let me paint the scene for you. I have ridden in CO many times, but never here, as it was one of the few places open in Winter. So we drive up, and first of all, can't find the proper driveway for the place. Then, when we finally do, we drive through a lot of really old, pretty run-down buildings. Still kind of nice but... interesting. Once we get through the cabins and the lodge, we find the ranch part of the place. It's actually much nicer than the rest of the buildings... there were a lot of horses out in the paddock, but they all looked well-fed and groomed, and the barn was immaculate. The front office was filled with smoke and smoking older women. We checked in, and there were no liability papers to sign, or any papers for that matter, which seemed bizarre to me. Even when my friends come to ride, I make them sign a liability release.
We headed back outside, where the wranglers began to bring out horses and tack them up. There were ten going out for an hour through the mountains, and we composed four of those. Not too bad of a group. Their tack looked nice, and the horses were well-behaved. We checked out their longhorn and brama calves, petted some of the horses, and chased after the indoor, litterbox trained pot-bellied pig to get some pictures. We then leaned back to wait for the other guests to get there. I noticed one of the horses acting pretty restless, and then he started to lay down, still being tied to the hitching post. Well I wasn't about to let him ruin someone's saddle, so I hollered at him, and one of the wranglers who was a bit closer advanced toward him, at which point the horse jumped back to it's feet.
Strange, I thought. Most of the horses at the trail-riding places are used to their work and hardly notice the tack or the riders. So I kept watching him while the wrangler went to grab another horse. He appeared restless, and was tugging on his tie. I then noticed him starting to lift one of his back legs as if to kick at his belly. Little alarm bells went off in my head and I mentioned to Jared that it looked like the horse was colicky to me. He of course told me to keep my nose out of it- it wasn't my horse and I wasn't a vet. Luckily, the wrangler came to the same conclusion I did. He untacked the horse and tied him up, then called some of the other wranglers to come help out with the guest horses. He walked the horse and listened to it's belly. His body language got continually more stressed, and the wranglers attitudes began to plummet. The main wrangler, after seeing, I guess, that I got paired up with the most advanced rider horse, or maybe overhearing my comments, or seeing my troubled glances, came up and discreetly told me that they had recently lost 2 horses to sand colic, and he feared for this one. I asked if he had a vet close by, and he indicated that one was very close to the ranch.
From pieces of information dropped by the various wranglers, I gathered that they thought something to do with the hay they had been giving was causing the problem, and that they had been giving mineral supplements since the first horse had gone down. The hay they were currently feeding looked to be very green alfalfa. The colicky horse continued to get very bad, very fast. He began trying to lay down any chance he could get, despite the walking, trotting and circles that the main wrangler was getting him to do. The main problem began when he handed the horse off to a younger wrangler (about 16), who appeared to have no idea what to do with the horse. Not only did she let him get down and roll at least twice, she also just let go of the lead at one point when he started tugging and let the horse run away and then roll, and then later her own horse got away and ran around. It was terribly frustrating for me to watch this occur and be able to do nothing about it. They needed a vet and needed one fast, and I unfortunately, am not there yet. I do not have the knowledge, the experience or the authority to help, to give advice, or to work on the horse. All I could do was stand there and watch the horse deteriorate. Someone eventually gave him banamine paste and an injection of something, and they took him into the stall, and then took us out on the trail.
Because of the emergency, we got out half an hour late... but instead of giving us the full hour, they rushed us back after about 20 minutes on the trail. No one was in a mood to complain, especially not the other 6 members of the trail ride who had little to no horse experience and were quite wigged out by the scene that had unraveled in front of them. My mount was nice and responsive. I even got a few trot steps in, and made her wander off the trail a few times. I enjoyed the beauty of the short ride, and the companionship of my family, though a large part of me wanted to be in that stall seeing what they were doing. When we returned, one of the wranglers informed me that they could no longer get the horse up at all, and that they suspected he also had pneumonia on top of the colic. I left feeling a bit heavy-hearted, but also reminded once again of why I want to be a vet. I don't want to be standing on the sidelines, with my hands itching to help, feeling empty of knowledge. I know I won't be able to save them all, or even to have the ability to, but I want to have the knowledge and the opportunity to try.
