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.

We took from "M" and "L" areas approximately

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