Hi there; Birdie here!
This week has been intense, but I can't really say it's over because I still need to catch up on lectures. First I went to DC, which--more on that later, but it was pretty stressful. Then I came back and didn't even have time to unpack because I had to study for my derm final makeup yesterday and my orthopedics final today. And then yesterday I found out that I got the Banfield summer job program--AND I got summer scholars. So in the midst of my exams I had to deal with that decision. I wound up deciding on summer scholars, since I don't have any research experience and unfortunately despite being in vet school I am still forever trying to make myself look good for the next application. Also my housing in Texas near the Banfield hospital fell through. I made the calls/emails to make that decision official this morning. And I've still got about 7 hours of lecture I hope to get through this weekend, which isn't counting the studying I need to do for next week's exams. Vet school's tough.
I'm actually pretty upset, because even though our classes are usually recorded (which I was counting on, being gone for two days) a certain farm animal clinician decided that not enough people were in class and didn't record. One of my classmates gave me her notes, but I'm not super comfortable with that; I'd rather hear it myself. I'm going to be missing his class for Symposium, too...this time I'll make sure to ask him beforehand in the hopes he won't decide not to record.
DC was...honestly, not what I was expecting. When it talked about "exposing veterinary students to the legislative process" I didn't know that meant making up lobbyists and setting up meetings for us with congress members' offices. The first night was good. We had a little reception to talk with other participants (one of my VLE groupmates was there!), and then a bunch of us went out to a place called the Beer (Bier?) Baron, where I got funnel cake burger sliders and another guy in the group got a chicken Parmesan donut. It was really cold! As we were walking back, everything was encased in ice. It was also raining earlier that day when I was walking to the hotel from the metro station. I actually took the metro station the wrong way for 2 stops, but I wound up on the same train I would have have to wait for, so I consider it a win--I waited in warm trains instead of on a cold platform.
The second day (first full day) was when the problem started. After several talks (we even had powerpoint printouts, just like vet school lectures), we had some mock meetings. The first couple of people who went up made me cringe. First, there was a large group that gave me so much secondhand embarrassment because no one seemed to know what to say and the person playing the senator had to keep feeding them lines. Then the next person was quite good, except that she kept saying things that were probably jokes but were just so very "no, don't do that!" So I figured, I have some idea what I'm doing, I'll go up. So I did. And I completely messed up which bill is which (we were presenting two bills: the Veterinary Medical Loan Repayment Program Enhancement Act and proposals for reauthorization of the Higher Education Act). I did my best to keep going anyway, and I probably wasn't the only one who would do that, but I felt horrible. It was not easy, it was not fun, and it did not make me feel good about messing up in front of actual congressmen (or their staff) the next day. No matter how much I wanted to bow out and fly home, though, I couldn't get out of it. I think they thought they needed me, although after my meetings I'm not sure why. I don't think I made any difference whatsoever: either they already supported our position or they brushed me off without listening. I met with one senator and two representatives--well, I met with their offices. Overall, I don't really know how to feel about it. It's a worthwhile experience and I'm sure it will look good on my resume, but I'm not sure it was a good experience for me.
The surgery wetlab a couple of weeks ago was a better experience, but that wasn't what I was expecting either. Basically, since literally none of us had sufficient background, we spent the wetlab learning to suture and do ligatures. At the end one of the groups got to do the neuter on their dog, but that's about it. Still, it might have actually been better, since literally everyone got to have hands-on personally instructed experience. I mean, the group that did the neuter, it was just 2 people who got to do it, I'm not sure what they would have done with the groups of 3-4 we had. And I feel like I learned a lot about spay/neuter procedures from the lecture beforehand. Either way, it's giving me a great leg up in our current surgery class. We had lectures on suture patterns and on instruments this week, and I have a good basis for that right now. We also had our first microscope wetlab for path club, and finally had a meeting and officer elections. I wasn't able to be there (it was Tuesday, while I was in DC), but I kept my vice-presidency.
At my riding lesson last week, I got to ride Sailor, my favorite! I think we did well together, and my instructor said I "managed him well. He gets a little excited." I also worked on my position, especially over jumps. The ring was super crowded, though, which I didn't appreciate. Naturally I didn't ride this week since I had so much in the way of tests (and summer decisions) to deal with, but actually there weren't lessons at the end of this weeks so I get to make it up on Monday and ride twice next week.
On the book front, I finished Tam Lin and was pretty disappointed in it. In the hopes of reading something I'd like better than my last few books, I got a short story collection called 21 Proms that has a John Green story in it (kind of hoping it would be like My True Love Gave to Me, a recent Christmas short story collection I loved). Well, the John Green story was alright, but I didn't like any of the others. I didn't relate to the characters, and some of them were just plain weird. On my flights/in DC, I read Top Dog by Jerry Jay Carroll for a book I own but hadn't read. It's the best one I've read in a while, which isn't saying much. I liked the battle between good and evil, and some of the symbolism, but as a whole I didn't care for the narrator's tone and I wasn't entirely satisfied with the ending. Now I'm reading Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan. I've read nearly 200 pages just today (mostly just after I got home), so that's pretty good. I firmly dislike certain characters and situations, though. I need to find some better books, or I'll forget why I love reading (no I won't, I'll never do that).
I just got back from going to the gymnastics meet with A. It was senior night--the seniors' last meet. We got there a little late, after the first event had started. There were like three 10.0s this time--there weren't any last time! The star floor performer had her routine last, with music that included Stand Up and Get Crunk (a Saints pump-up song) and I'm pretty sure the LSU fight song too. She got a 10.0 for it, and she totally deserved it. Anyway, it was really fun and totally not catching up on lectures like I should have been doing.
Today I also started my feeding shift. The co-chair on duty right now is actually my li'l sib, and I caught him in the feed room when I went in before my test. He showed me and another feeder how to put on jesses (like a bird leash), and when I came back after the exam I jessed Lucy as well as feeding her. I have to say, it felt pretty cool to just walk around with a bird on my fist, nbd. I'm meeting him again in the morning to help stretch an owl that the wildlife hospital got in.
Next week I've got a farm animal exam (on less than 7 lectures this time, because that makes sense...I really don't like that class) and a cardio final, and the week after that it's Symposium. After this week, I really hope things get better (though I can't really see them getting worse, knock on wood).
Showing posts with label owl feeding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label owl feeding. Show all posts
Friday, March 6, 2015
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, March 31, 2014
Light at the end of the tunnel
Hi there; Birdie here!
