It's not beginning to look like Christmas

So today was yet another day in the 40's with rain and it makes it very difficult to get in the Christmas spirit. Watching cats and dogs rise up in full throttle defense and try to kill every human in sight also lessens the Christmas mood. And people wonder why I'm not a fan of cats and small dogs...

I just started my holiday rotation in Community Practice (which just means we give vaccines, do health exams, and perform dentals) and it has been a busy two days. I've gotten to see a few interesting cases and some very sweet patients, barring those two mentioned in the intro. My roommate also had an interesting case over the weekend regarding a young German Shepherd puppy who presented for vomiting and diarrhea and was presumed to have eaten something he shouldn't have. Turns out, he had a round kidney hanging out in his abdomen that had wrapped around his intestines. That not something you see everyday. Even though I enjoy this rotation I'm excited to be off for Christmas and just hang out at home with my family. T-minus 4 days and counting...

Awkward Day

So today was an awkward day in Internal Medicine. We had a drunk client again...odd thing was she'd been waiting in the lobby all day and was normal to start with...somehow she got drunk in the lobby??? At first they thought maybe she had a stroke so the paramedics were called in, but she checked out ok. Another strange lady brought in her three large dogs: Huggy Bear, Sara Bear, and Buffy and wanted consults for Derm, Neuro, Cardio, and Internal Medicine to make sure they were all healthy. That had to be crazy expensive. One student had a client that brought in a journal article for the vet to read so he'd know "what was going on in the world". I had an awkward client who was really friendly but had an awkward sense of humor...just took it a little too far. When I called him back to the room I asked if it was still raining outside and he turned and said with a straight face "Oh it stopped but it's snowing now." I was like "What? Really?" and he said "Yeah, 6 inches." Then I realized it was a joke. When I asked him how the dog was doing at home he launched into how she was doing well and making it to all of her meetings and still managing to run the company ok... And when I went over how we sent him home with a month's worth of medications he said "Oh good, enough for me and all the kids." Odd. Just odd.

On another note, I'm really enjoying this rotation. A lot more than I thought I would. Internal Medicine is something I struggle with but I'm learning a lot and everyone on my rotation is really awesome. I hope it stays this way the whole rotation!

Being Thankful...for a broken car?

So last Sunday, the sermon was on being thankful (no surprise consider Thanksgiving was only a few days away). But a couple of key points hit home and I made it a point to remind myself to say "thank you" to God every time I got into my car. The first thing that always came to mind was that my car started and it was often followed by other things such as good road conditions, light traffic, a chance to learn about animals, etc. So for nearly one week I found myself being grateful each day. So you can imagine my dismay when I got into my car this Sunday morning, a week later, and my car wouldn't start. Not even a sputter. We tried jumping it. Still no luck. And then I began to get upset. I had spent the entire last week making it a point to be thankful for my working car and then God allows my car to break. My thankfulness had been genuine. I have had car trouble off and on this year and I really was thankful that my car was running. It made no sense to me why I would be thankful only to have it taken away. I ended up riding with my parents to church that morning and as the day's events unfolded, I began to see where my faulty thinking went wrong. Yes, my car was dead. Yes, even after it charged for hours, the battery charger declared my battery low....and then dead. But as luck would have it (or rather as God had planned it), there has been a brand new battery sitting in my brother's old, broken car for the past year or so. Dad swapped out the battery and low and behold, now she runs. I began to think how "lucky" it was that I had been at home when my car died. I thought about how "lucky" it was that we had a spare, brand new battery to replace my old one. And I thought about how "lucky" I was to have a dad who knew how to and was willing to help me fix my car. And the more that I thought about it, I started to wonder if my internal prompt to thank God for my working car was because just maybe my car was supposed to break down sometime DURING the week. Maybe my car wasn't supposed to make it home. I would have been stranded somewhere in Columbus, probably when I needed to be getting to school, and I would have had no way and no one to fix my car as easily and as cheaply as I did at home. So maybe being thankful isn't all about keeping what we already have. Maybe it's about allowing God to work in opportunities that we may not otherwise have recognized. Maybe being thankful is more about God than it is about us.

In other thoughts, boards is over (YAY!) and I now have spare time that seems un-measurable. But I suppose when you compare it to no spare time, anytime seems like a lot. I'm finally starting to get serious about job hunting and resumes and cover letters. Not that that is particularly fun either, but hey, I'm thankful that I'm nearly finished with school!

Final Countdown

So boards are approaching (3 days!) and I'm kinda scared outta my mind but I will be soooo grateful when it's done and over with. I already have no idea what to do with all my spare time. But this I do know: God has gotten me this far so He can get me the rest of the way.

Catch Up

I apologize for the extended absence, that is if anyone is even reading these anymore. Completely understandable since I've been slack in writing. Since my last post I've been on Soft Tissue Surgery, Marysville Large Animal Field Service, and currently I'm on Neurology again. I also turned yet another year older. Such is life. With my boards test approaching I haven't found much free time to blog; nearly every spare minute during the week is spent sleeping or studying. I'll be grateful when it's over in November. So far this rotation has been slow. I'm not sure if it's due to lack of patients or because there are five of us students on the rotation. I do have to say it's been nice not being on call nearly every other day. Because I have things I need to do, I'm going to end this post, boring though it may be. This weekend is busy with work, school projects, boards studying, and hopefully somewhere in there I'll get in a ride on Rusty.