~Melissa
Friday, January 4, 2013
My first LDA Surgery!
The first herd check today was cancelled, but instead I got to see a federal veterinarian come and test a goat for a false positive TB test. The original TB test had caused a slight reaction, and thus Dr. C. reported it to the state. They then sent someone out to do further testing. They shaved two patches on the goat's neck, and took skin thickness measurements. One patch was injected with the Bovine strain of TB, and the other with the Avian. The Avian is not considered harmful to humans, and goats can still be shipped for export to other countries even if they carry it. It is the Bovine strain that is the problem. They will wait 72 hours and retest the thickness of the skin in the areas (essentially, how much swelling occurred). This gives them some comparison as to whether it is one strain or the other, or whether it is simply a reaction to the vehicle (which is much more likely since TB in goats is very rare, especially in a 6-month old who was born on the farm and has never been off). The veterinarian who did it is a retired dairy vet from Minnesota, and he was really interested in talking to me about the role of veterinarians on the state and federal level, and pointing out that there are job shortages, and also that VMRCVM is a really good school for going into regulatory medicine. It is certainly something to keep in consideration.
Our second call was for surgery! This was probably the most serious surgery I have seen yet, and especially in large animals, so I was really excited to see it. Dr. C. started out by numbing the back left stomach area (behind the rib cage) of the cow, and making an incision on her right side, about ten inches. All of this was of course done after clipping and scrubbing. He cut through to the abdominal area, and then stuck his arm inside her gut. I can't imagine how funny that felt for the cow! Anyway, since there is a negative pressure in the abdominal area, you could hear a WHOOSH of air when he exposed it, and the cow almost appeared to inflate slightly. He stuck a needle and tube in her abomasum to draw out the air, and then moved the stomach chamber back into place. He sutured it to the stomach wall to keep it from floating off again, and sewed her back up. The scrubbing took about half an hour, and the surgery about the same. If you are interested in seeing something similar, I found a good one on youtube. It's really funny because you can hear the farmer talking to his cows the entire time :P
Our last call for the day was just for a herd check, at a somewhat run-down farm. I saw one cow jump a gate and get it's back legs caught for about 10 minutes, and another scramble under a fence... It was interesting. Their cows were mostly pregnant as expected, with only 1/20 having a uterus problem needing meds. It had pyometria, or in layman's terms, pussy uterus.
So now I'm back home again and starting to get the house cleaned up. I will be silent for about a week, since I am heading to Colorado to visit with my family out there. I will update with pics, etc. on my return! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and week.
~Melissa
Our second call was for surgery! This was probably the most serious surgery I have seen yet, and especially in large animals, so I was really excited to see it. Dr. C. started out by numbing the back left stomach area (behind the rib cage) of the cow, and making an incision on her right side, about ten inches. All of this was of course done after clipping and scrubbing. He cut through to the abdominal area, and then stuck his arm inside her gut. I can't imagine how funny that felt for the cow! Anyway, since there is a negative pressure in the abdominal area, you could hear a WHOOSH of air when he exposed it, and the cow almost appeared to inflate slightly. He stuck a needle and tube in her abomasum to draw out the air, and then moved the stomach chamber back into place. He sutured it to the stomach wall to keep it from floating off again, and sewed her back up. The scrubbing took about half an hour, and the surgery about the same. If you are interested in seeing something similar, I found a good one on youtube. It's really funny because you can hear the farmer talking to his cows the entire time :P
Our last call for the day was just for a herd check, at a somewhat run-down farm. I saw one cow jump a gate and get it's back legs caught for about 10 minutes, and another scramble under a fence... It was interesting. Their cows were mostly pregnant as expected, with only 1/20 having a uterus problem needing meds. It had pyometria, or in layman's terms, pussy uterus.