After Wednesday, I will be DONE with anatomy! School will be so much easier then...I won't even have any afternoon classes until after spring break. I am stressing pretty hardcore about this (even as I type this instead of studying)--since I actually did really well on the last exam, I have a chance of keeping an A in this class, so I really want to. Plus it seems like there's a lot more stuff I don't know at this point for this exam. I spent a couple hours yesterday and pretty much all evening Saturday in the lab and am feeling a lot better about the limb and especially the bones. I started out knowing bones really well so that's always my confidence point, and since we get to pick which question we start on for the practical I like to start with a bone.
Actually, I just ran a grade calculator and if I get an 88 on everything left I'll (barely) keep my A. I think I've done better than that on all my previous anatomy stuff. This might actually be doable...I can't slow down, though, this is anatomy and it's a lot of information. I feel better about it now though.
I did a good amount of non-anatomy over the weekend, too. Saturday morning I went to a raptor workday and did my second ever blood draw--on Sydney, the turkey vulture. She has big veins, and I volunteered first. :) My draw wasn't actually very good--I only managed it with the clinician's help, and I took too long so the blood clotted in the tube. BUT I got blood, so I'm 2 for 2. After that we played Pathfinder, but it seemed really short, especially since we stopped in a place that wasn't really a stopping point in the story (we were chasing the Monk down a hall). It was still fun, but sometimes I really miss my previous DM.
Oh, speaking of tabletop games...there's a kickstarter for basically a Monster Manual of bacteria and antibiotics. It ends today so I doubt anyone will be able to donate from seeing it, but here's the link https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nerdcoremedical/the-bacterionomicon
I backed it and will be getting the hardcover when it comes out. My study buddy and I are trying to convince her boyfriend (who DMs for a party online through Roll20) to DM a game for us using it.
On Sunday I helped out with Spay Day. There was an adorable dilute calico kitten (dilute calicos and tortiseshells are among my favorites) that I wanted to take home. It was a shelter cat, too. Unfortunately, my roommate says I can't have a cat, so that's not happening for another year at least, so I don't get that kitten. I worked prep again this time. There was one cat who looked like she might have had a spay scar, so we were going to run a blood test to check if she'd been spayed (it checks for...lutenizing hormone, IIRC. Some hormone from the ovaries). The test would take 30 minutes (including getting plasma/serum), so we just let the surgeon open her up rather than have her under anasthesia so long. I had heard of the test last time, but this is the first time I heard the details and one of my classmates was hearing it for the first time, so I thought maybe my readers would find it interesting.
Last week I also finally got my car fixed. It was actually minimal trouble--I dropped it off in the morning, got my friend to drive me to school, and we went to pick it up after just a little extra time in anatomy lab. It was a little anxiety-inducing at the end, since apparently they needed my permission to do one part replacement and I missed the call asking for said permission since I was in bacteriology lab and wearing gloves that it took some time to get out of. Luckily they were able to replace it and get me my car back right around closing. And then I got a snowball--it's definitely heading towards summertime, 'cause the snowball stands are opening up. If you're not a Louisianian, you probably don't understand the wonders of snowball. It's like a snow cone, but bigger--in an actual styrofoam cup (or Chinese takeout box, if you're at Plum Street), not a little cone. And there are cream flavors, which are my favorites (they're sweet, with condensed milk mixed into the syrup), and you can get toppings like condensed milk on top. Snowballs are an important part of my summers.
I also did something with Josh Project (for once)--I went to deliver the kits (stuffed dog + book) to children in the hospital, along with a couple of service dogs. We didn't spend much time at all with the kids, and a lot of time standing in hallways because the dogs went first and we came in when they left. It was pretty nice, though--I'm going again on April 22, right after spring break. I was really impressed with the hospital worker and how he talked to the kids.
Other than that, last week was mainly just classes. I got lunch from a club/presentation every single day. I learned about class IV laser therapy, anemia, and some surgery cases. I also sat through a webinar about how to pay off debt that pretty much only applied to federal loans, which mine aren't. At least they gave me pizza.
Well, wish me luck on anatomy...however it turns out, it will all be over soon.
After Wednesday, I will be DONE with anatomy! School will be so much easier then...I won't even have any afternoon classes until after spring break. I am stressing pretty hardcore about this (even as I type this instead of studying)--since I actually did really well on the last exam, I have a chance of keeping an A in this class, so I really want to. Plus it seems like there's a lot more stuff I don't know at this point for this exam. I spent a couple hours yesterday and pretty much all evening Saturday in the lab and am feeling a lot better about the limb and especially the bones. I started out knowing bones really well so that's always my confidence point, and since we get to pick which question we start on for the practical I like to start with a bone.
Actually, I just ran a grade calculator and if I get an 88 on everything left I'll (barely) keep my A. I think I've done better than that on all my previous anatomy stuff. This might actually be doable...I can't slow down, though, this is anatomy and it's a lot of information. I feel better about it now though.
I did a good amount of non-anatomy over the weekend, too. Saturday morning I went to a raptor workday and did my second ever blood draw--on Sydney, the turkey vulture. She has big veins, and I volunteered first. :) My draw wasn't actually very good--I only managed it with the clinician's help, and I took too long so the blood clotted in the tube. BUT I got blood, so I'm 2 for 2. After that we played Pathfinder, but it seemed really short, especially since we stopped in a place that wasn't really a stopping point in the story (we were chasing the Monk down a hall). It was still fun, but sometimes I really miss my previous DM.
Oh, speaking of tabletop games...there's a kickstarter for basically a Monster Manual of bacteria and antibiotics. It ends today so I doubt anyone will be able to donate from seeing it, but here's the link https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nerdcoremedical/the-bacterionomicon
I backed it and will be getting the hardcover when it comes out. My study buddy and I are trying to convince her boyfriend (who DMs for a party online through Roll20) to DM a game for us using it.
On Sunday I helped out with Spay Day. There was an adorable dilute calico kitten (dilute calicos and tortiseshells are among my favorites) that I wanted to take home. It was a shelter cat, too. Unfortunately, my roommate says I can't have a cat, so that's not happening for another year at least, so I don't get that kitten. I worked prep again this time. There was one cat who looked like she might have had a spay scar, so we were going to run a blood test to check if she'd been spayed (it checks for...lutenizing hormone, IIRC. Some hormone from the ovaries). The test would take 30 minutes (including getting plasma/serum), so we just let the surgeon open her up rather than have her under anasthesia so long. I had heard of the test last time, but this is the first time I heard the details and one of my classmates was hearing it for the first time, so I thought maybe my readers would find it interesting.
