In which I've survived the first tests of vet school

Hi there; Birdie here!

I've survived the first tests of vet school! And no, I don't mean exams. For one thing, there's the first graded assignments we've had: a group assignment for problem solving and our bone quiz in anatomy. Everyone got a 5/5 on the group assignment for being more effective than the (problematic) PBL group in the video we were discussing. I got the same on the bone quiz, too. It was super easy--a single "identify x" question where x is a term for some bone part we needed to know from the thoracic limb. We didn't even have to be able to tell whether it was on the right or left limb yet.

The other thing I mean by first test of vet school is the first of the rabies series. I've taken to thinking that if you're smart enough to get in and strong enough to manage the rabies shots, you can get through vet school. I couldn't find anything cheaper than the $200/shot through school, so I get to deal with mine during weeks of classes. We have two-hour blocks built into our schedule for three weeks, right after lunch, for vaccine administration/monitoring for reactions. For anyone who already got the vaccine, it means you get a three-hour lunch break. For people like me who need the vaccine then, it means you have to sit around doing nothing important for an hour or so. I ended up waiting in line for half the first hour and then randomly browsing reference books in the library once I could leave the auditorium (we had to stay for half an hour after the shot so they could make sure we didn't have a reaction). Well, I did some bone studying for anatomy, too. I actually had no negative effects from my first shot at all--my arm was kind of sore if I tried to sleep on it, but by the next day--nothing! I've heard the second shot's the worst, so I'm not totally in the clear, but it's nice to know I'm not ridiculously allergic to the vaccine or anything.

I guess this is only the first full week of classes? It seems like it's been longer. We started and finished our first problem solving assignment and are working on the second one. We've also got a third problem that's basically a straight-up PBL case--we have a signalment, history, and physical exam on this cat and need to create a problem list (what's wrong with the animal--being as specific as possible!), list of learning issues (what we needed to look up/research to understand the case), differential diagnoses, and I think just a diagnostic plan but maybe also a treatment plan. We got a chance to ask more questions to improve the history today in class. Our (oldish male) professor played the lady who owns this cat and loves him...it was really cute, actually! He would tell little stories about the cat stealing bread, leave out things to tell us later if we asked the right question, and do that "now that you mention it..." reaction to leading questions to let us know the information is probably more self-convincing than reliable data. I'm going to miss this class, and it's the first one that ends.

We also got yet another lecture on how we're going to die of debt. It's for this Intro to Vet Med class we have once a week--it's pass/fail based on attendance, and for the most part it's a chance to expose us to areas of vet med outside of private practice. But this week it was about Don't Borrow More Than You Need, and Don't Need Much. We did not like that lecturer. In a list of how to keep costs down (you know, budgeting, distinguishing wants from needs, buying things used) he included "can you live without a pet?" That's the first strike against him. He talked about how he's on the scholarship committee and people have explained that they need the scholarship because their horse needed some expensive treatment or something. "Horse?" he asks. "Why would you have a horse?" We can kind of understand that too; horses are expensive. That's why I'm not riding anymore, but riding was a great way for me to have some physical activity and stress relief in undergrad. But then our lecturer goes on to say that someone wanted the scholarship because her dog needed an ACL repair. Of course he starts off with "Dog?" but then he goes on to finish with "let it limp! It won't hurt it!" At that point, we all just look at each other. Right, because pain isn't the reason the dog is limping. He also went on about how you can't give away your time volunteering to get experience and you need to be working. At some point I was frustrated enough to raise my hand and ask how he expected us to stay SANE doing all the things he recommended, which sounded like study and work all the time, and don't even have a pet to help you. He just said something about of course you need balance, he's just focusing on one part now, etc. I think that opened more people up to ask questions, but he decided in favor of further lecturing instead of answering any. I'm kind of disappointed this guy is in lab animal med; I was interested in finding out more about that area but the fact that I'd most likely be working with him is a turn-off.

