Hi there; Birdie here!
Week 3 of second year is done, and with it the first two tests of the semester. They were...probably okay? I'm pretty sure I passed, at any rate, but I'm not really sure how well I did. We're finished with derm path, which means there's only about two weeks left of systemic pathology. We also had our anesthesia midterm--3 weeks left of that, and after Mardi Gras we'll be starting orthopedics and surgery! I also put in my first IV catheter/hit a vein in a dog for the first time at our anesthesia lab on Tuesday, so that's exciting. Other than not screwing the port in all the way (in my defense, we had a different kind at the clinic I worked at that didn't screw, just was placed in), I totally got it! So that's really exciting.
I did make my chart for this semester, and it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. We have two exams a week for the first four weeks, but after that there's a lot of weeks where we only have one exam...it's kind of sad that that's a break for us, isn't it? And the only time there's 3 exams in a week, one of them is a take-home for behavior (which they insist on calling Animals In Society 2, even though it really isn't). And we have no exams the week after spring break, which is necessary, because there's no way I'm studying when I'm in Disney World. I added an extra column this semester, too, for "Other Major Things," mainly SAVMA convention and the Legislative Fly-In. I'm going to go to DC for a couple of days! I applied sort of the day after it was due, but I got alternate, and then I got an email a while ago that said I'm in! Well, actually it said they were pleased to tell me I'd been chosen as an alternate, which I already knew, but that email went out to people from other schools and was followed by one telling me what to do for it, so I figure that translates to "I'm in."
I'm signed up to feed the birds again this semester (day birds this time--there's only one owl left now, since BAMF passed away, and there's a lot of day birds), but we haven't got the schedule yet. We've already had a bunch of club meetings and sent out our open house requests, which of course remain pretty much blank. We've even had 2 VBMA meetings already: one on Louisiana-specific legislation and one on practice evaluation which wound up being a bunch of boring financial stuff that didn't seem very practical. Um, what else...Last weekend I went home, so that was nice. And my dad found a website that's basically a Farmer's Market that delivers. He got me a king cake that I brought to school, a bunch of blood oranges (which are basically the best, btw), and a couple other things. So that was really cool, too.
I'm still working on summer stuff (and I've only got about a week to finish it all...), but at least I know what I'm applying to: four things this year. My mentor found a project for me...actually two projects. One is the only-takes-two-weeks one, collaborating with several other people to replicate a blood pressure study using the gold standard transducers rather than the commonly used ones as in their last study. The other is a validation of some company's indirect blood pressure measurement. The timing works perfectly, too, since our Italy trip fits nicely in between those two projects. Unfortunately, though, apparently there are a boatload more letters of intent for summer scholars this year than usual, so I'm not sure what the chances are of me getting accepted for that. Thus, I'm applying for other things: Banfield (though I haven't quite figured out where my second and third choice locations are) and Tulane Primate Research Center again, and a diagnostic pathology program at Johns Hopkins. I've lined up my letters of recommendation (as of, um, yesterday) but I still need to write my letter of intent type things, so I'm hoping to work on that today.
I also need to do a lot of studying for urinary and possibly derm today since I won't have a lot of time tomorrow. I'm doing Spay Day tomorrow--and since I went to the ECC wetlab, I'm supposed to be able to intubate some cats! I'm not sure which station I'll work, but I'm probably going to try and do anesthesia again--cat wrangling is still what I'm least comfortable with. I'm also going to a Brian Regan comedy show tomorrow night, which doesn't leave a lot of time for studying! Luckily the urinary test shouldn't be bad, and we've got a good idea of what's going to be on it.
As for my reading challenges, I'm still well ahead. I have now read 10 books so far this month, which is a new record as far as I know--the last time I paid attention to how many books I read in a month was November, when I'd finished 9 and started a 10th by the 30th. I just finished a Mercedes Lackey book, The Black Swan, which I found kind of disappointing. Now I've started Group, a nonfiction book about group therapy, and it's pretty interesting so far. So despite the fact that tests have started, at least I'm keeping up with reading!
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Yes, I'm still blogging!
Hi there; Birdie here!
Sorry it's been a while since my last update. It actually wasn't because I was busy with school--last week was another break between exams (as defined as one exam Tuesday and then the next not until the next Friday). I've actually been doing a ton of extracurricular stuff. I guess I'll start where I left off...this is going to be a long post, but at least I'm putting some pictures in this time!
The Saturday after my last post (um, 3 weeks ago...) I volunteered to help out with an ultrasound CE course at school. It seemed like a good idea: free breakfast, free lunch, learn some stuff about ultrasound and get to practice ultrasounding dogs. But actually, I felt like it was a waste of my time. There were a lot of lectures in the morning, and I didn't feel like I was learning anything new. It was all the Basics of Ultrasound stuff we had in radiology class and a long list of artifacts. Then I didn't actually get to eat lunch--the email said we needed to be in Jr. Surgery helping to anesthetize and tube the dogs at 12, so I went there and was actually working for the whole hour. And by working I mainly mean holding a dog and asking what I could help with--I didn't even get to try placing a catheter. Then I monitored anesthesia for about 4 hours and got to spend 15 minutes actually doing the ultrasound. Overall, I didn't think it was worth the time away from studying for my two path tests that week. Definitely won't be doing it again next year.
Then the next weekend was my horse show. Yes, I did end up riding in it! I was kind of late to sign up though, so none of the horses I had wanted to ride were available for my class. I ended up on Nick, and I only got to ride him for 15 minutes at the end of my Thursday lesson before the Saturday show. My instructor told me to show up early so I could practice ride him before our class, so I did. I got to watch some of the Western classes--pole bending looked like a lot of fun, and I'd like to try it sometime! There was also a Halloween costume contest for Western showmanship, a class that would have been really boring without the costumes.
I missed the instructors' demos since that was when I got the chance to practice ride (at least, until someone came out and told me to get off and wait until my instructor was out here...). Two other kids were riding Nick in the show (different classes: flatting and trotting crossrails), so we had some fun times switching out the saddle about 6 times. I made friends with quite a few of the younger riders including the two who shared Nick with me. Also, a couple of my friends came to see me ride! I did really well. ^-^ I got first place in both my jumping classes, and fourth on the flat (out of I think 8 riders). My instructor said she's definitely moving me up to a higher class in the next show. Well, she should...I've shown at a much higher level than that in high school. I forgot to ask my friends to take pictures of me riding, but here's one of my co-riders on Nick:
I don't know when another show will happen, but there's about to be a jumping clinic next weekend! Once again, I can't have any of the horses I usually ride, so I'll be on a pony named Isabella. At least this time I should hopefully be able to ride her for a full lesson before the clinic. My lesson this past Thursday was a lot of fun. I was on Sadie, a dark bay to black mare. Apparently she can be a terror for less experienced riders, but she was great for me. I got to do some really fun stuff, too! After going through the simpler course with my instructor's other students, I got to do the complicated course another lesson was doing, with a bunch of rollbacks and interesting turns! I kind of completely blew my last course, though, and didn't really get a good spot on anything but the line. At least I did a great job with the single vertical I asked to take after that bad round, and even got the turn after it really smoothly.
Then last weekend was the Josh Project Chili Cookoff! We had a pretty good turnout, but apparently it was smaller than previous years. :( We'll have to do a lot better advertising it next time...but it was hard because we didn't have confirmation on first prize for about 3 weeks after I was supposed to have it. My little sib is on Josh Project committee now--he showed up early to study and kept asking how he could help out, so we let him. Then when we told him he's on committee, he was like "oh, I need to focus on bringing my grades up for this semester" and we told him this was the big thing this semester and he already did it. So yeah, he's in. Some of the chilis were pretty good, others I didn't like as much. I'm still really disappointed I didn't get to try the pumpkin chili someone apparently made last year or the year before.
The same person (one of my classmates!) won for both chili and dessert. Her chili had chocolate and beer and bacon in it--no wonder it was good! We actually only had 2 desserts: her peach cobbler, and some lemon icebox pies. Good thing we didn't have prizes for second and third place for that! Anyway, she's also the Hill's rep, so she brought some pumpkins for people to carve at the event. I think people had a lot of fun with that too. It was the day after the class Halloween party (which I didn't attend, for multiple reasons), which probably contributed to people not showing up. But we did have bloody marys, which a lot of people appreciated, and water and gatorade as well as the obligatory tailgate beer. Overall it was a pretty good time (the game, which I tried to go to after, was less so, but I don't need to dwell on that).
I also got inducted into Phi Kappa Phi a little over a week ago. I think I was the only vet student there (if there were others who got offered, they were probably studying instead of going to the ceremony...but I didn't want to have to find where to pick my stuff up alone later!), but it was undergrad junior and seniors as well as grad students. It was kind of pretentious, to be honest. But ever since high school I've always joined honor societies if I have the chance because even if most people who apply to whatever I'm applying to have that on their resume, I'm being compared to them so I need to have it too.My parents came up for the induction ceremony and we went to dinner afterwards, so that was nice. Last weekend I also went to see the Book of Life with my family! It was really good--better than I think the trailers make it look. I liked it a lot, and I'm planning to get it on DVD when it comes out.
We've had a couple of path wetlabs since I last wrote too. A couple Wednesdays ago we had a pathology resident from Tennessee do a multihead microscope wetlab with us. She brought some histology slides that were really cool--even more so because most of the cases were stuff we'd talked about in class recently. I got 4 of the 6 diagnoses! ...off of her leading questions, not from the slides themselves, but still. I felt really smart. We saw Cryptosporidium serpentis in a snake stomach, Johne's disease in a goat intestine, the epicardium of a cow with hardware disease, a cat brain with FIP, a horse kidney with Actinobacillus equuli in the glomeruli and a bunch of tissues from a dog with Blastomycosis. That was really cool, and the resident was cool too. I forgot to give her my card, but she said she'd send out a survey so hopefully I can email her back from that. We also did a clin path jeopardy to review for our second exam (Monday! eek!). About a dozen second years came to that, and it was pretty good too. I won first place, tied with a friend. Luckily, it was easy for us to figure out how to split the prizes--while everyone was arguing about tiebreakers, we quietly went up and I got the candy she didn't like and she got the Nightmare Before Christmas water bottle I didn't want.
Ok, now I'm more or less caught up to this week. On Wednesday, we had grand rounds in the morning--and the speaker was Dr. Betsy Charles, director of the VLI (in charge of VLE)! I heard her speak in the morning and at a lunch talk, and then several students and faculty members who have done VLE went out to dinner with her. We went to a sushi place downtown, and it was really nice. I did lose quite a lot of study time though--we were there for 3 hours! But I absolutely would not have rathered miss it. I didn't get to talk to Betsy much at dinner, but I did give her my card. I also learned that Dr. Burba is leaving LSU to go to Oklahoma! That makes me sad; I'd been looking forward to taking classes with him. So he got one of my cards too.
This morning I did another wetlab, with Emergency & Critical Care club. I learned how to place endotracheal tubes! And also how to do CPR on dogs and cats. I even managed to place a tube in a cat...after a few tries. Having a laryngoscope helps a lot. I tubed the cat once, and the dog a few times: in sternal, in lateral, and without a laryngoscope. I learned a lot, and I'm really glad I got to practice. And now I'll get to practice on live cats too, for Spay Day!