Last week I also finally got my car fixed. It was actually minimal trouble--I dropped it off in the morning, got my friend to drive me to school, and we went to pick it up after just a little extra time in anatomy lab. It was a little anxiety-inducing at the end, since apparently they needed my permission to do one part replacement and I missed the call asking for said permission since I was in bacteriology lab and wearing gloves that it took some time to get out of. Luckily they were able to replace it and get me my car back right around closing. And then I got a snowball--it's definitely heading towards summertime, 'cause the snowball stands are opening up. If you're not a Louisianian, you probably don't understand the wonders of snowball. It's like a snow cone, but bigger--in an actual styrofoam cup (or Chinese takeout box, if you're at Plum Street), not a little cone. And there are cream flavors, which are my favorites (they're sweet, with condensed milk mixed into the syrup), and you can get toppings like condensed milk on top. Snowballs are an important part of my summers.
I also did something with Josh Project (for once)--I went to deliver the kits (stuffed dog + book) to children in the hospital, along with a couple of service dogs. We didn't spend much time at all with the kids, and a lot of time standing in hallways because the dogs went first and we came in when they left. It was pretty nice, though--I'm going again on April 22, right after spring break. I was really impressed with the hospital worker and how he talked to the kids.
Other than that, last week was mainly just classes. I got lunch from a club/presentation every single day. I learned about class IV laser therapy, anemia, and some surgery cases. I also sat through a webinar about how to pay off debt that pretty much only applied to federal loans, which mine aren't. At least they gave me pizza.
Well, wish me luck on anatomy...however it turns out, it will all be over soon.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Symposium, etc.
Hi there; Birdie here!
So, what happened last week before symposium? Not too much. I went to the Happy's run on Tuesday, after which there was an extended happy hour special for us vet students. 3 of my Pathfinder group members showed up, too, and I would have loved to stay...but unfortunately since I was leaving Thursday and knew I would be too busy to study over the weekend, I had to go home and study. I also had a bird to feed last week; I had to switch with the undergrad student who was feeding earlier since I was scheduled to feed over the weekend when I was at symposium. So instead, my shift was now Monday through Thursday. My bird this time was Lucy, a Mississippi kite, which is a really pretty blue-gray bird. She was really good, too--very nervous, but she fisted well for me every time. One morning I even had to walk across the room with her on my arm to put her in a travel cage so I could clean her cage, and she was not as bad as I feared. I hope I get to feed her more (and more than Sydney who tried to attack me!).
Symposium itself was pretty good. I'm pretty sure I want to go again next year, although I'll definitely try to register earlier so I can 1) be in the same hotel it's in and 2) get actually wet wetlabs. The only wetlab I got this time was a client communication one that was basically just two lectures that I had to travel to CSU's campus for. It turned out pretty well, though--the vet who gave one of those talks also gave a talk on the last day, and I went up and talked to him afterwards. Gave him my card, said thanks for doing communication stuff, told him how my thesis was on that, and he offered to introduce me to Dr. Shaw, who does a lot of research in this area. Which reminds me, I still need to email him...
Besides that wetlab, I went to a bunch of lectures: business-type things, secure hemostasis, virology, Parvo research... all sorts of stuff. And the nights were for social activities. The first night I intended to get there in time for the opening ceremony, but the shuttle from the airport started later and took longer than I expected. According to my classmates who did go, I didn't miss much. Then there was a bar crawl thing--we each got a "passport to Fort Collins" detailing certain deals that some places downtown had for us as well as a $15 gift card good for most places downtown. First place I went (with a couple of fellow LSU-ers and another SAVMA delegate the two of them knew) was a bar called the Drunken Monkey, which had swings instead of bar stools! It was cool, especially since we went there at like 7 and it wasn't crowded. Then we went to get food, and that was very much no longer the case. The first place we went for a burger deal, there were so many people that we tried somewhere else. Which turned out to be a poor choice; it was just about as crowded AND apparently the workers didn't know there was going to be this symposium. It was CSU's spring break, and they were short-staffed, which was VERY short-staffed with how many people we were (symposium had ~1600 attendees, though I'm not sure how many attended that event). Also, it was an Irish pub, so I was really disappointed when my "What kind of cider do you have?" was answered with "Woodchuck." That's it. In actual Ireland, they had at least 3 varieties of cider that weren't even apple (I got a blackcurrant one for my 21st birthday). We had to wait an hour for food, and eventually it was so crowded and I was so uncomfortable that I just left, leaving my gift card on the table to cover my stuff. I only drank like 3 sips of my Woodchuck, too (not a fan). I wish we'd gone to the Melting Pot for the $15 chocolate, cheese, and drink special instead... I wound up leaving at 9 and just went to bed.
That was Thursday. Friday night was much better. There was a casino night at some theater place. I learned how to play craps, and won 16 imaginary dollars. They gave us each $500 to gamble with so that we didn't have to use our own money. Craps was really fun! Our dealer introduced himself as Bruce, but his nametag said DJ Bruce so we called him DJ all night. He was a lot of fun, teaching us how to play the game and joking with us. I gave him a high five when we cashed out. Saturday night was the closing ceremony, which had really nice food (although I didn't eat much because the beef was really rare for me). Some people went out afterwards, but I wasn't feeling it, especially since I had to wake up for a 6:40 shuttle to the airport.
Oh, btw, I got an email: I didn't get the summer NASA program. I'm pretty much okay with that, though. It was my least favorite since I'd have to find housing in Houston. Plus it has set start and end dates, and now I get to pick my start dates, which means I get to go to Hawaii with my family at the beginning of summer!
So I finally got my car fixed yesterday. The maintainance light was on, so I got an oil change and my tires rotated, and I finally got my cracked windshield replaced. And it didn't lose me my 2-year brake tag that I just got last summer! This week so far I've been studying anatomy really hard, but I really need to work on bacteriology since we have our first exam Friday. We also started Pathology this week. I really liked the first lecture, but today I was having trouble paying attention. How much repetition there was from yesterday didn't really help. I still need to watch a bacteriology lecture and an anatomy lecture that I missed for symposium. Oh, and today I'm finally doing something for Josh Project (despite being a committee member...)--today I'm going to Our Lady of the Lake Hospital to deliver some kits!
By the way, my Pathfinder group did play without me. Apparently it was like a sidequest, and the DM has an idea for what my character was doing during it. I'm still looking forward to this weekend! I might also be doing a scout's day with VOICE (diversity club) on Saturday and Spay Day on Sunday, but since it's the weekend before our anatomy final (Final EVER!) I haven't decided yet.