Now that we've started lab, anatomy is...well, it's frequently overwhelming at first, but it's really cool when you start to get it. The first couple of days we just had lab time to study the bones, but with a little radiology thrown in just to look at flat images of the structures we were studying. Yesterday, we started dissecting our dogs. We work in groups of 2. My partner and I named our dog Tobey. We were really anxious about cutting anything, afraid we were going to cut muscles/mess things up. Once we ended up trying things, though, we managed to do pretty well. Today we definitely cut through some muscles in the wrong spots, but between our muddling and occasional help from the teachers, we actually got there in the end! We finished cutting all of the extrinsic muscles to the thoracic limb (aka we took off the front leg), which is what we needed to have finished by Tuesday, so I'm super happy with our progress so far. It's going to take a lot of studying before I really know those muscles (much less insertions, origins, actions, and innervations!). I did a lot of prep work for the dissection, too. I highlighted my guide in three colors (terms, definitions/notes, and actual instructions) and made a sheet listing all the steps (it's something I had to do for organic chem lab in undergrad, and it was definitely helpful in terms of knowing how much of that section we'd done). I'm not really sure how I'll be able to keep this up AND type notes for cell bio histo at the same rate they're presented AND type notes for other classes once I have something more involved than problem solving with those two.

Speaking of things I'm not sure I'll be able to manage, let's talk about extracurriculars. This week I went to two speakers, a club meeting, and a club's rounds. The speakers gave us free food, which was great! But apparently clubs aren't allowed to give us food at the first meeting (/probably until we pay dues) so I don't get the two weeks of free pizza students at other schools might get. I will point out that our free food thus far has, with one exception, been way better than pizza (the one exception was pizza, and thus exactly the same as pizza. ;)). One of the speakers was from VBMA, but I still haven't paid my dues since I was too busy getting back to class to find an officer to give them to. I think I missed my window for the club fair discount, unfortunately. The other speaker wasn't a club, but was from Purina's Lunch N Learn; I think they do those monthly? That speaker was great, except for starting 15-20 minutes late (as we all grabbed food) and subsequently running over; our professor wasn't super pleased with that. I also went to surgery club and rounds for farm animal club. I think I want to do farm animal club for a semester, just because I have no experience with that, and then drop it next semester and do lab animal for the same reason. Rounds were pretty boring this week (apparently it's a slow season), but we got to see the tilting chute and some lambs being used for research. Surgery club during lunch was a little tough...maybe I'll get used to it?

And of course I had my live-in interview. It ended up being moved to Thursday during the lunch hour instead of Tuesday "after school" but technically during lab time. I kind of wish it hadn't moved--I would rather miss a few minutes at the very end of a pure study day in anatomy lab than try to change from "professional clothing" into my scrubs in just a couple of minutes between my interview and our first foray that puts the gross in gross anatomy. But I took this the same way I took the original technically-during-class timeslot: they're kind of my boss here and if it's physically possible to do it, I should do it and make it look as effortless as possible for their benefit. The interview went pretty well for the most part. They asked things like what I do to relive stress, how far from the school I live, and what was the longest commitment I've made (since this job is a 2-year commitment). I think I failed my doorknob question, though. You know--you're about to leave, hand on the doorknob, and they say "just one more thing"--possibly the most important one? This guy had told me that most of the job (the one I'm applying for here) is "knowing where things are." Then just as he's leaving he throws out "where can I get a Coke around here?" I told him there's a vending machine in the cafeteria, but mostly just pointed in a vague direction--totally not what he was looking for. And this is a second-year student, so he knows where to go. Well, I guess I can't do anything about it now...I think I might have to apply for a job as a Purina rep or something if I don't get this, though. At least that's less of a time sink?

I'm home for the weekend again this weekend. This time, I actually am with my parents--it's Labor Day weekend and there's nothing really going on at school, plus one of my friends from high school is having a party tomorrow, so I figured I might as well make the drive. I have decided I'm going to go the whole day without touching my car on Sunday, though! At least I can get one day of a break from driving.

When I get back, I've got more group work and more dissection, so I really need to actually prepare some stuff over this weekend. Luckily I've got some time since over the weekend I don't need to wake up at 6:30!