Time to do nothing!

I knew it had been awhile since I posted an update, but I didn't realize it had been 2 months! This year is insane.

Since my last post, I've gone through 5 more rotations:

- Surgery: known as one of the most exhausting rotations at OVC, we are responsible for many patients throughout the week and basically live at school. We spend one week on soft tissue and one week on orthopaedics. I definitely prefer soft tissue; ortho is too much like carpentry for my liking! I got to scrub in and watch some pretty cool surgeries including some laparoscopic procedures.

- Diagnostic Pathology: a review of hematology, parasitology, cytology and bacteriology/virology. It was a lecture/wet lab based rotation and I was looking forward to a break from the crazy hospital hours, but after a day of sitting in lecture I realized that I'm much happier on my feet!

One of the coolest/creepiest parasites, the giant kidney worm. Here is is inside of a dog's kidney, completely destroying it. Gross!

- Radiology: helping with taking radiographs and observing ultrasounds. This was a pretty laid back rotation which was perfect because I wrote my NAVLE in the middle of it.

Doggie ultrasound :)

- Ophthalmology: I went into this rotation knowing little about eyes and came out feeling much more confident. I'm now constantly inspecting Ricky's eyes - the life of a vet student's dog!

- Anesthesia: This was one of the weeks that I was worried for, as I've never felt too confident with pharmacology and anesthesia. But the team has been awesome and I'm getting the hang of it - it's been really helpful to be able to see the effects of all of the drugs we learn about in class.

The NAVLE is now behind me and although it was an exhausting 7 hour exam and I won't get my results until next month, it feels soooo good to be done.

And now I'm on CHRISTMAS BREAK! I've never needed a break so badly. Today I've done absolutely nothing, and it's been amazing. I know I'll get bored pretty quickly, so I'm making lots of plans with friends while I'm here.


That's all for now! I'm going to get back to my bed and Netflix :)

Merry Christmas from this adorable reindeer :)

Another 3 rotations down!

Ok so it's almost mid-October which means it's just over a month until my licensing exam and I still have SO much to review - so let's make this quick, shall we?
A brief run down of the past month:

I'm back at school until Christmas now. So far I've completed:
- Oncology - at OVC's beautiful new animal cancer centre :) It was an awesome rotation and I feel more confident when it comes to cancer - although most patients will be referred to a specialty practice like OVC, I think I am better educated on what I can tell owners regarding treatments and prognosis. It was amazing to see how well animals can do when they are battling cancer - tails still wagging :) We got to see chemotherapy and radiation being done, and it was pretty mind-blowing to see all of the resources that my school has to offer.

- Theriogenology - just a fancy way of saying reproduction. This was a very laid-back rotation of mainly case discussions - I was hoping to see a C-section and lots of puppies but that wasn't the case during the week that I was there!

- Emergency and Critical Care - blood transfusions, urinary catheters, hit by cars, cardiac arrest, CPR, septic peritonitis, severe anemia, leptospirosis, foreign bodies...those were just a handful of things that I saw on this rotation, and it was only a week long! Although I don't see myself going into this field, it was a great introduction to the world of emergency and ICU and solidified a lot of things that we learned in class but that I never really understood (ECGs, fluid rates, etc)

Now I have a week "off", which means a study week - and I need it!! After this I have 2 weeks of surgery which is known for being an intense one, so I'll take the time off while I can get it.

I'll leave you with this National Post article about OVC - I find that we are so busy as students that sometimes we forget all of the amazing research that is going on around us. I even show up in the first video because I was on Neuro that week ;)
http://nationalpost.com/feature/heal-boy

Bye for now!

First day of school - but not for me!

Another month between posts and another 2 rotations under my belt - needless to say, life is busy!

I spent a week in Owen Sound at a small animal clinic and got to see how things worked in a small town hospital. I really enjoyed the pace and got to see some really cool cases and finally learn some dentistry tricks (something that vet school's curriculum is sadly lacking). 

Then I had a week off and a few of my good friends and I went to a cottage for a little getaway :) Sun, food, and drinks - it was a great time! 

Wine tasting :)

We canoed and no one drowned! Success

Onto the next rotation which was at a high volume spay and neuter/low income clinic. This one had a special place in my heart because I volunteered there before vet school and actually found out that I had gotten in while I was finishing a volunteer shift - so it was pretty surreal to go back as an almost-vet and be able to actually spay and neuter some kitties! 

