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 :)