Stethoscopes and Sutures

Decided to post a quick update tonight so that I don't have to read over my notes - 2 weeks in and I'm already procrastinating, oops!

Since my last post we've been really getting into classes (today was a 9 hour day - the worst ones!) and labs and I'm getting slightly better at waking up early. Notable events:

- Group 9 dinner: my wonderful practice group went out for dinner and trivia as a little "welcome back" get together. We all realized why we are vet students and not history/music/art/geography majors - who knows anything about how many trombones lead a marching band?? I can't even remember the answer because our guess was so far off.

- Primary Healthcare Center (PHC) shifts: These shadowing/observation shifts in the animal hospital on campus have started up again, and although a lot of them are pretty slow, getting to watch an appointment with an adorable dog is always a highlight of my day :) hopefully I get to see more rehabilitation appointments this year because I wasn't that lucky with my shifts last year.

- Yesterday we had a physical examination review lab so we were able to realize how much we forgot over the summer....but I got to test out my new stethoscope and was very impressed :) plus getting licked by adorable cows is always a plus ;)

My new Littmann Cardiology III - with rainbow chestpiece <3

- We started this morning with a post mortem lab, bright and early at 830 am. Again, I realized how much anatomy I have forgotten (questions like "is this the left side of the heart or the right?" "what is this lymph node called again?" were very common), but any excuse to dissect dead things is satisfying to my inner sicko. To quote my fiance, "you're gross as fuck" - confirmed :)

- Tonight I finally practiced some sutures on my DASIE - it took me way longer than expected and I didn't have much suture so I couldn't keep trying, but they don't look too bad. Our surgery course will definitely be a work in process over this coming year.

Baby steps!

I spent the past weekend trying to "get ahead" (nearly impossible in vet school) because I have a busy weekend coming up which will consist of zero homework. Thankfully my new apartment is within walking distance of downtown and some good coffee spots :)

On Friday my best friend (who just got home from Halifax after 5 years of school) and I are going to stay with our 3rd best friend (who is in chiropractic school in Toronto). We're going to IMATS in TO on Saturday (a makeup vendor/trade show, I think I've mentioned my makeup obsession on here before). I'm excited for lots of girl time and shopping :) Then on Sunday Matt is finally coming down - I haven't seen him since he moved me in, and 3 weeks is a long time after a summer of living in the same city! .

I'm going to go get ready for bed now - it's 10:15, I'm a senior. We have another 8:30 start tomorrow and although I'm getting used to the routine again, 7 am wakeups are always painful. Goodnight!

Let Phase 2 begin!

Hey everyone!

Wow I've only been back in Guelph for a week and it's already been crazy busy. Last Sunday Matt helped me move in, and after a stressful day of unpacking and having to rush out to buy a new mattress because mine didn't fit through my door (insert angry face here), we relaxed with Domino's pizza and wine. I'm so lucky to have such a supportive fiance :)

I spent all of labour day cleaning and unpacking so that the chaos in my apartment would disappear, it was super satisfying. Classes started on Tuesday and after 2 days of boring intro classes, we've started to get into actual material.

Things I'm excited about this year:

PALPATION! aka "put your arm up this cow's butt" - something I've been waiting for since I got into vet school (yes I'm a sicko). The palpations are optional for students that are planning on going into small animal medicine (me), but I'm obviously going to do it!

So thaaaat's what those long gloves are for ;)

A general focus on the more clinical aspects of things - first year was a lot of foundation-based courses, while everything this year is emphasizing how to build on those foundations and apply them to "real life".

Surgery course - finally doing real "vet things"! We are going to be learning aseptic technique, gowning and gloving, suturing, knot tying, and combining all of those together to do a "spay" on our suture models which are called DASIEs (Dog Abdominal Surrogate for Instructional Exercises). Can't wait to start practicing!

