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 :)

Christmas break :)

Another semester of vet school complete! Just one more semester of classes and clinical things begin :) Not gonna lie, I am beyond ready to get out of class - mainly because I may go crazy if I have to listen to one more person complain about how unfair exams are or how hard vet school is (but I'll end my rant there..)
I just got home (London), wrote my last exam this morning and got outta there ASAP! We've been hit with quite a bit of snow which I'm happy about because 1. last year was a green Christmas and it was depressing, and 2. I don't care how much snow we get because I have no plans for the next 2 weeks other than sleeping and watching movies. Although I should catch up on some notes because my to-do list just keeps growing.
Not much has happened since my last post, I came home one weekend to go to Matt's work Christmas party and also saw Fantastic Beasts (loved it), and then December was just full of studying since I had 4 tests and 2 online quizzes and an assignment and labs - the usual! It's been tiring but the busier we are, the faster time seems to go, and we always survive it somehow :)

The end of Movember - thank God that's over with now

We've been doing more 4th year stuff, ranking elective rotations and such. It's crazy that in a month or 2 I'll have my tentative schedule for 4th year!
My group had a great Secret Santa/hangout and we took some festive group photos as we do every year. This time it included some horses :)

Other than sleeping I plan on seeing all my London friends over the next 2 weeks; we have a Christmas party tomorrow and I'm looking forward to dusting off my makeup and actually looking like a normal human for the first time in awhile :)

That's all for now!

Anther month complete

Hey! I have the morning off (yay for sleeping in!) so I figured I'd post an update while I have some time.

In my last post I mentioned the doghouse challenge - it was so much fun! The 5 of us painted non-stop for the entire 2 hours and our final product turned out great and will hopefully make a northern community dog happy and warm in the winter :)

Santa and her helpers built a gingerbread/candy house :)

Thanksgiving was a nice 4 days of relaxing and eating, my best friend also got married! I'm super thankful that vet school is only an hour's drive from my hometown so that I can be home for things like that :)

I told myself I would do some work while I was home...but of course that didn't happen hahah it's ok though, my brain needed a break!

We've had 2 more tests this month and are heading into November which means a test every Monday. This weekend is our last free one for while, which is perfect because it's the Halloween party! My friends and I have not been able to stop talking about it - we clearly don't get out much! We spent this week shopping for our costumes and tomorrow night we will turn ourselves into zombified Disney princesses (because normal princesses are too basic). Matt is visiting this weekend as well, and is going to be Trump - I'm scared for that one.

Other notable news - I secured my externship for May-June, so I'll be spending 8 weeks learning about dogs cats and horses! I went to visit the clinic and got along great with everyone, the main vet was very laid back and told me that I would definitely be doing lots of surgery which was super exciting - I can't waittttt to get as much clinical practice as I can before 4th year rotations begin. I'll also be there during the season of baby horses which is the best!!

I can start working on my surgery skills as early as next week - since that is when we have our first live animal spay! Nerve-wracking but so exciting!

Needless to say the next month or so is going to be hectic! It took 2 months but I think I'm finally back in school mode - after Halloween is over, bring on the craziness!

The Craziness Continues

Hi! 2 more days of class this week (one half - yay! and one full day) and then we get a much needed 4 day thanksgiving break :)

3rd year is pretty crazy. The amount of lecture we have had in the past month is overwhelming, especially when I look at my desktop and see ~20 lectures that I have yet to review. I study by going through the lecture slides + the notes I took during class and make my own summary/review notes. It's the system that works best for me, but daaammn I'm behind this year! Oh well, I'm slowly chipping away at it and I'm hoping to get it (mostly) done this weekend :)

We've gotten one test and one assignment out of the way already - things move fast here. We've had quite a bit of lab time too: reviewing our surgery and anesthesia skills and also learning some fish stuff! Add in the chiropractor appointments that I've recently started (they are saving my back) and the time that I need to make meals and sleep, and the consensus is that there are nottttt enough hours in the day! It's times like these when I really really really love coffee.

This is the Instagram-famous Maddie the Coonhound <3

Last weekend I took some time off (oops) and visited my best friend in Toronto - we went to the makeup trade show that we went to last year (didn't spend as much money this year but it was just as fun!) and ended the weekend with a trip to a Tiki bar which was awesome and full of strong ass drinks.

Kat Von D had the best booth - complete with a liquid lipstick throne

Tomorrow night my vet school friends and I are participating in a Purina Doghouse Challenge where we paint doghouses that are later brought up to the northern communities for dogs who live outdoors to keep them warm in the winter :) I've always loved art and of course I love helping doggies so I'm looking forward to it!

Other than that, I'm excited to be going home this weekend to see friends and family (+ the family cat Alan who my mom has had for 2 months), eat a ton of food, and finally get around to catching up on notes!

Bye for now :)

Handsome guy :)

Phase 3!

Hiiii!

Well I'm ~48 class hours into third year and I'm still alive! Third year?! That sounds craaaazy to be saying out loud. Today there was a phase 2 to phase 1 info lunch talk and I was like "I'm not in either of those". Eek! The end is in sight!

Anyway, brief overview of my past week - I'm living in the same apartment this year so moving back in was quick and easy. It was (and is) super weird not having Daisy here - on one hand I can take advantage of not getting up early and missing lunch talks, but the cons definitely outweigh the pro s and I'm dying for another dog. Not gonna lie, I've been hardcore stalking greyhound rescues because they are the perfect dog for a lazy person like me...but I think I need to wait until the craziness of 4th year is at least mostly finished.

Like come on....I need

We got right back into the swing of things with 8:30 - 5:30 class all last week. I may have worked 40h weeks during the summer, but being mentally tired is a whole different thing (fellow students, you get me). It's ok though, coffee and naps will get me though :)

Each year the program gets more and more clinical and I love it. We have an entire course on medicine and surgery of dogs and cats (and one for horses and another for food animal - damn!) in addition to our surgical exercises course and I'm looking forward to feeling more and more "vet-ty" as the year goes on :)

This year's courses

I'm in the process of finalizing an externship for the summer and already have a list of to-dos for this weekend (aka notes I was too tired to make last week). Hot dates with the library coming right up!

My actual desktop sticky note...it keeps growing

Overall, we've heard multiple times this week that third year is a lot of work but also a lot of fun, and that balance is basically what I strive for all the time :) let's do this!!