So, what happened last week before symposium? Not too much. I went to the Happy's run on Tuesday, after which there was an extended happy hour special for us vet students. 3 of my Pathfinder group members showed up, too, and I would have loved to stay...but unfortunately since I was leaving Thursday and knew I would be too busy to study over the weekend, I had to go home and study. I also had a bird to feed last week; I had to switch with the undergrad student who was feeding earlier since I was scheduled to feed over the weekend when I was at symposium. So instead, my shift was now Monday through Thursday. My bird this time was Lucy, a Mississippi kite, which is a really pretty blue-gray bird. She was really good, too--very nervous, but she fisted well for me every time. One morning I even had to walk across the room with her on my arm to put her in a travel cage so I could clean her cage, and she was not as bad as I feared. I hope I get to feed her more (and more than Sydney who tried to attack me!).
Symposium itself was pretty good. I'm pretty sure I want to go again next year, although I'll definitely try to register earlier so I can 1) be in the same hotel it's in and 2) get actually wet wetlabs. The only wetlab I got this time was a client communication one that was basically just two lectures that I had to travel to CSU's campus for. It turned out pretty well, though--the vet who gave one of those talks also gave a talk on the last day, and I went up and talked to him afterwards. Gave him my card, said thanks for doing communication stuff, told him how my thesis was on that, and he offered to introduce me to Dr. Shaw, who does a lot of research in this area. Which reminds me, I still need to email him...
Besides that wetlab, I went to a bunch of lectures: business-type things, secure hemostasis, virology, Parvo research... all sorts of stuff. And the nights were for social activities. The first night I intended to get there in time for the opening ceremony, but the shuttle from the airport started later and took longer than I expected. According to my classmates who did go, I didn't miss much. Then there was a bar crawl thing--we each got a "passport to Fort Collins" detailing certain deals that some places downtown had for us as well as a $15 gift card good for most places downtown. First place I went (with a couple of fellow LSU-ers and another SAVMA delegate the two of them knew) was a bar called the Drunken Monkey, which had swings instead of bar stools! It was cool, especially since we went there at like 7 and it wasn't crowded. Then we went to get food, and that was very much no longer the case. The first place we went for a burger deal, there were so many people that we tried somewhere else. Which turned out to be a poor choice; it was just about as crowded AND apparently the workers didn't know there was going to be this symposium. It was CSU's spring break, and they were short-staffed, which was VERY short-staffed with how many people we were (symposium had ~1600 attendees, though I'm not sure how many attended that event). Also, it was an Irish pub, so I was really disappointed when my "What kind of cider do you have?" was answered with "Woodchuck." That's it. In actual Ireland, they had at least 3 varieties of cider that weren't even apple (I got a blackcurrant one for my 21st birthday). We had to wait an hour for food, and eventually it was so crowded and I was so uncomfortable that I just left, leaving my gift card on the table to cover my stuff. I only drank like 3 sips of my Woodchuck, too (not a fan). I wish we'd gone to the Melting Pot for the $15 chocolate, cheese, and drink special instead... I wound up leaving at 9 and just went to bed.
That was Thursday. Friday night was much better. There was a casino night at some theater place. I learned how to play craps, and won 16 imaginary dollars. They gave us each $500 to gamble with so that we didn't have to use our own money. Craps was really fun! Our dealer introduced himself as Bruce, but his nametag said DJ Bruce so we called him DJ all night. He was a lot of fun, teaching us how to play the game and joking with us. I gave him a high five when we cashed out. Saturday night was the closing ceremony, which had really nice food (although I didn't eat much because the beef was really rare for me). Some people went out afterwards, but I wasn't feeling it, especially since I had to wake up for a 6:40 shuttle to the airport.
Oh, btw, I got an email: I didn't get the summer NASA program. I'm pretty much okay with that, though. It was my least favorite since I'd have to find housing in Houston. Plus it has set start and end dates, and now I get to pick my start dates, which means I get to go to Hawaii with my family at the beginning of summer!
So I finally got my car fixed yesterday. The maintainance light was on, so I got an oil change and my tires rotated, and I finally got my cracked windshield replaced. And it didn't lose me my 2-year brake tag that I just got last summer! This week so far I've been studying anatomy really hard, but I really need to work on bacteriology since we have our first exam Friday. We also started Pathology this week. I really liked the first lecture, but today I was having trouble paying attention. How much repetition there was from yesterday didn't really help. I still need to watch a bacteriology lecture and an anatomy lecture that I missed for symposium. Oh, and today I'm finally doing something for Josh Project (despite being a committee member...)--today I'm going to Our Lady of the Lake Hospital to deliver some kits!
By the way, my Pathfinder group did play without me. Apparently it was like a sidequest, and the DM has an idea for what my character was doing during it. I'm still looking forward to this weekend! I might also be doing a scout's day with VOICE (diversity club) on Saturday and Spay Day on Sunday, but since it's the weekend before our anatomy final (Final EVER!) I haven't decided yet.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Time flies when you're studying like crazy
Hi there; Birdie here!
Once again it's Monday and time for me to blog about last week. Neuro test worked out great, and I made a good grade in diagnostic imaging, too. Next up is our physiology final, focusing on renal phys. I studied a bunch over the weekend but I'm still not sure I'm ready...luckily I still have today to work on it. I had a little more relaxed weekend than the last one and managed to go for a run Sunday morning and watch several episodes of How I Met Your Mother besides my study time. Pathfinder this week was kind of awkward, for in-character reasons...I don't really want to go into it. I'm definitely looking forward to next session, though, and I hope they don't have it without me.
See, this weekend is when I'm going back to Colorado, this time to Fort Collins for SAVMA symposium. I still haven't figured out my shuttle from the airport to the hotel, so I'm planning on doing that this afternoon (or maybe this morning since we don't have class until 10). Luckily it looks like there's a discount code for SAVMA...I'm still annoyed that they didn't do anything to help me out when I'd been led to believe they had a shuttle included with my room rate and it turned out they "never had a shuttle." Symposium should be pretty cool, even if I only get to do one wetlab and afaik it doesn't actually involve live animals or procedures (it's a communication thing). Apparently there's a semi-formal one night so I need to bring a dress...luckily I've got the one I want to bring here in BR with me. A bunch of my classmates are actually leaving for it much earlier than I am...from what I saw, there's an opening reception at 5:30 on Thursday so that's when I tried to be there. I know some people are delegates and have to be there Wednesday for a meeting, but apparently there's also some stuff earlier on Thursday and maybe even before that. I've decided I'm okay with missing that though...if I love symposium and am going to go next year, maybe I can try to go earlier. For now though I'm pretty happy to not be missing any bacteriology lab time (if my calculations are correct). I'll definitely be blogging about the symposium once I've experienced it!