Oh, and I've been working on what I'm doing for the summer. I'm hoping to do research for Summer Scholars this year, and I've been talking with one of the clinicians about it. He's got a project he wants to do, and if they have enough funding it sounds like a fantastic opportunity. It's sort of an extension of the project his students worked on a couple of years ago involving blood pressure measurements. It sounds like I might be able to present this research at a ACVIM conference and get an article out of it! So I really hope the costs aren't more than they can afford (it's the particularly sensitive catheters they need to buy that's the limiting factor). And after that I hope I get accepted for Summer Scholars even though I'll be out for two weeks in Italy...
See? A lot of non-school stuff has been going on. But of course there's been plenty of tests too. We still haven't gotten systemic path back yet, but I aced the first clin path exam! And I made my A in endocrine. In fact, I did a lot better on the exam than I thought I did. I aced our last pharm exam, too, which is good--our final is cumulative, and I really appreciate the buffer that gives me, especially since I'll be focusing pretty hard on virology this week even though the pharm final is next Tuesday. And yesterday we finished another class--parasitology. I am very ready to be done with that class, but I don't know whether I managed an A in it. But I think it's unlikely I got less than a B (at least, if my grade calculations are at least a little accurate...which I'm not sure about, given how much they've changed point values around), and I definitely passed, so that's good enough for me right now. I have 8 exams in the next 4 weeks (which is why I'm not doing NaNoWriMo this year...for once. At least I wrote a novel over the summer!), and I've got some major studying to focus on. I'll try and go back to updating more regularly, but for now...wish me luck!
Sorry it's been a while since my last update. It actually wasn't because I was busy with school--last week was another break between exams (as defined as one exam Tuesday and then the next not until the next Friday). I've actually been doing a ton of extracurricular stuff. I guess I'll start where I left off...this is going to be a long post, but at least I'm putting some pictures in this time!
The Saturday after my last post (um, 3 weeks ago...) I volunteered to help out with an ultrasound CE course at school. It seemed like a good idea: free breakfast, free lunch, learn some stuff about ultrasound and get to practice ultrasounding dogs. But actually, I felt like it was a waste of my time. There were a lot of lectures in the morning, and I didn't feel like I was learning anything new. It was all the Basics of Ultrasound stuff we had in radiology class and a long list of artifacts. Then I didn't actually get to eat lunch--the email said we needed to be in Jr. Surgery helping to anesthetize and tube the dogs at 12, so I went there and was actually working for the whole hour. And by working I mainly mean holding a dog and asking what I could help with--I didn't even get to try placing a catheter. Then I monitored anesthesia for about 4 hours and got to spend 15 minutes actually doing the ultrasound. Overall, I didn't think it was worth the time away from studying for my two path tests that week. Definitely won't be doing it again next year.
Then the next weekend was my horse show. Yes, I did end up riding in it! I was kind of late to sign up though, so none of the horses I had wanted to ride were available for my class. I ended up on Nick, and I only got to ride him for 15 minutes at the end of my Thursday lesson before the Saturday show. My instructor told me to show up early so I could practice ride him before our class, so I did. I got to watch some of the Western classes--pole bending looked like a lot of fun, and I'd like to try it sometime! There was also a Halloween costume contest for Western showmanship, a class that would have been really boring without the costumes.
 |
| One of my favorites: "Harry Trotter" |
I missed the instructors' demos since that was when I got the chance to practice ride (at least, until someone came out and told me to get off and wait until my instructor was out here...). Two other kids were riding Nick in the show (different classes: flatting and trotting crossrails), so we had some fun times switching out the saddle about 6 times. I made friends with quite a few of the younger riders including the two who shared Nick with me. Also, a couple of my friends came to see me ride! I did really well. ^-^ I got first place in both my jumping classes, and fourth on the flat (out of I think 8 riders). My instructor said she's definitely moving me up to a higher class in the next show. Well, she should...I've shown at a much higher level than that in high school. I forgot to ask my friends to take pictures of me riding, but here's one of my co-riders on Nick:
 |
| Audrey rocking the crossrail |
Then last weekend was the Josh Project Chili Cookoff! We had a pretty good turnout, but apparently it was smaller than previous years. :( We'll have to do a lot better advertising it next time...but it was hard because we didn't have confirmation on first prize for about 3 weeks after I was supposed to have it. My little sib is on Josh Project committee now--he showed up early to study and kept asking how he could help out, so we let him. Then when we told him he's on committee, he was like "oh, I need to focus on bringing my grades up for this semester" and we told him this was the big thing this semester and he already did it. So yeah, he's in. Some of the chilis were pretty good, others I didn't like as much. I'm still really disappointed I didn't get to try the pumpkin chili someone apparently made last year or the year before.
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| Chili tasting time! |
The same person (one of my classmates!) won for both chili and dessert. Her chili had chocolate and beer and bacon in it--no wonder it was good! We actually only had 2 desserts: her peach cobbler, and some lemon icebox pies. Good thing we didn't have prizes for second and third place for that! Anyway, she's also the Hill's rep, so she brought some pumpkins for people to carve at the event. I think people had a lot of fun with that too. It was the day after the class Halloween party (which I didn't attend, for multiple reasons), which probably contributed to people not showing up. But we did have bloody marys, which a lot of people appreciated, and water and gatorade as well as the obligatory tailgate beer. Overall it was a pretty good time (the game, which I tried to go to after, was less so, but I don't need to dwell on that).
 |
| Some of my favorite pumpkins people did |
We've had a couple of path wetlabs since I last wrote too. A couple Wednesdays ago we had a pathology resident from Tennessee do a multihead microscope wetlab with us. She brought some histology slides that were really cool--even more so because most of the cases were stuff we'd talked about in class recently. I got 4 of the 6 diagnoses! ...off of her leading questions, not from the slides themselves, but still. I felt really smart. We saw Cryptosporidium serpentis in a snake stomach, Johne's disease in a goat intestine, the epicardium of a cow with hardware disease, a cat brain with FIP, a horse kidney with Actinobacillus equuli in the glomeruli and a bunch of tissues from a dog with Blastomycosis. That was really cool, and the resident was cool too. I forgot to give her my card, but she said she'd send out a survey so hopefully I can email her back from that. We also did a clin path jeopardy to review for our second exam (Monday! eek!). About a dozen second years came to that, and it was pretty good too. I won first place, tied with a friend. Luckily, it was easy for us to figure out how to split the prizes--while everyone was arguing about tiebreakers, we quietly went up and I got the candy she didn't like and she got the Nightmare Before Christmas water bottle I didn't want.
Ok, now I'm more or less caught up to this week. On Wednesday, we had grand rounds in the morning--and the speaker was Dr. Betsy Charles, director of the VLI (in charge of VLE)! I heard her speak in the morning and at a lunch talk, and then several students and faculty members who have done VLE went out to dinner with her. We went to a sushi place downtown, and it was really nice. I did lose quite a lot of study time though--we were there for 3 hours! But I absolutely would not have rathered miss it. I didn't get to talk to Betsy much at dinner, but I did give her my card. I also learned that Dr. Burba is leaving LSU to go to Oklahoma! That makes me sad; I'd been looking forward to taking classes with him. So he got one of my cards too.
This morning I did another wetlab, with Emergency & Critical Care club. I learned how to place endotracheal tubes! And also how to do CPR on dogs and cats. I even managed to place a tube in a cat...after a few tries. Having a laryngoscope helps a lot. I tubed the cat once, and the dog a few times: in sternal, in lateral, and without a laryngoscope. I learned a lot, and I'm really glad I got to practice. And now I'll get to practice on live cats too, for Spay Day!
Oh, and I've been working on what I'm doing for the summer. I'm hoping to do research for Summer Scholars this year, and I've been talking with one of the clinicians about it. He's got a project he wants to do, and if they have enough funding it sounds like a fantastic opportunity. It's sort of an extension of the project his students worked on a couple of years ago involving blood pressure measurements. It sounds like I might be able to present this research at a ACVIM conference and get an article out of it! So I really hope the costs aren't more than they can afford (it's the particularly sensitive catheters they need to buy that's the limiting factor). And after that I hope I get accepted for Summer Scholars even though I'll be out for two weeks in Italy...
See? A lot of non-school stuff has been going on. But of course there's been plenty of tests too. We still haven't gotten systemic path back yet, but I aced the first clin path exam! And I made my A in endocrine. In fact, I did a lot better on the exam than I thought I did. I aced our last pharm exam, too, which is good--our final is cumulative, and I really appreciate the buffer that gives me, especially since I'll be focusing pretty hard on virology this week even though the pharm final is next Tuesday. And yesterday we finished another class--parasitology. I am very ready to be done with that class, but I don't know whether I managed an A in it. But I think it's unlikely I got less than a B (at least, if my grade calculations are at least a little accurate...which I'm not sure about, given how much they've changed point values around), and I definitely passed, so that's good enough for me right now. I have 8 exams in the next 4 weeks (which is why I'm not doing NaNoWriMo this year...for once. At least I wrote a novel over the summer!), and I've got some major studying to focus on. I'll try and go back to updating more regularly, but for now...wish me luck!
Friday, September 26, 2014
It's been a long week
Hi there; Birdie here!
It's been a long week, but it went so quickly! The parasit exam was today, and I don't think it went great. I don't think I failed, but whether I did well is going to depend a lot on how well I guessed. I thought the lab portion went better...until people were asking me about it afterwards and it turns out I totally messed up something I thought I had. I also didn't realize until a few days ago that our pharm exam is next week, and by that time I was worrying about parasit too much to deal with it, so I haven't studied that at all. Luckily I've got all weekend to work on it--I'm going to work really hard this weekend, and really look forward to next week after the exam! On Tuesday I'm doing a game night at my friend's house for her boyfriend's birthday, and then Wednesday night I'll be going home for fall break! Unfortunately, most of the reason I'm actually going home is that I have to go to the dentist because my face decided to hate me this summer. But other than that, home will be nice, and I might even go to a convention on Saturday--haven't decided yet.
Josh Project is going better than I'd hoped though, or at least asking for donations (to be prizes for the chili cookoff) did. I've gotta say, we have the greatest pitch; who doesn't want to help give cute animals to sick kids? Every place we went to, the person we spoke with seemed interested in helping us. We even got one set of items to put as a prize already. I may have gotten our first prize, too; I went to exchange my new camera (I got a sweet new camera! A really nice one.), I talked with a manager and asked for a certain electronic that would make a fantastic first prize. He said he could definitely help me out, but I haven't been able to get in contact with him since. And I'd really like to since the camera's in now and I really don't want to drive there more than I have to. It's very inconvenient. None of the other stores has gotten back to us either, as far as I know at least. Every c/o 2017 committee member's email was on the letter, so maybe they emailed someone else and I just haven't heard.
This is one of those weeks where I got free lunch every day because I went to so many meetings. I saw my li'l sib at most of them, too...I guess he's being like me and going to basically everything. "Because knowledge is power, you know?" It was kind of nice to hear him say that today, actually. I've been kind of over it and not really wanting to pay attention to the talks and stuff, but today it was better. The fact that it was interesting stories instead of farm animal stuff that's irrelevant to my life probably helped. I do want to learn how to work with farm animals, but their presentation just seemed a lot more intensely farm animal focused than I am. Also, their main club thing is rounds, which mean skipping lunch. And I'd rather do rounds on species I'll actually work with. So I'm not doing farm animal club this year.