Just a handful of kitten :)

Other notable events: 

- I booked my NAVLE (eeeek!) for December 1st, so I guess I should get serious about studying now!

- A tattoo place in London had a fundraiser for a local dog rescue where they were doing pawprint tattoos all day. I've been wanting an animal-related tattoo for awhile! I considered getting a specific one for Daisy but couldn't decide on something since she was such a special girl, so I figured this paw print could represent all the dogs in my life, past present and future! It turned out so cute :) 

Today is the first day of school for most students, but not for me! Since I did a bunch of rotations throughout the summer, I have this week and next week off before heading back to school. 4th year technically started back in May for us anyway! I definitely do NOT miss going back and sitting in class; so glad this year is all clinical :) I'm going to take this time to study and catch up on life before going back to the madness.

I think that's all I need to update you on for now - bye! :)

His face shows how much he loves photoshoots

Spays and Neuters

Another post, another 2 rotations down :)

A few weeks back I had my Neurology rotation at school. Other than learning how to use all of the new computer software, I had a great week! Students on the rotation get to run the initial appointment, do a physical exam, then bring the animal back to the neuro lab to do a neuro exam and discuss the findings with the residents and faculty vet. I was lucky enough to be the only student whose patient went to surgery, so although that meant more paperwork and going to school to do more treatments, I got to scrub in on a herniated disc surgery :) Since I plan on going into general small animal practice, it's something I may not see again so that was awesome!

Today marked the end of my 2 week rotation at a small animal clinic with a vet that I've known for years. He was Daisy's, and is now Ricky's vet and he wrote me my reference letter to get into vet school when I volunteered with him - so it was pretty cool to be able to go back and work with him and actually be able to discuss vet med. He organized a bunch of barn cat spays/neuters for me to get surgery practice, so I have added 12 more solo surgeries to my accomplished list! These basic surgeries are going to likely be an every day occurrence in my future so I'm very thankful to have gotten such a great amount of practice this early in my clinical year.

One of my patients - the most cuddly barn kitten ever :)

Next week I'm on the move again - I'm doing a week long rotation at a small animal clinic in Owen Sound, then I have a week off before starting another one here in London. 

4th year is scary and I know some rotations are going to be harder than others, but so far I have loved the challenge :) 

Talk soon!

On to the Next

Wow, just like that my externship is over!

Those 8 weeks went so fast and I learned so much. One of my favourite parts of my experience was being able to follow cases from start to finish - appointment, physical exam, diagnostics, treatments, and rechecks. I loved being able to get used to the process of approaching cases individually. I also brushed up on my medication knowledge such as typical post-op meds, antibiotic choices, and doses. That was one thing that we didn't spend too much time on in class so I went into my externship feeling pretty useless but now I think I have a better ability to choose which drugs a patient needs.

Solo surgeries were probably the highlight of my time at the clinic - although one day I will likely be bored of spays and neuters, that day hasn't come yet! Being in the middle of a surgery and having the vet pop in to ask how it's going and feeling confident when I say "good" is a damn good feeling :) On my last day I wasn't planning on doing a surgery but the vet asked at the last minute if I wanted to neuter a dog, and I realized I wasn't nervous when I agreed to do it. Thinking back to the past year when our group would feel nervous all week about our live animal surgeries, this was a pretty big milestone. Now I just have to work on my speed, but that'll come with time :)

Fell in love with mini horses during my externship

My first solo spay patient :)

A sweet 7 week old puppy who had a roundworm impaction..

..and the roundworms that were stuck in his intestines (spaghetti anyone?)

In the meantime I've been seeing friends and family as much as I can, hanging out with Ricky, and enjoying the time I have before I have to start seriously thinking about NAVLE studying (eek!)

Canada day selfie :)

So now I have to finish up some externship paperwork (yuck), but I have this week off to catch up on that as well as things that I've been putting off since I've been so busy (like cleaning my closet...so much fun). Next week I'm going back to Guelph for a week for my Neuro rotation at school, then I'm back in London and surrounding area for most of the summer.

If 8 weeks flew by, I can't imagine how quickly my 1 and 2 week rotations are going to go!

Bye for now :)

Baby Vet Things

Hi!

Once again time is flying and it's been way too long since I last posted!

May has been a whirlwind of moving back to London, getting Ricky settled, and taking advantage of the 2 weeks off that I had before my externship started.