A DASIE "patient" complete with intestines

Speaking of Daisies, mine isn't here yet :( She's been doing well after her infection but my vet has been concerned with the high protein content of her urine (proteinuria) throughout the last 2 weeks. The blood and bacteria in her pee disappeared after the antibiotics, but the protein remained and he wants to make sure something else isn't wrong with her kidneys. She's having a renal ultrasound this week; at this point I just want her as healthy as she can be so she can come to Guelph :) If it ends up being something more seriously wrong with her kidneys at least we can catch it early and treat/prevent further damage. Poor girl, I just want her here to snuggle with - my bed is a lonely place right now!

I think that's it for now, I'm still getting used to the routine of early morning lectures but thankfully I can catch up on my sleep on most weekends. Phase 2 - I'm coming for you!

Bye for now :)

An overview of things that will be done before Christmas!

A Scary Few Days

As everyone probably knows by now, I have a 10 year old beagle named Daisy. I've always been thankful for her good health as beagles are usually pretty hardy. Other than a minor ear and bladder infection years ago and some recent aging-related back pain, she rarely sees her vet other than for her routine vaccines. That being said, I guess I can't complain about it taking 10 years before I had to pay a $1200 vet bill ....let me explain.

Last week I was doing my regular volunteer shift at the animal hospital when my mom called to tell me Daisy had collapsed after stumbling around a bit. She had peed and pooped while she was lying on the floor, so we all immediately thought she had a seizure (we're still not sure if she did, since no one actually saw it happen). As upset as I was that I wasn't home, I was sooo thankful that my family was. I don't even want to think about her lying on the floor alone :'(

I rushed home and when I walked in the house, she wagged her tail but couldn't even lift her head. Her breathing was laboured and although she had a good menace response (for non-vet students: http://vmerc.uga.edu/CranialNerves/mrr.html), she wasn't blinking like normal. I wrapped her in a blanket and we rushed her to the vet. Side note - I used to volunteer for this vet and he is one of my favourite people - he also wrote one of my references for vet school :)

On the way there, I was of course thinking of the worst case scenarios. If I had an epileptic dog I wasn't sure if it was worth having her on meds for the rest of her life when she was already getting up there in age. What would her quality of life be like? Would she be happy? Would I be able to go to class and leave her home alone without something happening? It was the strangest mix of emotions because as I was sitting in the car crying, I was also trying to think logically. The clash of pet owner and vet student was pretty weird and confusing.

The vet was immediately concerned about her breathing so he did chest rads and then called me in to look at them. I was still upset but being a part of the diagnostic process was awesome. He thought her heart looked a little big - I thought so as well, despite my limited radiology experience - but her lungs looked fine. He sent the rads off for a specialist's report and told us to go home and leave Daisy to get fluids and a full blood panel. A few hours later he called me saying fluids were definitely helping, the radiologist report didn't reveal much that was concerning, but her blood results showed messed up electrolytes and elevated kidney values. When we brought her home 5 hours later she was much perkier but I was still thinking the worst - kidney failure. The vet said that was unlikely since she would have been losing weight rapidly - and her weight hadn't changed at all since her last exam. She should have also had a very decreased appetite, and with her being a beagle we definitely didn't have a problem with that. I was instructed to bring her back in the morning with a pee sample.

After a restless night (for me - I slept on the couch beside her while she snored away all night), I collected a sample and immediately thought there was blood in it. The vet confirmed that and also said it was loaded with rods (bacteria) - finally we had somewhat of a diagnosis = kidney infection. They sent the urine for culture and we're still waiting for the final results, but in the meantime Daisy has been on antibiotics and was pretty much back to her normal self within 24 hours.

Talk about a whirlwind of emotions! I am so thankful for my amazing vet and how he involved me in the process. He knew that although I was extremely worried. the vet student side of me wanted to know everything that was happening. It was scary and inspiring at the same time. It also showed me the ups and downs of diagnostics - the rads we did ended up being pretty much useless (slightly enlarged heart was probably just due to aging), but we had to do them because of her laboured breathing. Thankfully my little girl is doing great and will be coming to school with me in a few weeks, and in the mean time I'm going to focus on the fact that in a few years I am going to be able to make many people and animals as happy as my vet made us this week :)

PS - one week til Phase 2 begins!!!! :)

My little trooper looking stylish in her vet wrap :)