Unfortunately I won't be able to drop off my car at the dealership near the airport like I was planning since I'm getting in on Sunday and they're closed so I couldn't pick it up then. The "maintenance required" light is on, and I was planning to finally get the windshield replaced too (since it still has the crack from when I was driving back from Covington). Since I can't do it then I don't know when I will be able to...
Saturday morning before Pathfinder I also got to do a wetlab. It was with AAHA, and let us practice small animal endoscopy. I've seen a bunch of endoscopy on horses, but now I've actually done one on a dog! They also had a couple of models for us to practice on (which my group did before the live dog): a plastic tubing "colonoscopy" with an apple half in the "ileum" to practice taking biopsies, and a plush tiger with a jar of tootsie rolls in it's "stomach" for foreign body extraction. A couple of the guys in my group wanted to unwrap one of the tootsie rolls with endoscopes, but as far as I know they never did. It was really cool to do the actual dog: I saw its larynx, esophageal mucosa, stomach with rugal folds, pyloric antrum, and even the duodenum! I personally didn't get a good view of the duodenal papilla, but other people did. Getting through the pylorus I was pretty much blind, but the clinician helping me said to keep going so I did and eventually I made it through! And other than that part I pretty much did it myself. That was a lot of fun!
Last week we also had our first path wetlab. There were a few cases: a couple of dogs, couple of cats, and a sample from a snake's mouth! I learned about pyogranulomatous inflammation, which then became relevant to our next bacteriology/mycology class, and I learned that cat eosinophils have rod-shaped granules that look like bacteria. I love doing the clin path wetlabs--since I'm a first year and don't know approximately anything, I feel pretty free to ask questions, so I learn a lot. Unfortunately the rest of our diagnostic imaging club wetlabs (including the abdominal one we were supposed to have Friday) got cancelled due to the lack of participation at the first one. I guess people prefer to come to wetlabs involving actual animals...
Also, I think I mentioned the live Night Vale show in my last post? That was great. I got to have dinner with my sister beforehand, and then went to the show. As I was walking in, there was a guy in a "All Hail the Glow Cloud" shirt (it's a reference), which made me sure I was in the right place even as other people talked about coming for some band (I think they were the weather--by which I mean part of the Night Vale show--but it confused me at first). I wound up walking out right behind him and the girl he was with, too--just a random coincidence, but it was something I noticed. There were a few cosplayers: I think I saw 2 Carloses and one Cecil. Cecil himself in the show (who, btw, was not dressed up as the character Cecil) had a lot of fun with us. When he was reading horoscopes, people would scream for their signs and he basically picked a person to talk directly to for each one (I was not the chosen Cancer). Even as he read his script he was still reacting to the audience (the way he said "There's nothing there!" when someone in the audience screamed--I'm sure it was part of the script but the way he said it sounded like a response). Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I've got the poster on my wall now.
Once again it's Monday and time for me to blog about last week. Neuro test worked out great, and I made a good grade in diagnostic imaging, too. Next up is our physiology final, focusing on renal phys. I studied a bunch over the weekend but I'm still not sure I'm ready...luckily I still have today to work on it. I had a little more relaxed weekend than the last one and managed to go for a run Sunday morning and watch several episodes of How I Met Your Mother besides my study time. Pathfinder this week was kind of awkward, for in-character reasons...I don't really want to go into it. I'm definitely looking forward to next session, though, and I hope they don't have it without me.
See, this weekend is when I'm going back to Colorado, this time to Fort Collins for SAVMA symposium. I still haven't figured out my shuttle from the airport to the hotel, so I'm planning on doing that this afternoon (or maybe this morning since we don't have class until 10). Luckily it looks like there's a discount code for SAVMA...I'm still annoyed that they didn't do anything to help me out when I'd been led to believe they had a shuttle included with my room rate and it turned out they "never had a shuttle." Symposium should be pretty cool, even if I only get to do one wetlab and afaik it doesn't actually involve live animals or procedures (it's a communication thing). Apparently there's a semi-formal one night so I need to bring a dress...luckily I've got the one I want to bring here in BR with me. A bunch of my classmates are actually leaving for it much earlier than I am...from what I saw, there's an opening reception at 5:30 on Thursday so that's when I tried to be there. I know some people are delegates and have to be there Wednesday for a meeting, but apparently there's also some stuff earlier on Thursday and maybe even before that. I've decided I'm okay with missing that though...if I love symposium and am going to go next year, maybe I can try to go earlier. For now though I'm pretty happy to not be missing any bacteriology lab time (if my calculations are correct). I'll definitely be blogging about the symposium once I've experienced it!
Unfortunately I won't be able to drop off my car at the dealership near the airport like I was planning since I'm getting in on Sunday and they're closed so I couldn't pick it up then. The "maintenance required" light is on, and I was planning to finally get the windshield replaced too (since it still has the crack from when I was driving back from Covington). Since I can't do it then I don't know when I will be able to...
Saturday morning before Pathfinder I also got to do a wetlab. It was with AAHA, and let us practice small animal endoscopy. I've seen a bunch of endoscopy on horses, but now I've actually done one on a dog! They also had a couple of models for us to practice on (which my group did before the live dog): a plastic tubing "colonoscopy" with an apple half in the "ileum" to practice taking biopsies, and a plush tiger with a jar of tootsie rolls in it's "stomach" for foreign body extraction. A couple of the guys in my group wanted to unwrap one of the tootsie rolls with endoscopes, but as far as I know they never did. It was really cool to do the actual dog: I saw its larynx, esophageal mucosa, stomach with rugal folds, pyloric antrum, and even the duodenum! I personally didn't get a good view of the duodenal papilla, but other people did. Getting through the pylorus I was pretty much blind, but the clinician helping me said to keep going so I did and eventually I made it through! And other than that part I pretty much did it myself. That was a lot of fun!
Last week we also had our first path wetlab. There were a few cases: a couple of dogs, couple of cats, and a sample from a snake's mouth! I learned about pyogranulomatous inflammation, which then became relevant to our next bacteriology/mycology class, and I learned that cat eosinophils have rod-shaped granules that look like bacteria. I love doing the clin path wetlabs--since I'm a first year and don't know approximately anything, I feel pretty free to ask questions, so I learn a lot. Unfortunately the rest of our diagnostic imaging club wetlabs (including the abdominal one we were supposed to have Friday) got cancelled due to the lack of participation at the first one. I guess people prefer to come to wetlabs involving actual animals...