I did join critical care club this year because (like internal med), their meetings are interesting and informative, so even if I can't make the wetlabs, it's worth it. I really hope I can make wetlabs for things other than my officer clubs, but unfortunately it seems like things keep being scheduled the same day. Technically I could do the trach tube ECC wetlab and the path wetlab that are the same day, but that's a long day and I'm not sure I can spare it. And I'm really upset about missing the surgery club wetlab AGAIN. I forget what it was last year, but this year it's the same day as the chili cookoff. And as a committee member, I'm pretty sure I need to be there to set up and not roll in late after learning how to suture.
The meeting on Wednesday was our Phi Zeta meeting with (one of) the speakers. It was actually the one whose talk I didn't go to, since I spent those 2 hours studying instead--and the new dean didn't come talk to us! That was one of the ones where I had trouble paying attention, honestly. I think that was around the time I realized how behind I was on studying for pharm. But two of my classmates placed in the poster competition, so I'm really happy for them. I also talked with someone who did summer scholars last year, because I think I'm going to apply this year. I really want to do something actually vet related this summer. And still make money, but I think the part about being able to put it on my resume is a little more important now. The only thing is that I only have (an estimate of) 10 weeks, not the whole summer--because my family is going to Italy, and I'm not going to say no to that! I'm really really excited about the trip, especially since Italy is next on my list of Places I Really Want To Go.
I rode the same horse twice now! His name is Krewe, and he reminds me of my favorite horse at the barn I rode at in high school--mostly because he also likes to hold his head up higher than normal horses. He's very good, and I think I was on him again because my instructor wants me to ride him in the student show coming up in October. She told me about the show and about a clinic that are coming up this semester that she wants me to ride in, which makes me feel pretty good. We've also been doing a little more complex stuff in my lessons, like a bending line and a sort of mini course with a gymnastic around to a single jump. Yesterday she had me go around in half seat at the walk with no stirrups--I think that might be even harder than posting without stirrups! We also did a thing where the 4 people in my group did the course one at a time and then the others said something they liked about the ride and something they didn't. I'm still kind of frustrated sometimes at being worse than I was before I didn't ride for a year, so hearing the positives made me feel somewhat better! I heard some bad news, though, about another horse at the barn, Omega, who colicked and died. I never got to ride him, but I wanted to, and I'm sad for him.
One happier note so I don't end my post on that: I got to go see The Maze Runner with a couple of my friends from school, and that was a lot of fun (even if the book was, as always, better). Now I'm going to try and get some studying done. Local anesthetics and autonomic nervous system, here I come!
It's been a long week, but it went so quickly! The parasit exam was today, and I don't think it went great. I don't think I failed, but whether I did well is going to depend a lot on how well I guessed. I thought the lab portion went better...until people were asking me about it afterwards and it turns out I totally messed up something I thought I had. I also didn't realize until a few days ago that our pharm exam is next week, and by that time I was worrying about parasit too much to deal with it, so I haven't studied that at all. Luckily I've got all weekend to work on it--I'm going to work really hard this weekend, and really look forward to next week after the exam! On Tuesday I'm doing a game night at my friend's house for her boyfriend's birthday, and then Wednesday night I'll be going home for fall break! Unfortunately, most of the reason I'm actually going home is that I have to go to the dentist because my face decided to hate me this summer. But other than that, home will be nice, and I might even go to a convention on Saturday--haven't decided yet.
Josh Project is going better than I'd hoped though, or at least asking for donations (to be prizes for the chili cookoff) did. I've gotta say, we have the greatest pitch; who doesn't want to help give cute animals to sick kids? Every place we went to, the person we spoke with seemed interested in helping us. We even got one set of items to put as a prize already. I may have gotten our first prize, too; I went to exchange my new camera (I got a sweet new camera! A really nice one.), I talked with a manager and asked for a certain electronic that would make a fantastic first prize. He said he could definitely help me out, but I haven't been able to get in contact with him since. And I'd really like to since the camera's in now and I really don't want to drive there more than I have to. It's very inconvenient. None of the other stores has gotten back to us either, as far as I know at least. Every c/o 2017 committee member's email was on the letter, so maybe they emailed someone else and I just haven't heard.
This is one of those weeks where I got free lunch every day because I went to so many meetings. I saw my li'l sib at most of them, too...I guess he's being like me and going to basically everything. "Because knowledge is power, you know?" It was kind of nice to hear him say that today, actually. I've been kind of over it and not really wanting to pay attention to the talks and stuff, but today it was better. The fact that it was interesting stories instead of farm animal stuff that's irrelevant to my life probably helped. I do want to learn how to work with farm animals, but their presentation just seemed a lot more intensely farm animal focused than I am. Also, their main club thing is rounds, which mean skipping lunch. And I'd rather do rounds on species I'll actually work with. So I'm not doing farm animal club this year.
I did join critical care club this year because (like internal med), their meetings are interesting and informative, so even if I can't make the wetlabs, it's worth it. I really hope I can make wetlabs for things other than my officer clubs, but unfortunately it seems like things keep being scheduled the same day. Technically I could do the trach tube ECC wetlab and the path wetlab that are the same day, but that's a long day and I'm not sure I can spare it. And I'm really upset about missing the surgery club wetlab AGAIN. I forget what it was last year, but this year it's the same day as the chili cookoff. And as a committee member, I'm pretty sure I need to be there to set up and not roll in late after learning how to suture.
The meeting on Wednesday was our Phi Zeta meeting with (one of) the speakers. It was actually the one whose talk I didn't go to, since I spent those 2 hours studying instead--and the new dean didn't come talk to us! That was one of the ones where I had trouble paying attention, honestly. I think that was around the time I realized how behind I was on studying for pharm. But two of my classmates placed in the poster competition, so I'm really happy for them. I also talked with someone who did summer scholars last year, because I think I'm going to apply this year. I really want to do something actually vet related this summer. And still make money, but I think the part about being able to put it on my resume is a little more important now. The only thing is that I only have (an estimate of) 10 weeks, not the whole summer--because my family is going to Italy, and I'm not going to say no to that! I'm really really excited about the trip, especially since Italy is next on my list of Places I Really Want To Go.
I rode the same horse twice now! His name is Krewe, and he reminds me of my favorite horse at the barn I rode at in high school--mostly because he also likes to hold his head up higher than normal horses. He's very good, and I think I was on him again because my instructor wants me to ride him in the student show coming up in October. She told me about the show and about a clinic that are coming up this semester that she wants me to ride in, which makes me feel pretty good. We've also been doing a little more complex stuff in my lessons, like a bending line and a sort of mini course with a gymnastic around to a single jump. Yesterday she had me go around in half seat at the walk with no stirrups--I think that might be even harder than posting without stirrups! We also did a thing where the 4 people in my group did the course one at a time and then the others said something they liked about the ride and something they didn't. I'm still kind of frustrated sometimes at being worse than I was before I didn't ride for a year, so hearing the positives made me feel somewhat better! I heard some bad news, though, about another horse at the barn, Omega, who colicked and died. I never got to ride him, but I wanted to, and I'm sad for him.
One happier note so I don't end my post on that: I got to go see The Maze Runner with a couple of my friends from school, and that was a lot of fun (even if the book was, as always, better). Now I'm going to try and get some studying done. Local anesthetics and autonomic nervous system, here I come!
Friday, May 9, 2014
Dundundun DONE!
Hi there; Birdie here!
I have now finished my first year of veterinary school! I'm not totally sure I did well enough to keep my A in bacteriology, and it would kind of suck if that class is the only one I get a B in this semester, but I passed and that's what matters. And hopefully it will work out, it usually does.
It feels kind of weird to not have to study. Like, I'm not just taking a break between exams, I'm done.
Not too much has happened since my last post. We did role plays in my Human-Animal Bond class. The class split into groups of 3 to talk about the scenario, then one person went up to play the veterinarian. But if they didn't know what to say, the others in the group could help them out. We only did two scenarios per group and I personally didn't get to go up and be the veterinarian at all (yes, I kind of wanted to--it's really good practice!) but I did say at least one thing to help both of my groupmates when they were up. Our scenarios were really tough: an unexpected death of a boarding pet, and an elderly client who kept changing the subject from euthanasia of his declining aged pet. There was at least one funny scenario, too: a client whose pet looked worse despite having a condition that's easily treatable with medication. Our teacher who acted as the client played it as comedy, too. Oh, and I told that teacher about my undergrad thesis. She asked to read it (she still has it, actually), and she told me about a veterinarian communication conference. It's every other year, so it'll happen in my third year, but she said she'll keep me in mind and see if they can find funding so I can go!
I still haven't got flights for VLE. I just got an email with the contact info so I guess we're supposed to call ourselves...I'm kind of hoping the other student from LSU going with me will deal with it.
I'm staying in Baton Rouge today for packing/I don't even know what else, and heading home for the summer tomorrow after Pathfinder. After this weekend I'll be out of town for the next 5 weekends, so I really wanted to be here for this one.
I probably won't be updating this blog too much over the summer. I'll try to do an update on VLE at least, but since I have no plans to do anything vet-related, I'm not sure I'll have anything interesting to say.
Happy summer!
I have now finished my first year of veterinary school! I'm not totally sure I did well enough to keep my A in bacteriology, and it would kind of suck if that class is the only one I get a B in this semester, but I passed and that's what matters. And hopefully it will work out, it usually does.
It feels kind of weird to not have to study. Like, I'm not just taking a break between exams, I'm done.
Not too much has happened since my last post. We did role plays in my Human-Animal Bond class. The class split into groups of 3 to talk about the scenario, then one person went up to play the veterinarian. But if they didn't know what to say, the others in the group could help them out. We only did two scenarios per group and I personally didn't get to go up and be the veterinarian at all (yes, I kind of wanted to--it's really good practice!) but I did say at least one thing to help both of my groupmates when they were up. Our scenarios were really tough: an unexpected death of a boarding pet, and an elderly client who kept changing the subject from euthanasia of his declining aged pet. There was at least one funny scenario, too: a client whose pet looked worse despite having a condition that's easily treatable with medication. Our teacher who acted as the client played it as comedy, too. Oh, and I told that teacher about my undergrad thesis. She asked to read it (she still has it, actually), and she told me about a veterinarian communication conference. It's every other year, so it'll happen in my third year, but she said she'll keep me in mind and see if they can find funding so I can go!
I still haven't got flights for VLE. I just got an email with the contact info so I guess we're supposed to call ourselves...I'm kind of hoping the other student from LSU going with me will deal with it.
I'm staying in Baton Rouge today for packing/I don't even know what else, and heading home for the summer tomorrow after Pathfinder. After this weekend I'll be out of town for the next 5 weekends, so I really wanted to be here for this one.
I probably won't be updating this blog too much over the summer. I'll try to do an update on VLE at least, but since I have no plans to do anything vet-related, I'm not sure I'll have anything interesting to say.
Happy summer!
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Been a while, sorry
Hi there; Birdie here!
