Hit By Cars, Goats and Squirrels

My day started off with finding a drowned squirrel in my water tub. This was a new one for me. How a squirrel got in my water tub in the first place, and how it drowned in two inches of water makes no sense to me. My best guess is that it somehow got electrocuted by the nearby powerlines and fell in. I was already running late, and I then had to scrub out the water tub and give them enough water for the day. I got to school right as the bell tower rang 10 o'clock. Somehow the forces were with me and I avoided seeing any police officers on my way... I definitely pushed it. I had a presentation that was worth 20% of my grade, so I wanted to make sure it was decent and I was there to give it!

I got a whole bunch of progress reports and such back in the last couple of days. I calculated it out and to get an A- in physics I have to get about a 73, to get an A and 84 on the final. So that is not too bad at all. In orgo I have similar numbers, though I believe it may be an 84 to get an A-. They curve introductory physics here, which is very strange to me. It is the only class I have ever seen at G-burg that does that. I still have no idea what I have in my English class (though I should have a better idea on Thursday when I am getting all of my papers and work back from the entire semester). ES I am pretty much guaranteed an A. So it looks like I might have my first shot at an all-A semester (I'm being hopeful about English) since last fall, which would be awesome! My gpa would really love that.

Today I went in and shadowed for 7.5 hours, and had a really good time, as usual. I saw a ton of really interesting things today, from hygromas (cysts on the ends of the elbows) to mass cell tumors, to two hit by cars, to dog toe splints and rabbit urethra issues. And the goat again.
 It was really fascinating and I love how comfortable all the docs and techs are getting with me. They have started to accept me almost as one of their own, and I love being utilized and being taught. I now get to hold and walk animals, restrain, help with the initial exams (temps, weights, etc.), trim toenails on cats and dogs, clean kennels, check out incisions and post ops, help scrub things, assist in some small ways with minor surgeries, see all the x-rays, etc. The doctors have even started saving x-rays from earlier in the day to show to me if they think it is interesting. I have been there long enough to have seen many of the clients more than once and to have them recognize and interact with me, and I really love that as well. Since Dr. G. also has an equine practice, he loves to tell me about his equine cases, since he knows I have experience with that and am really interested in it.

Anyway, the highlight from the day was definitely the two hit by cars. The cases were bizarre and came in within  5 minutes of each other. Both were new clients. The one was a English chocolate lab who had been being humped by his brother in the driveway, and the daughter had been backing up and he couldn't get out of the way quick enough due to the... humpage. The other was a small schnauzer mix that was in heat and being chased by a chocolate lab and ran under the tires. Both were hit by their owners... and both were run over in the abdomen. And both did not break a single thing. They had bruising and road burn, and neither of their bladders showed up on x-ray (which could possibly mean they had burst, or that they were just empty), and both of them walked out the door for further monitoring by the family.

 I really enjoy the emergency stuff for some reason, and I definitely want to make sure I call in to the emergency hospital I had got permission to volunteer at and do that over break. I wish I had more time to shadow all the places I want to shadow! Sometimes I wish I had realized that I wanted to be a vet (seriously) before my freshman year of college.

~Melissa

Forgot to Mention...

Last night I ate squirrel! Jared decided it was time to try it, so he shot one, butchered it and brought it home. We then boiled it and fried it. Would you believe, it tasted just like chicken (if not better!).

Shadowing!

I really need to come up with some better titles.

Yesterday I was going to shadow, but a high schooler was in, so I instead headed up to the SPCA for a couple of hours to play with cats and dogs. In the evening we went to "my" hospital for the doctors to give the pre-vet club a tour and talk to them a little bit about the vet profession. Between the two of them they have done small animal, cattle, horse, exotics and research, so they are just really awesome people to talk to. I really hope the club enjoyed it- we got seven people out, so that was a good number at least.

Today I went in at 8 am and am glad I did! It was certainly a very busy day and I'm very happy I was around to give a hand. The very first appointment was a beagle for vaccines and a nail trim, and he was quite possibly the worst dog I have ever seen in terms of acting up. You would have thought we were cutting off his entire toes, not just trimming him. We got one foot finished and a snagged, bloody  nail (that did, I'm sure, actually hurt), before it was just no longer worth it. We returned the dog to the woman with a suggestion that she work with him on it.