Also, I think I mentioned the live Night Vale show in my last post? That was great. I got to have dinner with my sister beforehand, and then went to the show. As I was walking in, there was a guy in a "All Hail the Glow Cloud" shirt (it's a reference), which made me sure I was in the right place even as other people talked about coming for some band (I think they were the weather--by which I mean part of the Night Vale show--but it confused me at first). I wound up walking out right behind him and the girl he was with, too--just a random coincidence, but it was something I noticed. There were a few cosplayers: I think I saw 2 Carloses and one Cecil. Cecil himself in the show (who, btw, was not dressed up as the character Cecil) had a lot of fun with us. When he was reading horoscopes, people would scream for their signs and he basically picked a person to talk directly to for each one (I was not the chosen Cancer). Even as he read his script he was still reacting to the audience (the way he said "There's nothing there!" when someone in the audience screamed--I'm sure it was part of the script but the way he said it sounded like a response). Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I've got the poster on my wall now.
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.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Happy Thanksgiving?
I'm off at noon and my Thanksgiving break will start...for a given definition of break. When we get back there are only two weeks left, with two tests each week, and the first is Tuesday. I haven't really been keeping up with my studying...probably "all month" would be accurate. I've still been doing enough that I'm happy with my grades. The only things I'm not thrilled with are my diagnostic imaging test (which I knew I didn't know as well as I wanted to, but I kept my A in the class and I have other things to worry about right now) and my anatomy exam (which, considering that it was "the one everyone fails" and was right after break, I am pretty happy even though it's objectively lower than I usually get). I actually rocked that physio exam--well, our teacher did basically say that educated guesses based on our physiological knowledge was what he wanted!
I'm hoping our next anatomy exam won't be too bad. It's got about two (what I consider) sections less than I thought it would be, so that's nice. But I still need to learn all the little processes and foramina of the skull in addition to the actual head dissection. With the cut down information, I think it should be pretty easy to finish the dissection and have plenty of time to review. Our next exam is histology, and then at the end of the week embryology. I've typed about half the notes for embryology (more than half of the notes we've covered), but I'm going to have to do some more of that over break.
I've been feeding an owl again this week, for the last time this semester. I've got Squirt this week, my friend's favorite. He's a screech owl, and he has really bad arthritis so he is on a painkiller twice a day, which is my responsibility since I'm in charge of him this week. He is really cute. We were worried about him for a while that he's very old and wasn't doing well for a while. I'm glad I got a chance to work with him, whether or not he'll still be here next semester. Actually, I might do day birds instead of owls next semester. That's a decision for later though.
The Doctor Who special was AMAZING. If you're a fan you've probably seen it already, but I just want to say I was thrilled with it. It turned out the 3D showing wasn't until Monday, so I went to On the Border (a Mexican restaurant) with the Baton Rouge viewing group to watch it live with them, which was great. It was totally worth seeing it in the theater, too, even though I'd already seen it. Especially since the 3D had a special introduction, and some behind the scenes stuff at the end. Also, I'd never thought of it before, but 3D is really future, isn't it? I'm so glad that both times I saw it, it was with a roomful of Whovians. Watching great shows with other people is one of the things I miss most about undergrad.
Yes, I'm still working on my novel. I managed to be on target for two whole days, a record for this year, but I don't think I've written on a single Monday this month. I did one more write-in last night--probably my last one this year--and did my ~1667 words in an hour and a half. Might have been something to do with the lack of internet in the coffeeshop, heh.
I'm hoping our next anatomy exam won't be too bad. It's got about two (what I consider) sections less than I thought it would be, so that's nice. But I still need to learn all the little processes and foramina of the skull in addition to the actual head dissection. With the cut down information, I think it should be pretty easy to finish the dissection and have plenty of time to review. Our next exam is histology, and then at the end of the week embryology. I've typed about half the notes for embryology (more than half of the notes we've covered), but I'm going to have to do some more of that over break.
I've been feeding an owl again this week, for the last time this semester. I've got Squirt this week, my friend's favorite. He's a screech owl, and he has really bad arthritis so he is on a painkiller twice a day, which is my responsibility since I'm in charge of him this week. He is really cute. We were worried about him for a while that he's very old and wasn't doing well for a while. I'm glad I got a chance to work with him, whether or not he'll still be here next semester. Actually, I might do day birds instead of owls next semester. That's a decision for later though.
The Doctor Who special was AMAZING. If you're a fan you've probably seen it already, but I just want to say I was thrilled with it. It turned out the 3D showing wasn't until Monday, so I went to On the Border (a Mexican restaurant) with the Baton Rouge viewing group to watch it live with them, which was great. It was totally worth seeing it in the theater, too, even though I'd already seen it. Especially since the 3D had a special introduction, and some behind the scenes stuff at the end. Also, I'd never thought of it before, but 3D is really future, isn't it? I'm so glad that both times I saw it, it was with a roomful of Whovians. Watching great shows with other people is one of the things I miss most about undergrad.
Yes, I'm still working on my novel. I managed to be on target for two whole days, a record for this year, but I don't think I've written on a single Monday this month. I did one more write-in last night--probably my last one this year--and did my ~1667 words in an hour and a half. Might have been something to do with the lack of internet in the coffeeshop, heh.
Friday, November 1, 2013
This is probably a bad idea
Hi there; Birdie here!
If you're wondering what the title is about, it's NaNoWriMo. If you don't know what that is...well, you can google it, but I'll give you the short version. It's a Thing on the Internet in which people all over the world try to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Considering I'm also in vet school, you can see why this could be a very bad idea. But I'm going to do it anyway. I won every year in undergrad and I have an idea I really want to write, so I'm trying to keep it up. Still haven't started a single word for today, the day it starts, of course...
I helped sell a few bandanas for Josh Project at the picnic last Friday. One woman who came to look at our stuff was wearing a class ring from my high school, so we chatted a bit. Our class also had a Halloween party on Friday. I wasn't going to go, but at the last minute I threw together a costume (Time Traveler: frilly shirt from a convention outfit with skinny jeans and boots, accessorized with a bulky pair of steampunk-style goggles and a space-patterned ribbon tied in a big bow around my neck). Everyone's costumes reminded me of conventions quite a lot, actually--we had people dressed as the girl from Archer, Miley Cyrus from Wrecking Ball, a pirate, and quite a few superheroes (plus one Clark Kent).
Sunday was my second Spay Day, and the last one of the semester. I was in recovery this time. We basically had a line of cats we were watching, turning over every once in a while, and putting back in their carriers when they woke up. Part of the recovery station also dealt with tattooing and ear notching, but I didn't do that part. We had a lot fewer volunteers than last time; only about 30 people signed up. We still managed to spay and neuter something like 155 cats, though! With that and the mandatory SCAVMA meeting on Tuesday, I have all the SCAVMA points I need for the whole year! I'm actually considering getting more involved in SCAVMA. I'm not a fan of the AVMA and how they don't seem to be addressing our overcapacity and rising debt concerns, but maybe I could help fix that from the inside. Eh, probably not...it's just an idea.