So after my last post about how I thought I was so late, I actually am over two weeks late with this entry. But one of those weeks was break, which we've already established doesn't count. That probably won't be true with summer, though, as I'll hopefully be doing something vet-related...not, unfortunately, at the primate center. I got the form rejection email last week...we received many qualified applications like yours, etc., etc., try again next year. But I'm still waiting on Banfield, and if I don't get it I'm going to keep trying and hopefully find something awesome (ideal would be also paying). It may wind up being a bit piecemeal, though. I applied to the Veterinary Leadership Experience, a weeklong program in...Ohio, maybe? I don't remember. I should find out about that by next week I think. Also, today we had an excellent speaker for VBMA, Dr. Andy Roark. Maybe you've heard of him? Or seen his "How NOT to welcome a new vet" video? If you haven't, click the link, it's pretty funny. And he's about as funny to listen to IRL about veterinary business and leadership. Plus he's really big into building relationships with clients, which you probably know by now is kind of my bag. I gave him my business card after the talk (as I do; when I print 250 business cards I like to give them away whenever the opportunity presents itself) and will hopefully talk to him more later; if Banfield doesn't work out, or depending on the scheduling of it, I'm planning on asking if he'll host me for a few weeks. I'd really like to have something solid now, but as long as I wind up having an awesome summer, now doesn't matter much. Oh, also, at the VBMA meeting I caught one of their T-shirts. This is the second one to basically hit me on the head (though I actually caught this one), so I kept it--clearly I'm meant to have one.
Anyway, I guess I'll give a quick blurb about break. I saw my family, read more of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief but still didn't finish it, picked strawberries, dyed Easter eggs, made blue cookies, and generally totally skipped all the vet-school-related stuff I'd been thinking of doing last weekend (not this past weekend, the one before). Also, I spent a totally fantastic day in New Orleans which involved Thai iced tea (though not bubble tea, sadly), superhero shirts, and hanging out with a friend I haven't seen since freshman year of undergrad. Came back here on Thursday so the fam could go to Bermuda without me (to my parents who are most likely reading this: :((((((, I say). But I got to go to the zoo on Friday with my friend and her boyfriend (who is also really cool. We talk comics), and I got so much studying done I probably could have been ready for the bacteriology exam even if it hadn't been moved from today to Thursday. The way this class is taught makes it kind of hard for me to care a lot about studying for it though (it really bugs me when teachers say to study old exams. It really, REALLY bugs me when old exams are better study material than the lectures I sit through because I'm the kind of person who Doesn't Miss Class. Plus it's just not organized in a way that I remember it well, nor are the lectures very interesting).
The week before break was actually really interesting, though. For one thing--and I just realized I hadn't already written about this--I had my introduction conversation with Dr. Shaw! It was a little awkward because I've never done this networking thing before, but it was pretty cool. She was very willing to mentor me and to answer all my questions, and I will definitely be keeping in contact with her. The way she talked about realizing that in the long run, she needed grad work was not very appealing to me at this point, nor was her job in academia--right now I really want to get out there and practice. But it's definitely an option to consider in the future. She was very understanding, too--I got the feeling I was like one of her clients or students she wanted to build a relationship with!
We also had a multihead microscope wetlab for path club. Since we've started our pathology class I understood more than I have before (mostly pigments and names for types of necrosis). In fact, this club has helped me with path (and bacteriology, kind of, but not with test material), too--like, I already knew that a granulomatous inflammation has macrophages and a pyogenic one has neutrophils. And we also got to see a case of squamous cell carcinoma, which we've talked about loads in class. There were 4 people at this one, which is about standard for these wetlabs. I really hope we continue to have participation and keep them going; I really love them. Oh, and I also got to go see the new Captain America movie, which was really good. :) And I did get my anatomy exam, and I did well enough to keep my A! And I never have to take another anatomy exam again!
I've started (and will be finishing) my first elective this week: integrative medicine. It means I have to be at school for a long time (especially compared to the last week of school, when I was pretty consistently off at noon), but it's totally okay because half of that time is lab, aka actually doing stuff! Yesterday we learned about canine acupuncture, and this time equine acupuncture. Yesterday's was mostly talking and practicing sticking pins into satsumas--each group had two dogs, but neither of ours were great because one was super furry and one was fat and both of those things make it hard to find the points. Today we found several points on a horse, marking them with shiny star stickers, and then practiced with some needles. I kept accidentally bending the tops of the pins as I tried to hold them in the placement tube, but I did get 3 in properly. Tomorrow is just a lab, on massage (the instructor encouraged us to bring our own pets, but unfortunately I don't have one here), and we also have a rehabilitation lab coming up and an hour of equine massage on Friday. The lectures aren't the best presented, but it's pretty interesting regardless. Not to mention this class is super easy--it's purely attendance based.
After the lab today I volunteered to walk our horse out of the stocks where we had her for our lab. Our group kind of nicknamed her Princess because she liked attention and would look over at us whenever we moved away from her head and when we talked about leaving; I'm not sure what her real name is. She was a dark bay, but her mane and tail looked bleached--if there's a name for that color, I don't know what it is and my Google Fu is not good enough to find it. I'd never taken a horse out of stocks before, and the first horse to go out backed out pretty hard, not quite spooked, but definitely quick. I talked to Princess the whole time though and she backed out very nicely (which probably had more to do with her than with me, but made me feel good about myself). It was the first time I've led a horse since the last time I had a riding lesson in undergrad, and it was both really nice and really made me miss being around horses more often.
Oh, I'm also feeding Sydney this week. It's kind of unfortunate--it's warm enough that most of the birds are in the outside flight cages (they were in the room adjacent to the feed room over winter), which means Sydney is at leg level, and she's mildly aggressive and tries to bite at my legs and such so I can't wear any shorts or capris this week. Which is sad 'cause, as I believe I mentioned, it's warm now. I'm not sure whether I'll feed the birds next year or not. I love certain birds, but I'm not sure whether Lucy or Professor is worth Sydney or BAMF. I'm friends with one of the co-chairs--maybe I'll just tell her to sign me up if they need people. Or maybe I'll just see how I feel when signup time rolls around again.
This weekend we are having our joint Feline/Pathology Club cat necropsy wetlab, which I'm pretty psyched about. Especially since I'm pretty sure I got our Pathfinder group to move the game to Sunday so I won't miss it (I will be skipping Spay Day--the last one of this school year--for that, though). Our president put a lot of work into finding the cat cadavers for us to have in the wetlab; I appreciate her a lot. This Friday is also the...basically, vet school prom, which I am not attending because of reasons. One of which is the fact that it's an open bar, which is why it's so expensive, and both of those facts I sometimes need to remind myself of because it sounds pretty fun. I did enter the $10 drawing for a pair of tickets (plus tux rental and hair appointment), but I didn't win, so I conclude I don't need to go.
In the middle of next week I start my other elective, and I have a ton of plans next weekend, too, actually. I'm signed up for an ultrasound course at school (which I'm not sure whether it's one day or both days or what times it is or what--no details yet) and an ophthalmology wetlab with surgery club. Of course, if it's not a designated break (and sometimes even if it is *coughSUMMERcough* I just have to be busy! ;)
So after my last post about how I thought I was so late, I actually am over two weeks late with this entry. But one of those weeks was break, which we've already established doesn't count. That probably won't be true with summer, though, as I'll hopefully be doing something vet-related...not, unfortunately, at the primate center. I got the form rejection email last week...we received many qualified applications like yours, etc., etc., try again next year. But I'm still waiting on Banfield, and if I don't get it I'm going to keep trying and hopefully find something awesome (ideal would be also paying). It may wind up being a bit piecemeal, though. I applied to the Veterinary Leadership Experience, a weeklong program in...Ohio, maybe? I don't remember. I should find out about that by next week I think. Also, today we had an excellent speaker for VBMA, Dr. Andy Roark. Maybe you've heard of him? Or seen his "How NOT to welcome a new vet" video? If you haven't, click the link, it's pretty funny. And he's about as funny to listen to IRL about veterinary business and leadership. Plus he's really big into building relationships with clients, which you probably know by now is kind of my bag. I gave him my business card after the talk (as I do; when I print 250 business cards I like to give them away whenever the opportunity presents itself) and will hopefully talk to him more later; if Banfield doesn't work out, or depending on the scheduling of it, I'm planning on asking if he'll host me for a few weeks. I'd really like to have something solid now, but as long as I wind up having an awesome summer, now doesn't matter much. Oh, also, at the VBMA meeting I caught one of their T-shirts. This is the second one to basically hit me on the head (though I actually caught this one), so I kept it--clearly I'm meant to have one.
Anyway, I guess I'll give a quick blurb about break. I saw my family, read more of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief but still didn't finish it, picked strawberries, dyed Easter eggs, made blue cookies, and generally totally skipped all the vet-school-related stuff I'd been thinking of doing last weekend (not this past weekend, the one before). Also, I spent a totally fantastic day in New Orleans which involved Thai iced tea (though not bubble tea, sadly), superhero shirts, and hanging out with a friend I haven't seen since freshman year of undergrad. Came back here on Thursday so the fam could go to Bermuda without me (to my parents who are most likely reading this: :((((((, I say). But I got to go to the zoo on Friday with my friend and her boyfriend (who is also really cool. We talk comics), and I got so much studying done I probably could have been ready for the bacteriology exam even if it hadn't been moved from today to Thursday. The way this class is taught makes it kind of hard for me to care a lot about studying for it though (it really bugs me when teachers say to study old exams. It really, REALLY bugs me when old exams are better study material than the lectures I sit through because I'm the kind of person who Doesn't Miss Class. Plus it's just not organized in a way that I remember it well, nor are the lectures very interesting).
The week before break was actually really interesting, though. For one thing--and I just realized I hadn't already written about this--I had my introduction conversation with Dr. Shaw! It was a little awkward because I've never done this networking thing before, but it was pretty cool. She was very willing to mentor me and to answer all my questions, and I will definitely be keeping in contact with her. The way she talked about realizing that in the long run, she needed grad work was not very appealing to me at this point, nor was her job in academia--right now I really want to get out there and practice. But it's definitely an option to consider in the future. She was very understanding, too--I got the feeling I was like one of her clients or students she wanted to build a relationship with!
We also had a multihead microscope wetlab for path club. Since we've started our pathology class I understood more than I have before (mostly pigments and names for types of necrosis). In fact, this club has helped me with path (and bacteriology, kind of, but not with test material), too--like, I already knew that a granulomatous inflammation has macrophages and a pyogenic one has neutrophils. And we also got to see a case of squamous cell carcinoma, which we've talked about loads in class. There were 4 people at this one, which is about standard for these wetlabs. I really hope we continue to have participation and keep them going; I really love them. Oh, and I also got to go see the new Captain America movie, which was really good. :) And I did get my anatomy exam, and I did well enough to keep my A! And I never have to take another anatomy exam again!
I've started (and will be finishing) my first elective this week: integrative medicine. It means I have to be at school for a long time (especially compared to the last week of school, when I was pretty consistently off at noon), but it's totally okay because half of that time is lab, aka actually doing stuff! Yesterday we learned about canine acupuncture, and this time equine acupuncture. Yesterday's was mostly talking and practicing sticking pins into satsumas--each group had two dogs, but neither of ours were great because one was super furry and one was fat and both of those things make it hard to find the points. Today we found several points on a horse, marking them with shiny star stickers, and then practiced with some needles. I kept accidentally bending the tops of the pins as I tried to hold them in the placement tube, but I did get 3 in properly. Tomorrow is just a lab, on massage (the instructor encouraged us to bring our own pets, but unfortunately I don't have one here), and we also have a rehabilitation lab coming up and an hour of equine massage on Friday. The lectures aren't the best presented, but it's pretty interesting regardless. Not to mention this class is super easy--it's purely attendance based.