So now I'm back home again and starting to get the house cleaned up. I will be silent for about a week, since I am heading to Colorado to visit with my family out there. I will update with pics, etc. on my return! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and week.
~Melissa
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
A New Year, A New Experience
So now we come to yesterday and today's events. Yesterday was recovery (for Jared) and catching up on things that needed to be done. We mucked out the horse stalls (which had some accumulation due to snow and our poor barn design), and filled up the truck with a load of firewood from my grandfathers. We brought in two stacks of wood into his basement, hopefully enough to keep him for a month or so before we need to do some more. We try to bring it in so he doesn't have to go outside to keep his furnace burning- we all worry about him falling or catching cold. He is still an active old guy in his 70's, and hunts, fishes, crabs, gunsmiths, you name it. But as the years progress, he gets out a little less and if we can make his life a little easier, we certainly try. Once we got him all taken care of, we took our load up to the house and stacked it in our basement. We had an innovative little system going on... Jared parked the truck at the top of our basement steps, and we put a wheelbarrow at the bottom. He tossed wood into the wheelbarrow, and when it was full I wheeled it in and stacked it, while he pulled out the next wheelbarrowfull from the back of the truck. We got it finished in about half an hour, so it wasn't too bad. Finally, we headed over to my neighbor's so I could take care of his horses for the night. Boy was I tired when we finally got home. After a hot shower and some of my grandmother's soup, I was out like a light.
My alarm went off at 6:30 am and I headed out to get the house full of animals fed and taken care of before heading over to Dr. C's at 8 am. We jumped in the truck and headed out for our first herd check, at a decent sized farm not too farm down the road from him. We preg-checked about 30 heifers, many of whom had not taken from the last breeding. Only about half or less were pregnant. Two of the cows appeared to have calves about 35 days old... which the farmers didn't have records of them having been bred at that time. So that was pretty bizarre, especially since Dr. C. said everything felt completely normal in them. There were two uterus infusions that I got to see, with tetracycline being flushed in for antibiotic purposes. They put a long hollow tube into the uterus, and Dr. C. feels out where the end should go based on the infection and status of the uterus. There was a mild incident that occurred that really sunk into me how dangerous cows can be. Dr. C. was in the chute, and the farmer wasn't paying attention (and nor was I, since I was watching Dr. C.!). Another cow butted her way in and shoved Dr. C. against the other cow and the gate. He was getting squeezed with his arm still stuck in another cow. It was terrifying. They managed to get the one cow back enough so that no damage was done, but I'm sure his rib cage will hurt a bit tomorrow from being pancaked.
We also ended up doing a different type of dehorning at this farm. These owners did most of the cauterizing dehorning themselves, numbing the calves first with Lidocaine. However, they had let about 10 of the calves get too big, and they needed something more extreme than the cauterizer. So I got to see something a little different. Dr. C. numbed the calves' heads, and then we went down the line with what I call "scoops." I held each calf's head down for him, and he used these tools essentially like giant pliers, to cut around the calf's horns, taking some scalp along with it to make sure all of the horn-producing cells were removed. He then pulled on each of the four main arteries that run around the horn, until they snapped off under the surface, where the pressure of the tissue would cause them to stop bleeding. To doubly ensure that the cow's didn't bleed out (though he assured me that this was extremely rare), the farmers went behind us and cauterized the area with the heat dehorner. One of the calves, who had abnormally large horns for her age, also had these strange holes left behind after we removed her horns- these were actually her sinuses!
The calves could hardly feel any of it (as you could tell from their lack of struggle), which made me feel a bit better than some of the earlier dehorning, where they are thrashing and bleating plaintively (yeah, I'm a wuss).