I did wind up with a leadership position in a club anyway, though: historian for diagnostic imaging club. We had elections at the meeting today, and people were nominated for president, VP, etc. but no one stepped up for historian. One of the current officers said "she wants to do it," gesturing sort of at me, so I said "sure, I'll do it." It means I'm in charge of taking pictures at wetlabs and organizing our display in the hallway--not too bad, and probably kind of fun! The meeting today was pretty awesome, actually. We played diagnostic imaging jeopardy. I think I was the only first year on my team, but I managed to get a couple of the questions right for my team, starting with the very first one! Luckily "basics" (aka everything we just covered for our exam) was one of the categories. The final jeopardy question was an anatomy one: name the indicated structure (trochanteric fossa of the femur) and three muscles that attach there. We were freaking out on time, so we only got two of the three, but I feel good that I personally steered us away from a totally wrong answer and got one of the right muscles. It was very close--314 to 310--but my team won! I really like DIC--if I'm going to have a position in a club, I'm pretty happy with it being that one. Diagnostic imaging has always been one of the things I'm really excited about learning in vet school. I'm actually going to an abdominal ultrasound wetlab with them on Sunday, so that should be good.
I'm also feeding a bird again this week. I have BAMF again. Even though I'm more confident that I know how to fist them, I still haven't successfully got him. He keeps flying away every time I try. My friend, who has Professor this week, tried fisting BAMF and got him for a few seconds at least, which is more than I did. But I feel a little better because I was able to fist Professor 3 times when she was having trouble with him.
I have two tests next week: physiology on Monday and histology Tuesday. I'm more worried about physio, mostly just that I won't have the time I need to sit with it in order to memorize all the pressures and formulas for the exam. It's cardiovascular physiology right now. I'm surprised how useful my physics II class is for this. I really didn't see how all that electrical stuff would be relevant in vet school, but blood flow is basically a circuit. One of the things we have to know is a form of Ohm's Law, and another is basically resistance when vessels are in series or in parallel. So if you're a pre-vet in physics wondering why you have to take this stupid class...it actually is helpful in your vet school classes for you to know.
What I'm even more worried about is anatomy. This is the first time that we have just literally not had enough time for anatomy lab. Suddenly we have a ton of lectures, and we're also covering probably 2-4 times as much information as either of the previous exams. This is the blood vessels and nerves exam--for pelvic limb, thoracic limb, thorax, abdomen, and probably pelvis--PLUS all the internal organs. It doesn't help at all that the exam is happening right after fall break. I was planning to go home for the two days off AND the weekend, but now I'm thinking I might need to spend both days of the weekend back here so that my partner and I can finish the dissection--I really need at least that one day before the exam to review! Luckily my partner is an out-of-stater and will be here over the break to work with me. So trying to learn all the information for that is going to be a problem, but it's one I can't worry about until after these two exams coming up.
Which I'm now going to ignore for a while longer to try and get some novelling done. Like I said, probably a bad idea.
If you're wondering what the title is about, it's NaNoWriMo. If you don't know what that is...well, you can google it, but I'll give you the short version. It's a Thing on the Internet in which people all over the world try to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Considering I'm also in vet school, you can see why this could be a very bad idea. But I'm going to do it anyway. I won every year in undergrad and I have an idea I really want to write, so I'm trying to keep it up. Still haven't started a single word for today, the day it starts, of course...
I helped sell a few bandanas for Josh Project at the picnic last Friday. One woman who came to look at our stuff was wearing a class ring from my high school, so we chatted a bit. Our class also had a Halloween party on Friday. I wasn't going to go, but at the last minute I threw together a costume (Time Traveler: frilly shirt from a convention outfit with skinny jeans and boots, accessorized with a bulky pair of steampunk-style goggles and a space-patterned ribbon tied in a big bow around my neck). Everyone's costumes reminded me of conventions quite a lot, actually--we had people dressed as the girl from Archer, Miley Cyrus from Wrecking Ball, a pirate, and quite a few superheroes (plus one Clark Kent).
Sunday was my second Spay Day, and the last one of the semester. I was in recovery this time. We basically had a line of cats we were watching, turning over every once in a while, and putting back in their carriers when they woke up. Part of the recovery station also dealt with tattooing and ear notching, but I didn't do that part. We had a lot fewer volunteers than last time; only about 30 people signed up. We still managed to spay and neuter something like 155 cats, though! With that and the mandatory SCAVMA meeting on Tuesday, I have all the SCAVMA points I need for the whole year! I'm actually considering getting more involved in SCAVMA. I'm not a fan of the AVMA and how they don't seem to be addressing our overcapacity and rising debt concerns, but maybe I could help fix that from the inside. Eh, probably not...it's just an idea.
I did wind up with a leadership position in a club anyway, though: historian for diagnostic imaging club. We had elections at the meeting today, and people were nominated for president, VP, etc. but no one stepped up for historian. One of the current officers said "she wants to do it," gesturing sort of at me, so I said "sure, I'll do it." It means I'm in charge of taking pictures at wetlabs and organizing our display in the hallway--not too bad, and probably kind of fun! The meeting today was pretty awesome, actually. We played diagnostic imaging jeopardy. I think I was the only first year on my team, but I managed to get a couple of the questions right for my team, starting with the very first one! Luckily "basics" (aka everything we just covered for our exam) was one of the categories. The final jeopardy question was an anatomy one: name the indicated structure (trochanteric fossa of the femur) and three muscles that attach there. We were freaking out on time, so we only got two of the three, but I feel good that I personally steered us away from a totally wrong answer and got one of the right muscles. It was very close--314 to 310--but my team won! I really like DIC--if I'm going to have a position in a club, I'm pretty happy with it being that one. Diagnostic imaging has always been one of the things I'm really excited about learning in vet school. I'm actually going to an abdominal ultrasound wetlab with them on Sunday, so that should be good.
I'm also feeding a bird again this week. I have BAMF again. Even though I'm more confident that I know how to fist them, I still haven't successfully got him. He keeps flying away every time I try. My friend, who has Professor this week, tried fisting BAMF and got him for a few seconds at least, which is more than I did. But I feel a little better because I was able to fist Professor 3 times when she was having trouble with him.