After the lab today I volunteered to walk our horse out of the stocks where we had her for our lab. Our group kind of nicknamed her Princess because she liked attention and would look over at us whenever we moved away from her head and when we talked about leaving; I'm not sure what her real name is. She was a dark bay, but her mane and tail looked bleached--if there's a name for that color, I don't know what it is and my Google Fu is not good enough to find it. I'd never taken a horse out of stocks before, and the first horse to go out backed out pretty hard, not quite spooked, but definitely quick. I talked to Princess the whole time though and she backed out very nicely (which probably had more to do with her than with me, but made me feel good about myself). It was the first time I've led a horse since the last time I had a riding lesson in undergrad, and it was both really nice and really made me miss being around horses more often.
Oh, I'm also feeding Sydney this week. It's kind of unfortunate--it's warm enough that most of the birds are in the outside flight cages (they were in the room adjacent to the feed room over winter), which means Sydney is at leg level, and she's mildly aggressive and tries to bite at my legs and such so I can't wear any shorts or capris this week. Which is sad 'cause, as I believe I mentioned, it's warm now. I'm not sure whether I'll feed the birds next year or not. I love certain birds, but I'm not sure whether Lucy or Professor is worth Sydney or BAMF. I'm friends with one of the co-chairs--maybe I'll just tell her to sign me up if they need people. Or maybe I'll just see how I feel when signup time rolls around again.
This weekend we are having our joint Feline/Pathology Club cat necropsy wetlab, which I'm pretty psyched about. Especially since I'm pretty sure I got our Pathfinder group to move the game to Sunday so I won't miss it (I will be skipping Spay Day--the last one of this school year--for that, though). Our president put a lot of work into finding the cat cadavers for us to have in the wetlab; I appreciate her a lot. This Friday is also the...basically, vet school prom, which I am not attending because of reasons. One of which is the fact that it's an open bar, which is why it's so expensive, and both of those facts I sometimes need to remind myself of because it sounds pretty fun. I did enter the $10 drawing for a pair of tickets (plus tux rental and hair appointment), but I didn't win, so I conclude I don't need to go.
In the middle of next week I start my other elective, and I have a ton of plans next weekend, too, actually. I'm signed up for an ultrasound course at school (which I'm not sure whether it's one day or both days or what times it is or what--no details yet) and an ophthalmology wetlab with surgery club. Of course, if it's not a designated break (and sometimes even if it is *coughSUMMERcough* I just have to be busy! ;)
Monday, April 7, 2014
Blog blog blog
Hi there; Birdie here!
Is it really only Monday? I was sure I was about to be two weeks late with my blog entry. I guess it's the fact that this will be a pretty short week, after which I get to go home for spring break! Plus my path exam is tomorrow, and my next exam after that is the Thursday after break...and I don't have any classes in the afternoons this week, so it's going to be SUPER easy. Once this exam is over, anyway...
I'm kind of worried about the path exam...at this point I've done all the studying I usually do, but this exam is going to be largely short answer, in contrast to the more-or-less entirely multiple choice tests we've always had before. Plus my study guide for this exam is 20 PAGES--usually they're only about 10 or 11. I'm feeling confident about one of the instructors' parts, but we have two unknowns, one of whom wrote a terrible test last year that second years are saying "everyone failed."
No, I haven't gotten my anatomy exam back yet--I'm waiting to say anything until I have my full, final grade.
This weekend I didn't do anything but Pathfinder (which was a fun session in which I got a critical fail followed immediately by a critical hit) and study. Mostly I'm looking forward to next weekend. I've decided I won't do any of the things I'd been thinking about for then (diversity symposium, Dream Clinic), and instead will just go visit my family. Especially since they're leaving before the second weekend of break since my little brother's spring break is the week AFTER Easter (unlike mine)--I'd like to actually be able to spend some time with them. If I had the second weekend with them, I might stay for symposium...but I don't, so I won't. I'm pretty psyched about going to pick strawberries and not worry about studying until I come back to BR!
Is it really only Monday? I was sure I was about to be two weeks late with my blog entry. I guess it's the fact that this will be a pretty short week, after which I get to go home for spring break! Plus my path exam is tomorrow, and my next exam after that is the Thursday after break...and I don't have any classes in the afternoons this week, so it's going to be SUPER easy. Once this exam is over, anyway...
I'm kind of worried about the path exam...at this point I've done all the studying I usually do, but this exam is going to be largely short answer, in contrast to the more-or-less entirely multiple choice tests we've always had before. Plus my study guide for this exam is 20 PAGES--usually they're only about 10 or 11. I'm feeling confident about one of the instructors' parts, but we have two unknowns, one of whom wrote a terrible test last year that second years are saying "everyone failed."
No, I haven't gotten my anatomy exam back yet--I'm waiting to say anything until I have my full, final grade.
This weekend I didn't do anything but Pathfinder (which was a fun session in which I got a critical fail followed immediately by a critical hit) and study. Mostly I'm looking forward to next weekend. I've decided I won't do any of the things I'd been thinking about for then (diversity symposium, Dream Clinic), and instead will just go visit my family. Especially since they're leaving before the second weekend of break since my little brother's spring break is the week AFTER Easter (unlike mine)--I'd like to actually be able to spend some time with them. If I had the second weekend with them, I might stay for symposium...but I don't, so I won't. I'm pretty psyched about going to pick strawberries and not worry about studying until I come back to BR!
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Goodbye snow, back to vet school
Hi there; Birdie here!
Yes, I am writing this at 4 am. I'm currently at the Houston airport thanks to a 3 hour delay on my originally planned flight and no seats on my backup, so I'll have to miss at least the first hour of class tomorrow. I can't quite decide whether I'm lucky or not--that first hour is Intro to Vet Med, so it's not something I need to learn for an exam, but it is the one class where attendance is mandatory. Oh well, it's not like I'd planned to skip a different two sessions (we can miss two and still pass the pass/fail course).
The break was really nice. We read half of the first Percy Jackson book, and it turned into a family affair--my brother was somewhat reluctant at first, but my parents liked it so I read "to them" with him in the room for a chapter or two until he wanted to listen of his own accord. I also got to do some skiing for the first time in 8 years. My dad and I skied together, and one day we had a lesson, so I learned how to ski like an adult! Last time I took ski lessons I'm pretty sure they told me about pizza (wedge) and french fries (straight skis). At any rate, I took all of my turns with my skis pointed together, but I can do better now! I didn't get to go ice skating, since they were tearing up the rink for some reason yesterday when I left, but it was still a good trip. And I really liked playing and hanging out with my family instead of studying! Don't worry, I finished my neuro review questions before I started typing this. ;)
Since I have the time now and nothing better to do while I wait for my flight to be somewhat closer (it wasn't worth getting a hotel and trying to sleep since the full flight was at 11 and my next flight leaves at 7, which would mean leaving at 5 to get through security--throw in the trouble of finding a hotel and it comes up to Not Worth It), I thought I would write about the current Blog Topic of the Week. This week's suggestion: Your favorite thing about vet school.
There's a lot of things I don't like about vet school sometimes, but what I like best is when I remember exactly why I'm here. That means when I actually get to do things, which pretty much translates to wetlabs! Don't get me wrong, I do like doing the Spay Days and Dream Clinic, but I either feel a bit overwhelmed (at the Dream Clinic I'm the doctor, and I've never really been taught how to do a physical exam!) or like it's more tech work than vet work (I did a lot of surgery prep in my pre-vet experience). Club wetlabs are just the right amount of challenge, where I get to learn (be taught) actual hands-on stuff I'll use in practice (or at least on clinical rotations). I've done ultrasounds, "mass" aspirations and blood smears, and CSF taps. I'm actually keeping a spreadsheet of my experience...pre-vet habits, but it also helps to have it to look back to. Even the clin path wetlab I did last semester was awesome--I didn't know much, but the way it was taught, with the clinicians asking us questions...well, it would have made me feel more like a real doctor if I actually knew the answers to any of the questions. But still, it was real cases! Actually, clubs in general are pretty great. See: last week's surgery meeting, where a local practitioner talked about his work and showed videos of a couple of surgeries. In conclusion, the best parts of vet school are the parts that are more vet but still school, as they teach me how to properly do things I will one day do on my patients. :)
Yes, I am writing this at 4 am. I'm currently at the Houston airport thanks to a 3 hour delay on my originally planned flight and no seats on my backup, so I'll have to miss at least the first hour of class tomorrow. I can't quite decide whether I'm lucky or not--that first hour is Intro to Vet Med, so it's not something I need to learn for an exam, but it is the one class where attendance is mandatory. Oh well, it's not like I'd planned to skip a different two sessions (we can miss two and still pass the pass/fail course).
The break was really nice. We read half of the first Percy Jackson book, and it turned into a family affair--my brother was somewhat reluctant at first, but my parents liked it so I read "to them" with him in the room for a chapter or two until he wanted to listen of his own accord. I also got to do some skiing for the first time in 8 years. My dad and I skied together, and one day we had a lesson, so I learned how to ski like an adult! Last time I took ski lessons I'm pretty sure they told me about pizza (wedge) and french fries (straight skis). At any rate, I took all of my turns with my skis pointed together, but I can do better now! I didn't get to go ice skating, since they were tearing up the rink for some reason yesterday when I left, but it was still a good trip. And I really liked playing and hanging out with my family instead of studying! Don't worry, I finished my neuro review questions before I started typing this. ;)
Since I have the time now and nothing better to do while I wait for my flight to be somewhat closer (it wasn't worth getting a hotel and trying to sleep since the full flight was at 11 and my next flight leaves at 7, which would mean leaving at 5 to get through security--throw in the trouble of finding a hotel and it comes up to Not Worth It), I thought I would write about the current Blog Topic of the Week. This week's suggestion: Your favorite thing about vet school.
There's a lot of things I don't like about vet school sometimes, but what I like best is when I remember exactly why I'm here. That means when I actually get to do things, which pretty much translates to wetlabs! Don't get me wrong, I do like doing the Spay Days and Dream Clinic, but I either feel a bit overwhelmed (at the Dream Clinic I'm the doctor, and I've never really been taught how to do a physical exam!) or like it's more tech work than vet work (I did a lot of surgery prep in my pre-vet experience). Club wetlabs are just the right amount of challenge, where I get to learn (be taught) actual hands-on stuff I'll use in practice (or at least on clinical rotations). I've done ultrasounds, "mass" aspirations and blood smears, and CSF taps. I'm actually keeping a spreadsheet of my experience...pre-vet habits, but it also helps to have it to look back to. Even the clin path wetlab I did last semester was awesome--I didn't know much, but the way it was taught, with the clinicians asking us questions...well, it would have made me feel more like a real doctor if I actually knew the answers to any of the questions. But still, it was real cases! Actually, clubs in general are pretty great. See: last week's surgery meeting, where a local practitioner talked about his work and showed videos of a couple of surgeries. In conclusion, the best parts of vet school are the parts that are more vet but still school, as they teach me how to properly do things I will one day do on my patients. :)
Friday, February 28, 2014
Everything is Awesome
Hi there; Birdie here!