That started the bad nails for the day... we had a chihuahua with a wrenched toe and toenail that couldn't come off because it wasn't loose enough, but was causing a heck of a lot of pain; a big bug-eyed pit whose owner wanted the nails "show-short" and kept sending the techs to take off more, regardless of whether or not they bled; and, strangely, a cat with ingrown toenails. The cat never shed it's nails, clawed on anything or chewed them off, and they continued to grow around and into it's paws. It wasn't too badly infected, but I'm sure that poor cat was hurting. The worst part was that she was so good for us to clip her nails... it literally would only take the woman bringing her in once every two months and getting them clipped to have this never be a problem.

We also did three euthanasias today, quite sadly. One of them was a six week old kitten that these people had brought in from the barn or somewhere outdoors. It had been at the hospital but was doing horribly due to whatever had happened to it- I'm not sure if it had gotten hit by a car or was just deathly anemic due to the fleas. It's breathing was erratic and it's eyes were goopy, it's gums a stark white. I held it for awhile while they talked to the owners, and I am sure it was a relief for that poor baby to go to heaven.

The second euthanasia was a older golden retriever who had a humongous tumor that extended all the way from her vulva down about halfway through her abdomen. It had grown quickly, and was a very hard, almost bone-like mass, that yesterday had begun seeping huge amounts of blood and puss out the dog's vulva. She was happy and  bright, but had stopped eating and drinking and was very much fighting with the cancer (or so I assume it was). There was nothing that could have been done with that extensive of a mass however, and so she as well was sent to doggy heaven.

The third one was much scarier. The dog came in and was shaking, had a low temp and had had bloody diarrhea for a day. We took him to the back and he vomited up yellow fluid, and then about a minute later squirted about half a gallon of blood out of his back end. The most solid thing in it was blood clots. They did a CBC on him, and his white blood cell count was astronomically low. Amongst all the other symptoms, it was a no-brainer that he had parvo. The official test came back positive. Amazingly, this was the second dog in two days that had come in with parvo, both from different rescues, and both which had to have come in to the rescue with the disease. So sad that such a bad disease, which can be stopped with only two fairly inexpensive vaccines given as a puppy, can be so prevalent...We then had to bleach down the entire hospital to make sure there was no contamination. As soon as I got home, I stripped and washed all my clothes and shoes with extremely hot water.

And then of course once I got home the dog peed on the carpet (not like I hadn't cleaned up enough bodily fluids today), the sink was leaking, the dishes had piled up, the carpet was covered in hair (the Rem-monster is shedding), and I still have an essay to finish writing before Monday. Oh yeah, and a lab report, and a quiz and starting to study for finals. And to think just two days ago I was thinking about how badly I need a job... I forgot about the fact that I have no time! I guess it's just one of those days where everything piles up on you.

Hope your weekend is going better than mine!

~Melissa

Ladybugs

These last few weeks are always the worst. I'm currently sitting on the top floor of the library and thanking everything lovely that I go to a small college and can actually get a free table during crunch time. I had to turn in a rough draft of a paper right before break and got it back last night... What I thought was at least a somewhat decent paper got shot down once again. The first "abstract" I turned in, she didn't like very much, as she said it lacked purpose. Now she says I have purpose but my examples lack it. UGH. So I am trying really really hard to get my ten pages. Writing normally comes really easy to me, but this paper has been a doozy.

This morning was my 3rd organic chemistry exam. It was hard as heck, but I think I did alright. I had to really think through every single question (which I know is the purpose of exams). I can take a little bit of a hit on it since I rocked the first two, but that didn't stop me stressing or studying my butt off. It does, however, help after the fact when I start obsessively worrying over the questions I felt iffy about.

On the upside, I sat down at this library table and my old friend the ladybug decided I was a good jungle gym. What one is doing on the fourth floor of the library, I have no idea. Just like red-tailed hawks, I seem to see lady bugs everywhere. I think it is secret revenge on me for collecting so many when I was a child and making them my "pets." Don't ask.

I have two more labs, two more homeworks, three write-ups, one essay and three final exams and 16 days before the semester is over. I am counting down.

~Melissa

My Christmas List

- A's (or A-'s!) in all my classes

- The new GRE study book
- Chicken food
- Friskies canned cat food
- Cat litter
- Purina Lamb and Rice dog food

- Someone to fix the broken tile in my bathroom 
- My textbooks for next semester

Yup, I'm pathetic. 

Deer Heart Dissection

My cousin Kevin shot a little doe yesterday, and the heart was still intact, so Jared saved it for me:

It was really neat to be able to look at all the different chambers and valves. Much cooler than the itty bitty piglet hearts you look at in intro bio. It went into the natural recycling after I was done with it- the wildlife won't let it go to waste.