I have two tests next week: physiology on Monday and histology Tuesday. I'm more worried about physio, mostly just that I won't have the time I need to sit with it in order to memorize all the pressures and formulas for the exam. It's cardiovascular physiology right now. I'm surprised how useful my physics II class is for this. I really didn't see how all that electrical stuff would be relevant in vet school, but blood flow is basically a circuit. One of the things we have to know is a form of Ohm's Law, and another is basically resistance when vessels are in series or in parallel. So if you're a pre-vet in physics wondering why you have to take this stupid class...it actually is helpful in your vet school classes for you to know.
What I'm even more worried about is anatomy. This is the first time that we have just literally not had enough time for anatomy lab. Suddenly we have a ton of lectures, and we're also covering probably 2-4 times as much information as either of the previous exams. This is the blood vessels and nerves exam--for pelvic limb, thoracic limb, thorax, abdomen, and probably pelvis--PLUS all the internal organs. It doesn't help at all that the exam is happening right after fall break. I was planning to go home for the two days off AND the weekend, but now I'm thinking I might need to spend both days of the weekend back here so that my partner and I can finish the dissection--I really need at least that one day before the exam to review! Luckily my partner is an out-of-stater and will be here over the break to work with me. So trying to learn all the information for that is going to be a problem, but it's one I can't worry about until after these two exams coming up.
Which I'm now going to ignore for a while longer to try and get some novelling done. Like I said, probably a bad idea.
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.
Friday, October 4, 2013
This week I learned...
This week I learned that I'm incredibly boring. A friend from undergrad messaged me, and I had nothing interesting to say to him--and he was just commenting on comics he was reading! I guess that means vet school is officially eating my life...although I did manage to watch 4 episodes of Supernatural yesterday. I went over my therio lectures, too, don't worry!
I still haven't got my laptop back yet, either. I dropped it off at a place in town on Tuesday since the IT people at school couldn't do anything, and they still haven't called me back about it. I hope it's not too expensive, and that I can get it back soon!
So what have I done lately? Not much. Took yet another exam and finished off our cell bio/histo course with an A, so that's good. We're starting histology and developmental biology in its place next week, but today we also started our intro to diagnostic imaging class, which I think I'm going to like a lot. It's not a big course, largely just one hour a week. But I'm really interested in diagnostic imaging, and the course coordinator is awesome. She's also in charge of diagnostic imaging club, and she's really cool. Maybe I should email her about research this summer. I'm also feeding an owl again this week--Professor this time. He's a lot more chill than BAMF, and he lets me fist him--multiple times even, although by the third time yesterday he really didn't want to put his second foot up on my hand.
I did also go to a couple of lunch talks. One was by VCA and was all about how their company is great and you should do an internship, which I'm not sure I trust fully. The last thing I read is that doing an internship means you earn less over your career unless you do a residency and specialize, but the speaker claimed that people who do internships get significantly higher salaries. With an example from her practices, of course. The other talk was with critical care club, about colloidal fluids.
I guess I should write about last weekend, too. Dr. DeBowes was awesome and really inspirational, although I liked the first day much better than the second. If I get a chance to do the VLE program (leadership workshop/retreat sort of thing he created), I'm definitely going to go for it. We walked around with a blindfolded partner and talked about a bunch of topics. I can't even remember them all now...I should have written it up over the weekend, really, but I didn't have a lot of time then and I spent most of it studying. There was a lot of Meyers-Briggs Type stuff on the second day, which I was kind of over. Then on Sunday I volunteered at my school's Spay Day. I was on surgery prep: doing subcutaneous injections of vaccines and antibiotics and clipping and scrubbing surgical sites on anaesthetized cats. I'd never given an injection before, but I gave a ton of them on Sunday! I also learned that penicillin can be really difficult to inject when it's been sitting for a while (we pulled up a bunch in the morning to use throughout the day). I'll probably try to work somewhere different next time, just to change it up.
Luckily, this weekend won't be nearly so busy. I have a test next week, as always (physio again), but I don't have so much school stuff. I'm going to try and get a couple of the books Dr. DeBowes recommended from the library since this will probably be my best chance for a while to read them. Also, my family's coming up to visit tomorrow. We're going to go see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2; I think my little brother is really looking forward to it.
I still haven't got my laptop back yet, either. I dropped it off at a place in town on Tuesday since the IT people at school couldn't do anything, and they still haven't called me back about it. I hope it's not too expensive, and that I can get it back soon!
So what have I done lately? Not much. Took yet another exam and finished off our cell bio/histo course with an A, so that's good. We're starting histology and developmental biology in its place next week, but today we also started our intro to diagnostic imaging class, which I think I'm going to like a lot. It's not a big course, largely just one hour a week. But I'm really interested in diagnostic imaging, and the course coordinator is awesome. She's also in charge of diagnostic imaging club, and she's really cool. Maybe I should email her about research this summer. I'm also feeding an owl again this week--Professor this time. He's a lot more chill than BAMF, and he lets me fist him--multiple times even, although by the third time yesterday he really didn't want to put his second foot up on my hand.
I did also go to a couple of lunch talks. One was by VCA and was all about how their company is great and you should do an internship, which I'm not sure I trust fully. The last thing I read is that doing an internship means you earn less over your career unless you do a residency and specialize, but the speaker claimed that people who do internships get significantly higher salaries. With an example from her practices, of course. The other talk was with critical care club, about colloidal fluids.
I guess I should write about last weekend, too. Dr. DeBowes was awesome and really inspirational, although I liked the first day much better than the second. If I get a chance to do the VLE program (leadership workshop/retreat sort of thing he created), I'm definitely going to go for it. We walked around with a blindfolded partner and talked about a bunch of topics. I can't even remember them all now...I should have written it up over the weekend, really, but I didn't have a lot of time then and I spent most of it studying. There was a lot of Meyers-Briggs Type stuff on the second day, which I was kind of over. Then on Sunday I volunteered at my school's Spay Day. I was on surgery prep: doing subcutaneous injections of vaccines and antibiotics and clipping and scrubbing surgical sites on anaesthetized cats. I'd never given an injection before, but I gave a ton of them on Sunday! I also learned that penicillin can be really difficult to inject when it's been sitting for a while (we pulled up a bunch in the morning to use throughout the day). I'll probably try to work somewhere different next time, just to change it up.
Luckily, this weekend won't be nearly so busy. I have a test next week, as always (physio again), but I don't have so much school stuff. I'm going to try and get a couple of the books Dr. DeBowes recommended from the library since this will probably be my best chance for a while to read them. Also, my family's coming up to visit tomorrow. We're going to go see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2; I think my little brother is really looking forward to it.
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