All in all, this has been a great week, and it's about to get better! In about an hour, I'm leaving for my flight to Colorado for skiing with my family over Mardi Gras break. I'm really excited about the snow (which I don't have to drive in :D) and about spending time with my family, especially my little brother. He's going to see snow for the first time, which will be super adorable, and we're going to start reading the Percy Jackson series together. ^-^ I will need to study a bit for neuro since that final will be Friday after break, but it shouldn't be too bad, and I'm looking forward to quite a bit of not-studying as well.
The week didn't start out so great, though. Although I really, really appreciate my study group--both at a friend's house and in lab, I spent 8 or 9 hours studying both Sunday and Monday, and being with my classmates made it more productive and also more enjoyable. Then Tuesday was the practical. It started out fine, but about halfway through it got bad. There were about 3 things where I hadn't studied anything in that area, and it really didn't help that I started physically not feeling very good (not eating much lunch + formalin isn't really a great combination and I try to avoid it, but it was a catered lunch that I wound up not liking). I left that exam feeling awful about it. The written on Wednesday felt a little better, but not by much--there were a lot I wasn't really sure about. I pretty much kissed my chances of an A in that class goodbye. We have our grades now, though, and actually I did REALLY well! I got A's on both parts, and not just 91.5 barely-an-A-on-our-grading-scale. Actual, solid A's. The study group clearly helped a lot, and I have hopes of pulling off a 4.0 for the semester!
As for other classes, nothing super exciting. Finished the last of our neuro lectures, did well on my phys exam, started diagnostic imaging class. I actually had my lab yesterday, and it was a lot better than last semester's lab. Half of it was spent explaining DLPMO/DMPLO views of the equine carpus, which was necessary and a lot clearer than the lecture. The other half was much more fun, though. One of the radiologists went through a couple of cases with us, pointing out what area we should look at in the radiographs and showing some ultrasound images, and asking us about differentials. We didn't really know much, and it was at the end of a long day so we weren't as interactive as we could have been. But if all diagnostic imaging labs were like that, I wouldn't really mind having two or three extra lab sessions like the course coordinator is threatening to do for next year (she has problems with people switching lab times, which is a whole different issue).
Also on Wednesday, between classes ending and diagnostic imaging lab, I went and met with one of the clinicians. He went to the same (small, upstate NY) undergrad that I did, and I actually emailed him a bit before making my final decision to attend LSU. We chatted a bit, and he offered to help me find a research position for next summer, or for this summer if the things I applied to don't work out, which was really nice of him.
This week I also got to go to one of my potlucks. I made a cheesy garlic bread with a cauliflower base instead of a bread base, and (other than being slightly over-broiled and brown on top), it turned out wonderful. I love that I get to cook and try out new recipes for these things--I used to cook and bake all the time, but I don't have too much time for that now. And it's a lot better when I get to share it with friends. :) The guy who cooks made delicious pasta alfredo and pesto, and I got to talk with a bunch of third years about how their clinics are going.
Then after I got home from that, I got to talk to several of my undergrad friends for the first time since graduation! Definitely one of the best things to happen all week. We did it through google hangouts and basically had a massive video chat (I think there were 6 or 7 of us). We just talked for a while, and I did my nails (Mardi Gras colors: alternating purple and green with gold spots) just like old times. I haven't been anything like as social in vet school as I was in undergrad, so it felt really nice to be the way I am with my friends. Gosh, I've missed them. I'm sure we'll do it again sometime soonish, too, especially since one person who really wanted to set it up wasn't able to make that time.
Today at lunch I went to a Surgery Club meeting, which was great. A local practitioner came and talked to us--the same doctor who I work with at the Dream Clinic! He showed us some really interesting cases and even some video of a couple of the surgeries. Plus he showed some pictures from international trips he's done, and generally made me really excited to be a veterinarian. I'm signed up for the Dream Center next weekend, and I'm looking forward to it.
Oh, and we've got 3 clin path multihead microscope wetlab dates set up, and Feline Club wants to work with us in Pathology Club for a cat necropsy wetlab, so that's awesome. I love that the club I'm part of running is going to actually be doing things!
All in all, this has been a great week, and it's about to get better! In about an hour, I'm leaving for my flight to Colorado for skiing with my family over Mardi Gras break. I'm really excited about the snow (which I don't have to drive in :D) and about spending time with my family, especially my little brother. He's going to see snow for the first time, which will be super adorable, and we're going to start reading the Percy Jackson series together. ^-^ I will need to study a bit for neuro since that final will be Friday after break, but it shouldn't be too bad, and I'm looking forward to quite a bit of not-studying as well.
The week didn't start out so great, though. Although I really, really appreciate my study group--both at a friend's house and in lab, I spent 8 or 9 hours studying both Sunday and Monday, and being with my classmates made it more productive and also more enjoyable. Then Tuesday was the practical. It started out fine, but about halfway through it got bad. There were about 3 things where I hadn't studied anything in that area, and it really didn't help that I started physically not feeling very good (not eating much lunch + formalin isn't really a great combination and I try to avoid it, but it was a catered lunch that I wound up not liking). I left that exam feeling awful about it. The written on Wednesday felt a little better, but not by much--there were a lot I wasn't really sure about. I pretty much kissed my chances of an A in that class goodbye. We have our grades now, though, and actually I did REALLY well! I got A's on both parts, and not just 91.5 barely-an-A-on-our-grading-scale. Actual, solid A's. The study group clearly helped a lot, and I have hopes of pulling off a 4.0 for the semester!
As for other classes, nothing super exciting. Finished the last of our neuro lectures, did well on my phys exam, started diagnostic imaging class. I actually had my lab yesterday, and it was a lot better than last semester's lab. Half of it was spent explaining DLPMO/DMPLO views of the equine carpus, which was necessary and a lot clearer than the lecture. The other half was much more fun, though. One of the radiologists went through a couple of cases with us, pointing out what area we should look at in the radiographs and showing some ultrasound images, and asking us about differentials. We didn't really know much, and it was at the end of a long day so we weren't as interactive as we could have been. But if all diagnostic imaging labs were like that, I wouldn't really mind having two or three extra lab sessions like the course coordinator is threatening to do for next year (she has problems with people switching lab times, which is a whole different issue).
Also on Wednesday, between classes ending and diagnostic imaging lab, I went and met with one of the clinicians. He went to the same (small, upstate NY) undergrad that I did, and I actually emailed him a bit before making my final decision to attend LSU. We chatted a bit, and he offered to help me find a research position for next summer, or for this summer if the things I applied to don't work out, which was really nice of him.
This week I also got to go to one of my potlucks. I made a cheesy garlic bread with a cauliflower base instead of a bread base, and (other than being slightly over-broiled and brown on top), it turned out wonderful. I love that I get to cook and try out new recipes for these things--I used to cook and bake all the time, but I don't have too much time for that now. And it's a lot better when I get to share it with friends. :) The guy who cooks made delicious pasta alfredo and pesto, and I got to talk with a bunch of third years about how their clinics are going.
Then after I got home from that, I got to talk to several of my undergrad friends for the first time since graduation! Definitely one of the best things to happen all week. We did it through google hangouts and basically had a massive video chat (I think there were 6 or 7 of us). We just talked for a while, and I did my nails (Mardi Gras colors: alternating purple and green with gold spots) just like old times. I haven't been anything like as social in vet school as I was in undergrad, so it felt really nice to be the way I am with my friends. Gosh, I've missed them. I'm sure we'll do it again sometime soonish, too, especially since one person who really wanted to set it up wasn't able to make that time.
Today at lunch I went to a Surgery Club meeting, which was great. A local practitioner came and talked to us--the same doctor who I work with at the Dream Clinic! He showed us some really interesting cases and even some video of a couple of the surgeries. Plus he showed some pictures from international trips he's done, and generally made me really excited to be a veterinarian. I'm signed up for the Dream Center next weekend, and I'm looking forward to it.
Oh, and we've got 3 clin path multihead microscope wetlab dates set up, and Feline Club wants to work with us in Pathology Club for a cat necropsy wetlab, so that's awesome. I love that the club I'm part of running is going to actually be doing things!
Friday, January 17, 2014
Three day weekend!
Hi there; Birdie here!
Sorry I didn't write last week. It wasn't even that I was busy, I just sort of got out of the habit of blog writing and didn't feel like it. Not to worry, though--here I am!
I've really enjoyed our PBL class. Last week's clinical lab, I did get to use my stethoscope! The hypothetical dog had a PDA, so the clinical lab was split into EKG, echocardiography, and auscultation. Unfortunately, since there were three stations and three groups at a time, we only had 15 minutes at each station. Which wasn't too bad for the echo and EKG where we were just watching/learning about it, but it wasn't enough time for us to really learn how to listen for the heart when we had to worry about leaving time for the next seven people in our group. We also had an anatomy lab last Friday, which I don't entirely understand the point of...it was mostly just a review of the heart, which we just had last semester. We did see how the valves lined up with the rib spaces where we auscultate, I guess, but I'm not sure that's worth the hours of lab time.
This week's case was a sheep, and the sheep clinical day was FUN! I tipped a sheep (with help), auscultated the heart and rumen, and drew blood from the jugular. It was my first ever attempt at a blood draw, and they said that if you can get a jug on a sheep (where it's a blind stick), you can do anything, so that made me really happy! Plus I was working on the same sheep as my friend, which made it better. For this case, though, there was a lot more time wasting while we waiting for results and the coordinator tried to drag it out all week. The thing is, the proper diagnosis (pregnancy toxemia w/ hypocalcemia) was the one thing we all already knew about sheep because we had a whole lecture on it in physio I. So we knew what it was by the first or second day, and they didn't seem to be expecting that. Yesterday we literally just hung out all day, not getting any results, which was rather annoying. But when we sent in our final plan of action, the last email we got was what would have been the "perfect ending" if this was a video game--both the sheep that was our patient and the twin lambs she was carrying survived! Other groups who did C-sections had one or both of the lambs die, so it really made us feel awesome that we had a 100% survival rate (even though one of the lambs' heartbeats wasn't found on ultrasound, which I'm still a little confused about. We thought that one was already dead).
Last weekend I went to the Dream Center clinic in New Orleans again. I brought my stethoscope, though I only wound up listening to one heart. We had a bunch of dogs where we had to clip their nails and they didn't care for it, but it was fun. I was with a classmate, and we took turns examining, giving vaccines/dewormer, etc., and holding for the other one to do all that. I think I was pretty good with the vaccines--I only had to restick once. There was way too much excitement at the end, though--when we went to take our picture at the end, the police officer who had the camera-phone went to back up, tripped over a pile of bricks behind him, and hit his head on the metal wall behind that! At first I thought he would just get up and be fine, but he had a concussion and his head wound was bleeding like a head wound, which is to say, a lot. Then my friend (the one who I worked on the sheep with, and who I had ridden to the clinic with) had come with her boyfriend as well, and he showed up when that happened, and literally passed out at the sight of the blood (I hadn't really thought that actually happened!). So then she freaked out and had to be brought away and go sit down. Both of them were fine afterwards, but I wound up driving them home. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon playing pokemon together, which was nice.
Like I said in the title, this is a three-day weekend. I'm going home, and hoping to see at least one movie between Saving Mr. Banks and August Osage County (which I had been going to see last weekend with my mom, but she got sick, so I went to see Catching Fire by myself instead). Our breaks are spaced much more nicely this semester. Instead of having two breaks within a couple weeks at the very end of the semester, we have two days off after the weekend for Mardi Gras (which I think I'll be spending skiing with my family) and a week for spring break the week that ends with Good Friday. The one negative about that is I think most spring breaks come after Easter, not before, so it might be hard to do, say, a road trip with my cousin like I wanted. But I think my sister might be out at the same time, so who knows.