Turkey Days

So I guess I'm getting a little behind here. Lets see... Monday was my last full day of classes, and I didn't have lab, so it was a short day. I got my Physics exam back and got a 86% on it, which is so exciting! I was expecting much, much worse. My professor was very nice with the partial credit. This means that so long as I get above an 85% on the final exam, I should be able to squeeze an A-. I will be studying my butt off for this final!

I spent Monday afternoon cleaning my house (YESSSS), and playing with my dog. Tuesday I spent the morning continuing to clean, and then went to the animal hospital from noon to 7. I am officially up to 500 hours of veterinary experience! Only 63 are with small animal, but I'm getting there. I worked with Dr. G., and I very much enjoyed him as always.

I walked in on the end of an unexpected exploratory surgery on a spay that had a tiny uterus and funny things going on with her anatomy. Both Dr's were in there, so I didn't get a coherent explanation of what they had found, just that whatever he had gone looking for wasn't all that great. It was a small greyhound with a leg deformity that had been rescued by a local organization. I also got to watch a dental on a rottweiler with awful teeth (which is an abnormality, as it's normally the smaller ones you have to watch out for). We had a ton of puppies come in for check ups and dewormer and such- I think we saw at least 6 separate clients with new puppies. The normal cats for vaccines and dogs for vaccines, and flea allergies galore.

Around 6 we got a call from someone asking if they could bring a goat in on an emergency call. Dr. G shrugged and told them to bring it in. Apparently their own vet hospital wouldn't take it, and we were the only one in the area that would. The guy came in caring a very fat, bloody pygmy goat who had been attacked by his boxer. It was his sister's goat and all he wanted to do was save it. The dog got ahold of it's throat and was giving it the death shakes when he caught sight of them. The dog let go, but the poor  goat had a huge hole in the bottom of it's throat and bite marks on it's side, face and neck. It was amazingly resilient (as goats are), and wasn't even in too much of shock when he got it to us. He had wrapped a towel around it's neck to stop the bleeding, and luckily it looked like the dog had missed all the big arteries in the neck. She was making some horrid breathing noises that made Dr. G think she must have had a crushed trachea. We gave her some banamine, wrapped her neck, and stuck her in the back in a kennel until the office visits were done. I checked on her off and on, and was really excited about the opportunity to see a goat. Dogs and cats are all well and fine, but I really do miss the farm animals.

Around 6:30 I got a call from an old friend who is in vet school in Missouri. I only get to see him about once a year or less due to his workload, and he would only be in the area until 7pm. So I left the vet hospital, and the goat, behind to go visit with him for awhile. I was quite torn about it, as I really wanted to see what they were going to do surgically with a crushed trachea on a goat, but as Dr. G. told me, there is always another goat. I still felt guilty leaving, but I ended up having a really nice time seeing my friend for the first time in a long time. Even though it was only a short visit, it was exciting to hear about the new things in his life and what he has been up to at vet school.

Wednesday I hit a deer (or rather it hit me) in Jared's care driving home from a visit with one of his old friends. We are fine, and the car survived it pretty well considering. I am trying not to think about it and the expense too much until I really have to.

The next highlight of my week was, of course, Thanksgiving. We had a great time at my grandfathers with all of my family members. We ate our traditional meal of hog maul (this is sausage and potatoes stuffed in pig stomach) and turkey, and then headed outside for a new event. See, my aunt raises chickens and turkeys and guineas, and she brought down two turkeys for Thanksgiving. Live. In the back of her car. So after dinner we went outside to take care of the turkeys. I guess this goes back to my recent point about knowing where your food comes from. These guys were hand-raised, friendly and had a wonderful life. We killed them and plucked them, then put them in the freezer for Christmas. I'm not going to say it wasn't a little sad- it was. But I know it's life was well-lived and it will be well-used. We headed to Jared's family dinners after changing and regaled them with turkey-butchering tales (Jared held the turkeys once they had been beheaded until the nerve endings stopped firing). They weren't very impressed.

This morning we headed out black Friday shopping to get cat and chicken food on sale. That was about all I got today. Jared got a really nice pair of hunting boots, as the deer season starts Saturday and the ones he wore last year were a borrowed pair 4 sizes too big. So we are all stocked up on the important things.

Happy Tails,

~Melissa

PS I got the names of about 5 different cattle and large mixed practice vets in the area. I am hoping to ride along with at least one of them this Winter break, and get some more cattle experience.