The next farm we headed to was for a cow who needed to be "cleaned." That is, she had calved on Friday and not all of her afterbirth had come out. She was a little weak in the hind end and we couldn't get her up due to slippery floor conditions, and since it was just Dr. C. and me (the farmers weren't around), he did as much as he could with her lying down. He pulled out a lot of her afterbirth (which smelled pretty bad), and cleaned her up. He also put in some antibacterial "pills" which were each the size of his thumb. They would dissolve in the uterus and keep infection down.
Our last call was to do some more foot work on a cow with an ulcer. Dr. C. cleaned her up and bandaged her foot, and then we headed back to the office. We were done by twelve thirty, and I was home by 1, quite an early day!
Tomorrow I am going in to the small animal hospital in the morning, then having lunch with an old, dear friend and his significant other, whom I'm excited to meet. He goes to Mizzou, and so does she. In the afternoon I'm heading up to go help out at my stepfather's new building that his business is expanding into. I should be helping with some wall painting and whatever else they need! So it should certainly be a fast-paced day.
Hope you have a wonderful evening, and thanks for taking the time to read my rants! I hope someone out there is getting something out of it. If anyone ever has any corrections, clarifications or questions, I would love to hear them.
Thanks!
~Melissa
My alarm went off at 6:30 am and I headed out to get the house full of animals fed and taken care of before heading over to Dr. C's at 8 am. We jumped in the truck and headed out for our first herd check, at a decent sized farm not too farm down the road from him. We preg-checked about 30 heifers, many of whom had not taken from the last breeding. Only about half or less were pregnant. Two of the cows appeared to have calves about 35 days old... which the farmers didn't have records of them having been bred at that time. So that was pretty bizarre, especially since Dr. C. said everything felt completely normal in them. There were two uterus infusions that I got to see, with tetracycline being flushed in for antibiotic purposes. They put a long hollow tube into the uterus, and Dr. C. feels out where the end should go based on the infection and status of the uterus. There was a mild incident that occurred that really sunk into me how dangerous cows can be. Dr. C. was in the chute, and the farmer wasn't paying attention (and nor was I, since I was watching Dr. C.!). Another cow butted her way in and shoved Dr. C. against the other cow and the gate. He was getting squeezed with his arm still stuck in another cow. It was terrifying. They managed to get the one cow back enough so that no damage was done, but I'm sure his rib cage will hurt a bit tomorrow from being pancaked.
The next farm we headed to was for a cow who needed to be "cleaned." That is, she had calved on Friday and not all of her afterbirth had come out. She was a little weak in the hind end and we couldn't get her up due to slippery floor conditions, and since it was just Dr. C. and me (the farmers weren't around), he did as much as he could with her lying down. He pulled out a lot of her afterbirth (which smelled pretty bad), and cleaned her up. He also put in some antibacterial "pills" which were each the size of his thumb. They would dissolve in the uterus and keep infection down.
Our last call was to do some more foot work on a cow with an ulcer. Dr. C. cleaned her up and bandaged her foot, and then we headed back to the office. We were done by twelve thirty, and I was home by 1, quite an early day!
Tomorrow I am going in to the small animal hospital in the morning, then having lunch with an old, dear friend and his significant other, whom I'm excited to meet. He goes to Mizzou, and so does she. In the afternoon I'm heading up to go help out at my stepfather's new building that his business is expanding into. I should be helping with some wall painting and whatever else they need! So it should certainly be a fast-paced day.
Hope you have a wonderful evening, and thanks for taking the time to read my rants! I hope someone out there is getting something out of it. If anyone ever has any corrections, clarifications or questions, I would love to hear them.
Thanks!