I've got quite a lot on my plate this semester. First, officerships: I'm on the committee in charge of organizing fundraisers for Josh Project, I'm historian for Diagnostic Imaging Club, and I'm acting president for Pathology Club. I'm still working on how to get people to come to Path Club, since I wound up VP by being the only non-3rd year to show up to elections. So I have a bunch to plan for that meeting/this semester. I've also signed up to feed birds again, but day birds this time. I probably won't do it next year, but I wanted to get experience with all the birds. I'm also going to SAVMA Symposium in Colorado in March, and probably going to at least a bit of the LVMA conference (Lousiana vet association) and the diversity symposium around spring break, if I can manage it. And of course I'm going to the CDC veterinary day the week after next, and I'm not entirely sure what's going on with that. There's a Spay Day that weekend that I signed up for, but I'm not sure when we're leaving and so if I'll be able to make it.
Of course I have a ton to do for open house, too, which is rather upsetting because that weekend I was planning to go home and also go to New Orleans Comic Con, which happens to be that weekend and which Matt Smith will be at. I'm still going home on Friday--my whole family is really excited about the Lego Movie and we're all going to see it together the day it comes out. But I'll probably have to drive back here early Saturday. First years are in charge of a lot of open house, and it's mandatory for all of us to be there. Plus Path Club will have a booth, which I'll probably need to man, and my other clubs (which is a lot if you count the ones I'm not an officer in too) will probably want me to do stuff as well, so obviously I can't do it all.
I've nearly finished applying for all my summer stuff now. The NASA program confirmed they got my application, and the Banfield one confirmed that AND set up an interview (February 3rd). I'm still waiting on my last recommendation before I can send off the Tulane Primate Center one, though, and that's my first choice since it's close to my parents' house and has a lot more variety than the other two. I won't hear about that one or the NASA one until March, so I really hope Banfield is a bit like vet schools in that they'll do interviews and then talk amongst themselves and not send out decisions for a while. I'm not sure what I'd do if Banfield offered me a spot before I heard back from the other two--say yes, I guess, if I had to decide right then, but I'd rather hear back from all three before deciding.
Oh, one more random little thing: changing tires is a lot easier than I remember. When I was driving home the other day, my front right wheel went right into a big square pot hole, and when I took the turn I knew it had ruined my tire. Luckily my 3rd year roommate was driving by and stopped to help me. She took me to the tire place, but then we were told/I remembered that you need to have the rim and can't just buy a tire, so we went back and put the spare on together. We knew perfectly how to change a tire between the two of us, and it was a lot easier than I remembered from the last time I changed a tire on my old car. We took it into the shop and I had it back in a few hours, so it wasn't actually that bad, but it was quite stressful when it happened. I got insurance on that tire so if that happens again (which it might--that road is stupid, and if cars are coming the other way it's hard to avoid those pot holes) I won't have to pay quite as much for a new tire.
Sorry I didn't write last week. It wasn't even that I was busy, I just sort of got out of the habit of blog writing and didn't feel like it. Not to worry, though--here I am!
I've really enjoyed our PBL class. Last week's clinical lab, I did get to use my stethoscope! The hypothetical dog had a PDA, so the clinical lab was split into EKG, echocardiography, and auscultation. Unfortunately, since there were three stations and three groups at a time, we only had 15 minutes at each station. Which wasn't too bad for the echo and EKG where we were just watching/learning about it, but it wasn't enough time for us to really learn how to listen for the heart when we had to worry about leaving time for the next seven people in our group. We also had an anatomy lab last Friday, which I don't entirely understand the point of...it was mostly just a review of the heart, which we just had last semester. We did see how the valves lined up with the rib spaces where we auscultate, I guess, but I'm not sure that's worth the hours of lab time.
This week's case was a sheep, and the sheep clinical day was FUN! I tipped a sheep (with help), auscultated the heart and rumen, and drew blood from the jugular. It was my first ever attempt at a blood draw, and they said that if you can get a jug on a sheep (where it's a blind stick), you can do anything, so that made me really happy! Plus I was working on the same sheep as my friend, which made it better. For this case, though, there was a lot more time wasting while we waiting for results and the coordinator tried to drag it out all week. The thing is, the proper diagnosis (pregnancy toxemia w/ hypocalcemia) was the one thing we all already knew about sheep because we had a whole lecture on it in physio I. So we knew what it was by the first or second day, and they didn't seem to be expecting that. Yesterday we literally just hung out all day, not getting any results, which was rather annoying. But when we sent in our final plan of action, the last email we got was what would have been the "perfect ending" if this was a video game--both the sheep that was our patient and the twin lambs she was carrying survived! Other groups who did C-sections had one or both of the lambs die, so it really made us feel awesome that we had a 100% survival rate (even though one of the lambs' heartbeats wasn't found on ultrasound, which I'm still a little confused about. We thought that one was already dead).
Last weekend I went to the Dream Center clinic in New Orleans again. I brought my stethoscope, though I only wound up listening to one heart. We had a bunch of dogs where we had to clip their nails and they didn't care for it, but it was fun. I was with a classmate, and we took turns examining, giving vaccines/dewormer, etc., and holding for the other one to do all that. I think I was pretty good with the vaccines--I only had to restick once. There was way too much excitement at the end, though--when we went to take our picture at the end, the police officer who had the camera-phone went to back up, tripped over a pile of bricks behind him, and hit his head on the metal wall behind that! At first I thought he would just get up and be fine, but he had a concussion and his head wound was bleeding like a head wound, which is to say, a lot. Then my friend (the one who I worked on the sheep with, and who I had ridden to the clinic with) had come with her boyfriend as well, and he showed up when that happened, and literally passed out at the sight of the blood (I hadn't really thought that actually happened!). So then she freaked out and had to be brought away and go sit down. Both of them were fine afterwards, but I wound up driving them home. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon playing pokemon together, which was nice.
Like I said in the title, this is a three-day weekend. I'm going home, and hoping to see at least one movie between Saving Mr. Banks and August Osage County (which I had been going to see last weekend with my mom, but she got sick, so I went to see Catching Fire by myself instead). Our breaks are spaced much more nicely this semester. Instead of having two breaks within a couple weeks at the very end of the semester, we have two days off after the weekend for Mardi Gras (which I think I'll be spending skiing with my family) and a week for spring break the week that ends with Good Friday. The one negative about that is I think most spring breaks come after Easter, not before, so it might be hard to do, say, a road trip with my cousin like I wanted. But I think my sister might be out at the same time, so who knows.
I've got quite a lot on my plate this semester. First, officerships: I'm on the committee in charge of organizing fundraisers for Josh Project, I'm historian for Diagnostic Imaging Club, and I'm acting president for Pathology Club. I'm still working on how to get people to come to Path Club, since I wound up VP by being the only non-3rd year to show up to elections. So I have a bunch to plan for that meeting/this semester. I've also signed up to feed birds again, but day birds this time. I probably won't do it next year, but I wanted to get experience with all the birds. I'm also going to SAVMA Symposium in Colorado in March, and probably going to at least a bit of the LVMA conference (Lousiana vet association) and the diversity symposium around spring break, if I can manage it. And of course I'm going to the CDC veterinary day the week after next, and I'm not entirely sure what's going on with that. There's a Spay Day that weekend that I signed up for, but I'm not sure when we're leaving and so if I'll be able to make it.
Of course I have a ton to do for open house, too, which is rather upsetting because that weekend I was planning to go home and also go to New Orleans Comic Con, which happens to be that weekend and which Matt Smith will be at. I'm still going home on Friday--my whole family is really excited about the Lego Movie and we're all going to see it together the day it comes out. But I'll probably have to drive back here early Saturday. First years are in charge of a lot of open house, and it's mandatory for all of us to be there. Plus Path Club will have a booth, which I'll probably need to man, and my other clubs (which is a lot if you count the ones I'm not an officer in too) will probably want me to do stuff as well, so obviously I can't do it all.
I've nearly finished applying for all my summer stuff now. The NASA program confirmed they got my application, and the Banfield one confirmed that AND set up an interview (February 3rd). I'm still waiting on my last recommendation before I can send off the Tulane Primate Center one, though, and that's my first choice since it's close to my parents' house and has a lot more variety than the other two. I won't hear about that one or the NASA one until March, so I really hope Banfield is a bit like vet schools in that they'll do interviews and then talk amongst themselves and not send out decisions for a while. I'm not sure what I'd do if Banfield offered me a spot before I heard back from the other two--say yes, I guess, if I had to decide right then, but I'd rather hear back from all three before deciding.
Oh, one more random little thing: changing tires is a lot easier than I remember. When I was driving home the other day, my front right wheel went right into a big square pot hole, and when I took the turn I knew it had ruined my tire. Luckily my 3rd year roommate was driving by and stopped to help me. She took me to the tire place, but then we were told/I remembered that you need to have the rim and can't just buy a tire, so we went back and put the spare on together. We knew perfectly how to change a tire between the two of us, and it was a lot easier than I remembered from the last time I changed a tire on my old car. We took it into the shop and I had it back in a few hours, so it wasn't actually that bad, but it was quite stressful when it happened. I got insurance on that tire so if that happens again (which it might--that road is stupid, and if cars are coming the other way it's hard to avoid those pot holes) I won't have to pay quite as much for a new tire.
Friday, October 25, 2013
This post sponsored by Hill's and donuts
Hi there; Birdie here!
I'm really glad I don't have any exams next week, but I still can't slow down. Anatomy and histology labs have both been pretty intimidating lately. I got really lucky on my anatomy quiz today and just had to identify the caudal lobe of the caudal lobe of the left lung (yes, the repetition is intentional). I mean, I did know most of the terms on the list of potential quiz questions, but there were a lot of external vessels and such that we couldn't even find...having a fat dog makes it more difficult. I'm still doing well, but I'm not as confident about it. I think I've managed to keep A's in the 4 classes we've finished (I'm not 100% sure where I fell around the border in Anatomy I), but we're just starting these new classes so I don't have any cushion built up. And apparently the next anatomy test (conveniently right after fall break in 2 weeks) is the worst one, according to one of the course instructors. I'm probably going to spend most of my weekend typing up notes...not really catching up from when I didn't have my laptop, since I've finished those classes, but preparing for the TWO tests the week after next. Sunday is another Spay Day, too, so at least I'll get to spend some of my weekend with live animals. :)
My roommate's dog has been a little better with me. Sometimes if the roommate is there she'll get close to me and be sweet. She is very dominant with the other roommate's dog, though, so that's another strike against her. I think she might end up with the roommate's parents if she can't get along with everyone in the house. I'm glad she has a home lined up either way...I just don't want her to growl at me anymore.
This week was Hill's Week at our school, which meant we got free pen/highlighters, baked goods, and (since our class had near-100% participation in wearing red/blue yesterday) a donut breakfast this morning. I'm kind of surprised there weren't any speakers or lunch-and-learn type things associated with it. Well, there is a nutritional speaker breakfast tomorrow morning, but I think I've missed the deadline to RSVP. Also, I'd really like to not have anywhere I have to be Saturday morning.