I've now finished 2 weeks of the externship and so far I'm loving it. Last year I worked as an assistant in a vet clinic and although I got to see some cool things, there were way too many reception-related duties involved for my liking. This summer is so much better - being a 4th year student and putting my education into practice has been great. It was intimidating at first but I'm realizing how much I've learned and actually retained. I'm working with horses as well as small animals, and I've recognized a lot of the diseases and stuff that have come up in the majority of cases that I've seen.

I've been practicing my physical exam, blood taking, and vaccination skills (things that we do a million times a day in practice but that we rarely got to work on in school) and will be getting into more surgical things soon. The vet I'm working with is great and it's really cool to be able to discuss "vet things" as we drive to farm calls. Nerdy but true! :)

I'm looking forward to the next 6 weeks and watching my notebook of cases get bigger and bigger. Stay tuned!

Baby pygmy goat!

Ernie and Bert 

Tumor removal

Horse with sarcoids

Free at last :)

Holy crap, I'm done!
After 3ish weeks and 10 finals, I'm finally done third year :)
I'm not the type to get too worked up over finals, but that was definitely the worst exam period I've ever dealt with. Each exam was worth between 55-75% of our final mark, and most of them were back to back. So we'd write one at 9 am, most likely not feel great about it, then had to go home and study for the next one which was at 9 am the next day. Repeat, repeat repeat. It was a weird mix of being stressed because it was worth so much, and just not caring anymore. Whew! Never again!
Now I'm home in London and I have 2 weeks off before I start my externship. I'm nervous but excited to get some horse as well as small animal experience, but for now Im going to take advantage of having absolutely nothing to do!
That's it for now, just wanted to post a quick update since I finally have more than 30 seconds of spare time :)

Dear lectures - goodbye forever :)

After 8 years of university classes, I'm officially done sitting in lecture all day every day - forever! (assuming I pass finals..)

Classes have finally ended and we are all preparing for our marathon of 9 finals over the next few weeks (with one of them being worth 70%...should be fun). I'm so excited to be done with third year! Still can't believe how fast it flew by. We had our white coat ceremony last weekend to signify us moving from classes to clinical and we all felt very old (and also accomplished).

We also finished our last surgery of the year, a cat spay, and when we were doing her physical exam we noticed that she had an umbilical hernia - it was just fat, nothing crazy like intestines, but we got to repair that while we were in surgery :) I'm posting a pic of what came out of the abdomen so if you are squeamish then #sorrynotsorry ;)

Uterus/ovaries and fat from the hernia 

Other than that, I've been obviously spending most of my time with Ricky :) he is the sweetest, gentlest, easiest dog ever. We've been working on his separation anxiety and he's doing way better; he gets a Kong stuffed with yogurt and sardines (I know, gross) and when I come home now he is usually in my bed (I creep from the window) instead of waiting anxiously by the door. He is keeping me on my walking game - although he is very relaxed in the house, this guy can WALK! I've also found a fenced area where I've let him run and watching him at top speed is amazing. Overall he's the best and I'm looking forward to him coming out of his shell more and more. Even Matt who claimed to not like greyhounds (pfft) already loves him. How could you not love this face?

Ricky and his girlfriend Bailey :)

Post-run tongues 

I think that's it, I'm currently studying for radiology and then it's on to the next..and the next..and the next...repeat! Then I have a 2 week break before my externship begins - eek adult things!!

Bye for now :)

Tricky Ricky :)

Hi from me and MY NEW DOG! :)

After months of research and obsessing, I finally adopted a retired racing greyhound :) This is Ricky (race name Tricky Ricky) and he is 5. He raced in West Virginia and has been looking for a home for over a year - he was overlooked because of his colour (black dogs/cats are always the last to be adopted) and because he isn't "small dog safe" (his play is too rough for them - after all, he was bred to chase rabbits!). I had been stalking the website of the rescue I had been in contact with, and had another younger greyhound in mind but he got adopted before I had the chance to visit. However, Ricky's foster family thought he would be perfect for me, and once I met him I realized that maybe he was waiting for me all along :) He is SO well adjusted to everything since he is a little older, completely housetrained, does not chew anything he isn't supposed to, loves walks and people and car rides and large dogs, and is all around perfect. We are working on alone training since he hasn't been an only dog before, but that's why I wanted to adopt now - classes are ending and then April is just exams and then I have a few weeks off before my externship starts - plenty of time to adjust :) he's already doing great, today I left for 10 mins (I know, sounds like nothing) and when I got back he was lying in the hallway showing zero signs of stress. Progress! I missed having a dog so much. We have a good routine, I don't sleep in unnecessarily, and I'm getting more exercise than I have in months - this guy can walk! Overall I'm thrilled to have a companion again :) Here are some more pics:

I got him at the end of reading week, which involved pretty much zero reading. We had a test on the Monday back (ew) which I basically sacrificed since I spent my week getting ready for Ricky and hanging out with friends and family - sometimes a 13% test is just not worth the stress. 