~Melissa
Monday Funday
I'm just going to make a quick entry about my Monday before I head off to do some day's chores. I'll update you all about the rest later tonight! It's also probably better this way so that you don't have to read a huge entry... instead you can read two medium-length ones :)
Monday I went out with Doc, the equine vet I've been shadowing since Freshman year of college. He only had one call, but it was really nice to get out on the road with him. I miss vet work on horses, and I miss him and Ms. S., his tech. No one is quite like Doc. All three of us piled into the vet truck and headed out on the road around noon, after Ms. S. and I fed his horses and chickens, and mucked his stalls (Doc has a bad back so he doesn't do too much of this if possible). We went out to look at a 21-year old gelding with a very swollen stifle. We suited up and took medial and lateral x-rays of his stifle. They came out looking good in regards to arthritis, but there was some indication that the horse's cruciate ligament was torn (it's ACL). Doc then positioned his shoulder and hands in order to rotate the "kneecap" and see if he could feel the femur and tibia moving separately, rather than together (as the should). Indeed, compared to the horse's other stifle, this one was quite wiggly. Even cooler, he then positioned my hands and shoulder and helped me move the leg so that I could feel it. I have had the opportunity to do so in a dog, but never in a horse (nor did I think this was possible!), so this was a first.
He recommended taking cultures of the stifle joint fluid, and then, pending the results, inject with cortisone. He explained the different possible positions for injections and drawing off fluid for culture and the pluses and minuses of each position. I twitched the horse while they shaved, scrubbed and stuck him, and I have never seen joint fluid squirt like it did out of this horse's knee. It was a steady stream, and I am sure that that pressure relief felt pretty darn good for him. They caught the spraying liquid in culture vial, one from each side, and we later dropped it off at the hospital for analysis.
Once I arrived home for the evening, Jared and I headed up to my cousin's New Year party. I have never been to a New Year party before (and the number of parties I have attended could be ticked off on one hand), but I actually had a really good time watching all the drunk (and not drunk) people! My cousins even arranged for a friend of theirs to come who is a vet tech looking to apply to vet school next year, so I had someone to geek out with all night. She is a 2009 grad of Mt. St. Marys, another small liberal arts college from just down the road. I think I gave her some good tips of things to look into (like Student Doctor Network!), and she as well gave me some good tips. If we are both EXTREMELY lucky, we may even be attending VMRCVM together in 2014... guess we will see!
~Melissa
Monday I went out with Doc, the equine vet I've been shadowing since Freshman year of college. He only had one call, but it was really nice to get out on the road with him. I miss vet work on horses, and I miss him and Ms. S., his tech. No one is quite like Doc. All three of us piled into the vet truck and headed out on the road around noon, after Ms. S. and I fed his horses and chickens, and mucked his stalls (Doc has a bad back so he doesn't do too much of this if possible). We went out to look at a 21-year old gelding with a very swollen stifle. We suited up and took medial and lateral x-rays of his stifle. They came out looking good in regards to arthritis, but there was some indication that the horse's cruciate ligament was torn (it's ACL). Doc then positioned his shoulder and hands in order to rotate the "kneecap" and see if he could feel the femur and tibia moving separately, rather than together (as the should). Indeed, compared to the horse's other stifle, this one was quite wiggly. Even cooler, he then positioned my hands and shoulder and helped me move the leg so that I could feel it. I have had the opportunity to do so in a dog, but never in a horse (nor did I think this was possible!), so this was a first.
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| We took from "M" and "L" areas approximately |
Once I arrived home for the evening, Jared and I headed up to my cousin's New Year party. I have never been to a New Year party before (and the number of parties I have attended could be ticked off on one hand), but I actually had a really good time watching all the drunk (and not drunk) people! My cousins even arranged for a friend of theirs to come who is a vet tech looking to apply to vet school next year, so I had someone to geek out with all night. She is a 2009 grad of Mt. St. Marys, another small liberal arts college from just down the road. I think I gave her some good tips of things to look into (like Student Doctor Network!), and she as well gave me some good tips. If we are both EXTREMELY lucky, we may even be attending VMRCVM together in 2014... guess we will see!
~Melissa
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