Life and Death

This rotation (Equine Emergency) has been a crazy one. It started off slow the beginning of last week and then over Friday and Saturday I was at the hospital for over 24 hours with only 3.5 hours of sleep. That was a rough couple of days. I got to see lots of colic surgeries, which was something I had really been wanting to see. Some ended happily; others did not. There was a mini with an deadly intussusception, a Canadian horse with an epiploic foramen entrapment, a mare with deadly diarrhea, a mini with hairballs in his intestines (naughty boy!), a foal with a myopathy and pneumonia, a pregnant mare with a deadly colitis, a paint who had enteritis...and then today we watched a horse bleed out and die on the trailer. Life and Death. It's abundant in emergency work. I've gotten to see a lot of things and I've learned a lot along the way. The life of an equine ER vet isn't a glamorous one. As you can see from the above brief list, 50/50 odds aren't too far off when cases come in. I didn't mean for this to be a depressing post, but this afternoon was a sad one. In happier news, I get to go home this weekend and see my family before my next rotation starts! :)

Wisco

So I've spent the past week and a half with my friend Megan at Northwoods Veterinary Service in Wisconsin. Last week was fairly slow but this week has been busier and I'm glad. I've gotten to palpate lots of cows, see several surgeries, help with some difficult calvings, and, last but not least, spay a pregnant cat. Today we also went to a farm where 6 Holsteins were struck by lightning last night. It was a very eerie scene. I can't imagine watching it happen--six cows just dropping dead right in front of you. At least it wasn't a human! Time here has sped by and I'm sure I'll be back in Ohio before I know it, but I have really enjoyed being here!

End of Neuro

So my Neurology rotation has come to an end and I have to say I'm sad because I really, really enjoyed this rotation.  I learned a lot and got to see some cool things. So I'm glad that I have this rotation again in October/November. My last patient was an 18 year old dog who had, for all purposes, a stroke. It was cool to see him slowly improve as he was in the hospital. Romeo was a very sweet boy and even though he's 18, I still hope he lives for many years to come :) My next rotation is in Wisconsin. I'm going with another friend for 2 weeks to a primarily dairy practice to get lots of hands on cattle experience. I'm excited about doing something different for awhile and getting away from the hospital and not having to do as much paperwork :) I'm sure we'll work our butts off the next two weeks, but hopefully it'll be worth it!

All Things Neurologic

So my new rotation now is Neurology and I am loving it. I always found the subject fascinating and getting to put together pieces of a puzzle to solve a patient's problem is very interesting. Tomorrow I get to scrub in on a surgery to remove two herniated discs from a Jack Russell's back. Not your everyday run of the mill surgery in private practice. And Dr. da Costa has kept us students on our toes, firing questions at us and probing the depths of our knowledge. Some days my brain feels more like a kiddy pool than the ocean that they expect from us. But we learn new things every day and hopefully things stick long enough for us to put them into practice after graduation.

Wrangler Rachel Riding Through...Shelter Medicine?

So last week started my shelter medicine rotation. I spent last week on the surgery section and next week I will see the medicine side of the shelter. We got to do spays and neuters on cats and dogs all week and we also observed an enucleation and two cherry eye procedures. Overall it was a very fun week and I was able to get my cat spay time down to 40 minutes after it took me over an hour the first day. I'd say that's a success! I'm on this rotation with several good friends of mine and they've taken to teasing me a bit, calling me the fastest cat neuter in the west and a cat wrangler. Neutering cats is pretty similar to neutering pigs--and I've had a lot of practice at that. It gave me a bit of an upper hand when it came to efficiency in the cat neutering world. And as for cat wrangler, I chalk it up to luck and just being in the right place at the right time, but one of the kittens got loose from another girl and I snatched him up as he attempted to make a running exit down the hallway. Nevertheless, I think I'd prefer to wrangle horses over cats any day.

Never a dull...zzzzzzzzz

So life in the ER is never dull. That is unless we don't see any patients. Fortunately for me, I've been kept pretty busy during most of my shifts. Both of my all night shifts were pretty uneventful, but during the day I've been on the move. Yesterday I had two sick puppies who presented as very different clinical pictures. One was a slightly sluggish but still happy Beagle puppy with vomiting and diarrhea and the other one was a slightly dead but still breathing Chihuahua puppy with vomiting and diarrhea. When an emergency case arrives at the hospital, they always send someone out to "triage" the animal. Basically that means we assess the major vital signs and make sure the animal either A.) isn't actively dying B.) isn't unconscious C.) is breathing relatively ok and D.) isn't messy or awkward (bleeding, vomiting, diarrhea, dangling a broken leg, seizuring, etc.)

