SCVMA Conference

Wow has it really been almost 3 weeks since my last post?? Time flies when you're super busy!

This past weekend was the Students of the Central Veterinary Medical Association Symposium and OVC got to host it which was great because I didn't have to pay for a plane ticket :) (shout out to our wonderful executive committee who made the weekend go seamlessly despite running on no sleep!)

The first day started with lectures. I chose the following:

- Minimally Invasive Surgery: how laparoscopic surgical techniques are being used in vet medicine to do procedures such as spays, gastropexies and biopsies. The benefits include smaller incisions and therefore faster healing time, as well as less tissue damage. Starting the day with a video of a laparoscopic instrument suctioning bladder stones out of a bladder was awesome!

- Obesity: such a huge problem in pets nowadays, this lecture was sponsored by Royal Canin and taught us how to discuss obesity with owners and let them know that a 9/9 is not a good thig when it comes to a Body Condition Score. We also got free digital gram scales for accurate pet food measurements :)

- Dentistry: for whatever reason, OVC doesn't have many dentistry lectures so I chose this one to get some extra exposure. It's crazy (and some would say disgusting) how mild dental disease can quickly turn ugly. Free gift = pet toothbrushes (which Daisy will be using because yes I brush her teeth)

Free things!!

Then the afternoon consisted of 2 wet labs, I did basic surgery skills and emergency procedures and got to practice things that I had never done before and probably won't get a chance to for who knows how long! Those procedures included:

- Mass biopsy and suturing
- Chest tube placement: for long term fluid drainage
- Esophogastric tube placement: aka a feeding tube
- Thoracocentesis: quickly draining the chest in an emergency situation
- Urinary catheter placement
- Tracheostomy tube placement (the coolest one!): creating an airway in an emergency situation when intubation isn't possible.

..needless to say my spellcheck is going crazy right now. I swear they're all real words!

The day ended with a country-style dinner and social night at the country bar in Guelph - I despise country music soo I had to drown it out with some vodka-cranberries ;)

Saturday was the best day ever because I chose a tour of the Donkey Sanctuary which rescues abused and unwanted donkeys and mules. I've always had a thing for donkeys and seeing 80 of them in one day just made that obsession grow - I'll try not to overload this post with pictures of them but I can't make any guarantees ;) That evening we had a semi formal banquet dinner to end the weekend.

Seriously.

SERIOUSLY.

Overall the weekend was super tiring but also totally worth it. I'll let you all know when I adopt my first donkey! (only half joking). Daisy and Matt came down on Sunday and unfortunately only one of them stayed. So I'm back to early morning walks and no more lunch talks but I wouldn't have it any other way!

-10 deg out? No biggie!

Back to begging for snacks

That's all for now :)

Hello 2016! :)

Happy new year! Writing 2016 in the title was a little scary because my class graduates in 2018 and it's coming faster than I ever imagined. Eek!

Today was our first day back to class after a glorious 2 week break where I got at least 9 hours of sleep every night, saw the majority of my friends and family, and ate a disgusting amount of (unhealthy) food and a pretty good amount of alcohol too ;)
















Notable events included:

• A friend-filled Christmas party - I hadn't seen some of these girls since August so it was definitely long overdue! An excuse to dress up after looking like a hobo during exams was also great. You guys know my makeup obsession so I thoroughly enjoyed breaking out all of my glittery eyeshadows that were collecting dust while I studied.

• A relaxing Christmas eve and day with family - we basically stayed in PJs and that's my favourite way to spend Christmas day :)

• New year's eve party - another chance to see everyone for one last get together before I headed back to Guelph

• Early anniversary celebration in Toronto - Matt and I's (8 year!) anniversary is this upcoming Friday but with our crazy schedules we celebrated this past weekend with a trip to Toronto complete with a harbourfront hotel room, dinner at a French bistro and a night out. My favourite person to party with! (insert kissing face emoji here) (ok I'm done being mushy now)

I think I packed all I could into this break, although those events were interspersed with days where I did absolutely nothing but sleep in and binge watch Netflix (a season of The Affair, half a season of Scandal, and the whole Making a Murder documentary series. Thank god for unlimited internet).

Now we're back to the grind; today was exhausting but we ended the day with another anesthesia lab practicing IV catheters, intubation, checking our intubated "dogs" (see previous post) to make sure our endotracheal tube wasn't leaking, drawing up drug doses, and setting up the anesthetic machine. As tired as I was from waking up early for the first time in 2 weeks, I'll always gladly take all the hands-on experience I can get!

That's all for now, I'm going to go make dinner with the sad amount of groceries that I have left - an empty fridge is the worst part about coming back from vacation.

Bye!