Back with my girls :)

This week we have another test, our last spay/neuter surgery, a simulated client appointment and then another week of classes is over! Only a few more to go, and I couldn't be more happy. We also got our tentative 4th year schedules - reality is coming!!

That's all for now, I mainly just wanted to post about my boy Ricky because I'm so excited! Talk soon :)

"Patience is a virtue" - and I don't have any

Is it reading week yet?? 

That has been the most common phrase out of everyone's mouth lately - I think we are due for a break! I don't know about anyone else, but class has been driving me extra crazy recently. I think it's because I know that these are my last few months of class EVER, and I'm itching to be done!

Since my last post, here is what's been happening:

- Ottawa trip: Cold but awesome! We went out on Friday night and being the old people that we are, came back to the hotel around 1 am and watched Catfish - super romantic anniversary weekend ;) The next day we checked out parliament and then wanted to get out of the -20 degree weather ASAP so we visited the museum of nature which was way cooler than we were both expecting! Lots of animal stuff to look at, and lots of bugs to avoid (who wants to look at a tank full of hissing cockroaches??)

Canada's capital :)

Trying to take selfies with dinosaurs

- Wrote 3 exams (the usual)

- Did 2 more surgeries (both kitty spays) - we've been getting so much more efficient and I've learned so much, I wish we had more! But I'm glad I can go into my externship this summer with at least a bit of hands-on experience :)

We finally took a surgery pic :)

- I also turned 26 (#old) and we had an online test on my birthday + class all day the next day so we took a trip to my friend's parent's cottage to have a breather and celebrate my bday by drinking wine in our PJs. It was soooo necessary, as much as we all did not want to go back to school on the Monday (and write another test), it was a great mini vacay.

Snowshoe adventures :)

Perfection!

We have just over a week of class before reading week (alleluia) and I'm visiting my best friend in Toronto this weekend since we don't have a test on Monday (miracle!) so it'll be nice to breathe for a bit :) I've also been in touch with some greyhound rescues and got approved for adoption, so I'm going to be doing some dog-searching next month - eeeek!

Stay tuned!

Break recap and the usual school stuff

Ok time really needs to stop flying by - it's been almost a month since my last post!

Christmas break went way too fast but it was a great break from school - I squeezed in hangouts with as many friends and family as possible, caught up on sleep, ate and drank way too much, and did absolutely zero school work. There was one day that I was feeling like a good student and I literally opened a set of notes, looked at the first page, and promptly closed it. 

Here are some pics from the 2 weeks of holiday break where I actually had a life!

Christmas parties :)

New year's eve breakfast with my mom and brother - there is a waffle under there somewhere!

Another Christmas party - we ran out of room so had to improvise 

The struggle to take group photos..

New year's eve :)

Matt is obsessed with Gordon Ramsay so this was part of my Christmas gift to him

Matt's Gordon Ramsay inspired steak - vegans beware

So now we've been back to school for not even 2 weeks and I'm already counting down til the end of the semester. Sitting in class all day is killing me, especially after the break, and I'm looking forward to getting into clinical things. Thank god for the group of friends I have at school because if it wasn't for our group chat full of ranting, I may go nuts (it's always good to release anger, right?) Classes this year are much more relevant and interesting, but this is my 8th year of post-secondary education and lectures in general are starting to test my patience.

We're already getting back into tests and assignments, the silver lining is that overall this semester has less class time - there are a few long weekends, reading week in Feb, and then classes actually end before the craziness of finals begin. I'm looking forward to getting more surgery experience too :)

This weekend Matt and I are going to Ottawa for a weekend getaway to celebrate our 9 year anniversary (damn, I really am old) and then after that it's back to weekly tests so I'm going to enjoy the next few days!

That's it for now :)