Yesterday my workout buddy and I went to the UREC, aka the LSU gym. We did a zumba class; she'd never done it before, so she wanted to try it out. It was really fun, and now that we have accounts on the reservation system we want to try some other stuff--probably kickboxing next. The gym here is really neat. There's an indoor track and a rock climbing wall and several group fitness classes in addition to the basketball courts and squash rooms and weight rooms that my undergrad had.
Oh, I did a really fun wetlab this week, too. It was for clinical pathology, on the multihead microscope, and there was a histopath component as well. We looked at cytology aspirates and tissue sections of the same cases, and the two clinicians asked a bunch of questions to get us to think about the case before giving us the answers. I obviously knew approximately nothing since I'm only a first year, so I didn't exactly feel like a real doctor, but I loved it anyway. The bowl of candy probably helped, too. ;) Everyone else there was a third year, but they made me feel really welcome when we were walking over together. That helped me not feel awkward when I had to ask what one of the terms they were using meant (histeocytes--I'm not sure how to spell it since I only heard it, but it's an umbrella term for macrophages and dendritic cells). I'm really glad I went ahead and joined path club. I also went ahead and paid dues for internal medicine club. Their wetlab was really cool, and my dad offered to pay for my dues (thanks, Dad!).
On a less fun note, I went to the first lunch talk that I straight-up walked out of before the speaker was done. It wasn't even a free lunch. The topic was equine nutrition, and I know we don't get an awful lot of nutrition in the curriculum, so I wanted to go find out more. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what I was supposed to get out of that at all. He kept saying he didn't want to advertise his supplement or anything, but that was about all I got. That and one other thing he kept repeating: "water, forage, minerals" with grain as an afterthought. He didn't really seem to have anything to say, and kept trying to open up the floor to questions but no one really had any. I for one went because I have no background on the topic--what am I supposed to ask? Eventually it sort of devolved into a conversation about what this one student did for her horse who kept tying up in his muscles, and the speaker's main response to any questions about what he would recommend was, of course, "I'm not here to advertise my product." It was about that point that I left because I was seriously not getting anything out of it.
In not too long, I'm about to head back to school for a "fall family picnic" thing. My family is heading to St. Louis to see the World Series game, so they won't be here, but I signed up for a shift selling bandannas for Josh Project. And hey, free food.
I'm really glad I don't have any exams next week, but I still can't slow down. Anatomy and histology labs have both been pretty intimidating lately. I got really lucky on my anatomy quiz today and just had to identify the caudal lobe of the caudal lobe of the left lung (yes, the repetition is intentional). I mean, I did know most of the terms on the list of potential quiz questions, but there were a lot of external vessels and such that we couldn't even find...having a fat dog makes it more difficult. I'm still doing well, but I'm not as confident about it. I think I've managed to keep A's in the 4 classes we've finished (I'm not 100% sure where I fell around the border in Anatomy I), but we're just starting these new classes so I don't have any cushion built up. And apparently the next anatomy test (conveniently right after fall break in 2 weeks) is the worst one, according to one of the course instructors. I'm probably going to spend most of my weekend typing up notes...not really catching up from when I didn't have my laptop, since I've finished those classes, but preparing for the TWO tests the week after next. Sunday is another Spay Day, too, so at least I'll get to spend some of my weekend with live animals. :)
My roommate's dog has been a little better with me. Sometimes if the roommate is there she'll get close to me and be sweet. She is very dominant with the other roommate's dog, though, so that's another strike against her. I think she might end up with the roommate's parents if she can't get along with everyone in the house. I'm glad she has a home lined up either way...I just don't want her to growl at me anymore.
This week was Hill's Week at our school, which meant we got free pen/highlighters, baked goods, and (since our class had near-100% participation in wearing red/blue yesterday) a donut breakfast this morning. I'm kind of surprised there weren't any speakers or lunch-and-learn type things associated with it. Well, there is a nutritional speaker breakfast tomorrow morning, but I think I've missed the deadline to RSVP. Also, I'd really like to not have anywhere I have to be Saturday morning.
Yesterday my workout buddy and I went to the UREC, aka the LSU gym. We did a zumba class; she'd never done it before, so she wanted to try it out. It was really fun, and now that we have accounts on the reservation system we want to try some other stuff--probably kickboxing next. The gym here is really neat. There's an indoor track and a rock climbing wall and several group fitness classes in addition to the basketball courts and squash rooms and weight rooms that my undergrad had.
Oh, I did a really fun wetlab this week, too. It was for clinical pathology, on the multihead microscope, and there was a histopath component as well. We looked at cytology aspirates and tissue sections of the same cases, and the two clinicians asked a bunch of questions to get us to think about the case before giving us the answers. I obviously knew approximately nothing since I'm only a first year, so I didn't exactly feel like a real doctor, but I loved it anyway. The bowl of candy probably helped, too. ;) Everyone else there was a third year, but they made me feel really welcome when we were walking over together. That helped me not feel awkward when I had to ask what one of the terms they were using meant (histeocytes--I'm not sure how to spell it since I only heard it, but it's an umbrella term for macrophages and dendritic cells). I'm really glad I went ahead and joined path club. I also went ahead and paid dues for internal medicine club. Their wetlab was really cool, and my dad offered to pay for my dues (thanks, Dad!).
On a less fun note, I went to the first lunch talk that I straight-up walked out of before the speaker was done. It wasn't even a free lunch. The topic was equine nutrition, and I know we don't get an awful lot of nutrition in the curriculum, so I wanted to go find out more. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what I was supposed to get out of that at all. He kept saying he didn't want to advertise his supplement or anything, but that was about all I got. That and one other thing he kept repeating: "water, forage, minerals" with grain as an afterthought. He didn't really seem to have anything to say, and kept trying to open up the floor to questions but no one really had any. I for one went because I have no background on the topic--what am I supposed to ask? Eventually it sort of devolved into a conversation about what this one student did for her horse who kept tying up in his muscles, and the speaker's main response to any questions about what he would recommend was, of course, "I'm not here to advertise my product." It was about that point that I left because I was seriously not getting anything out of it.
In not too long, I'm about to head back to school for a "fall family picnic" thing. My family is heading to St. Louis to see the World Series game, so they won't be here, but I signed up for a shift selling bandannas for Josh Project. And hey, free food.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
A little bit of Life
Hi there; Birdie here!
It's been a busy week--so busy I didn't have time to update my blog yesterday. Well, most of that particular business was from taking two hours to try and get my computer back (as far as I know they haven't run any diagnostics, and they've had it for nearly two weeks) and finding them closed. Coupled with the fact that I have an anatomy exam next week (which is basically two exams since it's a practical and a written), I didn't even have time to cook a proper dinner, much less tell y'all about my life. Hopefully I'll be able to make my pasta bake tonight...I've been wanting to all week!
As I mentioned last week, my family came to see me last Saturday. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 was REALLY fun! It was full of food puns and The Power of Friendship and I really enjoyed it. It was also really nice just to watch things with other people...I used to do that all the time in undergrad, but I haven't really got people to watch with here. I miss it. Since they didn't come until evening, I also spent the morning at the work day with Raptor Rehab. I helped with physical exams on a red-tailed hawk and on Professor, the owl I was also feeding. He was definitely much better than BAMF about climbing on my fist, even if sometimes by the third time or so he would get sick of it and try to just squeeze my hand and not put the other foot up. I also trimmed an owl's talons (I think it was BAMF? Don't really remember) and apparently I was pretty good at it. :) There was a potential hurricane in the area, so we moved them inside to the exotics part of the teaching hospital, but the hurricane never came through.
This week's tests were physio and diagnostic imaging. I'll be happy with my grade as long as we can get one question thrown out, which we definitely should because there were no correct answer options. I rocked everything that wasn't therio...luckily, there's no more therio in our physio class or on the next test! Diagnostic imaging wasn't too bad; our grades just went up today and I did well. We're all getting pretty sick of the constant tests thing, but we're halfway through the semester now. And in a couple weeks (after anatomy and the physio final), we actually have a week with no tests! Okay, it's followed by two tests in a week, but I don't have to think about that yet. I'm really looking forward to the break.
Besides the exam, I also had my diagnostic imaging lab this week. It's split up alphabetically so there are about 6 groups spread throughout the semester. I was in the second group, so my lab was the second hour on the first lab day. I honestly didn't get too much out of it. Part of that is because I already saw the x-ray room with the club tour, plus I could largely visualize the concepts we discussed in class from working with an x-ray machine in a clinic for vet experience. For the other part of the lab, it was just radiographic anatomy, which we've had in anatomy class alongside our studies of the skeleton (sidenote: the spine is on our exam, and I've decided to call the vertebral column from my bone box Leviathan. It's a Skullgirls refrence). We didn't even get to hang up the radiographs ourselves, despite how much emphasis they put on the proper orientation. The groups were small enough that we could have had a little personalized attention, like in anatomy lab, if we'd only had a little more time. Instead it was mainly just an opportunity to ask questions. At least I got the 10 points for showing up?
I'm still not sure what I want to do over the summer. Really I should have already contacted a teacher if I want to do Summer Scholars here, but I haven't. Kind of worried I might have already missed the boat, even though the deadline isn't until February. I did get an email about a NASA internship that looks really cool, and I think I'd really like to do it, but I don't know all the details yet; it's a lot harder to follow the links when I don't have my computer. I might be able to stay with family in Houston, so that should work nicely, but I'm sure that's super competetive as well.
I've officially joined farm animal club, and I'm thinking about joining integrative medicine club as well. Our anatomy professor gave a talk on Thursday about her acupuncture certification, and apparently there's a way to work it into clinics so that you get the certificate when you graduate. I'm definitely thinking about doing that; I don't see any downside to having more skills in treating animals.
We also had a VBMA meeting yesterday about "marketing yourself" which turned out to really be more about marketing your veterinary clinic on the web. I actually took a bunch of notes on my phone...parts of it were about how to trick Google so your result is one of the top, but she also talked about marketing to pet owners rather than other vets (aka don't have a giant unavoidable picture of heartworms on your home page). I'm really glad I'm in VBMA because I really like learning about the non-medical part of veterinary medicine, too. Of course, the free food at their meetings helps too. ;)
On the medical side though, I actually went with several of my classmates to New Orleans for the Dream Clinic, to "practice practicing medicine." The Dream Clinic is a free clinic in downtown New Orleans--they have human medicine, dentistry, and veterinary services. It's run under a couple of tents in the parking lot of an abandoned church, and a good number of people came. Definitely over 40...I think we only had about 15 vaccines left from the 70 or 80 we started with. For the most part it's physical exam, rabies and 7-in-one vaccines, and deworming from us; then they get sent home with flea and heartworm preventatives. All of us students who came are first years (apparently I'm part of a particularly active class!), and there were about a dozen of us. It was largely us as the "doctors" giving the physical exams, with the husband-and-wife team in charge floating around to diagnose anything abnormal and prescribe medications. There was also a vet from the community, whom I was working with. I thought it would be a good way to ease into it, but mostly it meant that I was relegated to tech work running for vaccines, drawing up dewormer, and holding dogs. Next time I'll try to work with a student who's been a couple of times instead. I know one of my classmates who had a stethoscope from his old clinic used it plenty of times. At least I got to see some really cute puppies, including a litter of five pit bull puppies and an adorable little Catahoula. I definitely want to do this more often...maybe not next month but definitely in the spring semester, every time I can.
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