So yesterday I had the slightly sick Beagle puppy first. On my triage assessment, the puppy was in no imminent danger of death and therefore could afford to wait a few minutes before being admitted into the hospital. When I was sent out to look at the second puppy, I thought it would be a similar thing. When the lady pulled the tiny carrier from the backseat of her car and I opened the door to look at the puppy, it was on its back with its legs in the air and for a minute I thought it might be seizuring. I quickly pulled her out of the carrier and looked at the inside of her mouth--bleached white. I said none of the things that immediately came to mind (Oh crap, Holy Moses, and DEATH! being several of my fleeting thoughts) and rushed that puppy into the hospital. Weighing in at a whopping 1 pound, I watched seasoned vets struggle to put a catheter into the puppy's tiny, thread-like vein. That was a wee bit of an adrenaline rush.

This morning we had to euthanize a cat with a nearly incurable disorder, change a bandage on a dog bite wound, and assess a very sweet, very handsome Rottweiler named Ruger who woke up this morning unable to stand. I will say that life in the ER keeps things interesting and you never know what's going to walk through the door from one moment to the next. I look forward to seeing what the rest of the week brings.

For those that it may concern...

So I tried several methods of sending these videos to the LCO, but they're too big to send via e-mail or cd so this was my solution. The rest of you can enjoy them as well. The LCO plays some pretty awesome music.

"The Waltz"

Jackson playing some awesome tunes on the violin :)
I really like this song!

"Amber Winds"

And this one is another one of my favorites

"Carolina"

"Go Fly Away"

Living Life

So as most of you know, I spent the past week and a half in Wyoming enjoying the only vacation I get until I graduate next May. It was an amazing time and went way too quickly as I knew it would. I got to catch up with a lot of my Paradise friends, hang out with Jeremy, hear Jackson's new band (The Libby Creek Original--which is amazing by the way!), ride horses, hike in the mountains, see a rodeo parade, and much more. Things got a little hectic Saturday afternoon when I was supposed to fly out. Seven other people and I got kicked off our plane due to weight restrictions. It was devastating at the time because I had already prepared myself mentally for leaving and to not know what was going on was upsetting for someone who likes to plan everything. I'm just grateful I hadn't been flying in on Sunday or I would have missed school the next day! So I went back up to the ranch Saturday night for one more steak dinner and one more square dance. Not too bad of a deal. This is the 2nd time I've had to deal with flight problems out of only 2 times flying out of Wyoming so I'm 2/2. I'm ok if Wyoming wants to hang onto me. As it turns out, I knew one of the other people on the flight who got kicked off and we were able to give her a ride back to Buffalo as well. God was looking out for both of us, even if it didn't seem like it in the panic stricken moment of being yanked off a plane.

View of French Creek 

Taking Jeremy riding

Having fun!

The Libby Creek Original

Beautiful...

"Thinkin' of a Girl"

Brief clip of the LCO playing in Sheridan

Another clip of the LCO

Right now I’m on my small animal emergency rotation. My shift for the first four days is 4:00 pm to 2:00 am and thankfully we’ve been pretty busy the past two days which makes the time go fast. We’ve seen quite a few interesting emergency cases and I am enjoying this rotation a lot more than a thought I would. My apologies to those of you who have texted me and asked if I’ve fallen off the face of the planet. The hours I’m working make it difficult to get back to people because when I have free time you all are either sleeping or at work. Next week I have more normal daytime hours so bear with me if you can.

The Complex Simplicities of Life

I have been meaning to write this post for the past few days and it has slipped my mind. But I leave for Wyoming tomorrow so I decided even though it's late I had better do a brief summary. Last Friday we had a beef cow come in for surgery to remove two extra teats on her udder. They weren't causing a problem, but she is a show cow and with that, appearance is everything, even though no one much cares about teats on beef cows. On Saturday we had two emergencies in the evening. One was an anemic llama that we gave blood transfusions to and the other was a beef heifer in labor who had a prolapsed vagina. I was hoping we were going to get to do something with the cow and pull the calf or do a C-section or something wild, but we just put her in the stall and kept an eye on her. Slightly anti-climatic. On Sunday I met my folks for dinner after riding Rusty. I spent a good part of the afternoon cleaning up the trails where we ride since the high winds on Friday knocked down lots of branches and several trees. Now back to the title of this post--the complex simplicities of life.

Wind--So as those of you who live in Ohio know, there was a bit of a strong breeze that raced through Friday night. I was fortunate to not lose power, but I know many people that did and several that are still without. It's astounding to see massive trees uprooted and thrown around; it's something I thought you'd only see with a tornado. I have been working at the hog barn the past few days and have been meaning to take pictures but I keep forgetting. Part of the roof on the horse barn next door is completely peeled off and scattered around the premises. Our large gooseneck stock trailer was picked up by the wind and thrown over thirty feet into the side of the barn. I'm glad I wasn't there for that.

Sun--This  morning I was blessed to get to see a gorgeous sunrise. I was in the right place at the right time to see the sun creep over the clouds and light up the morning sky with colors. It was beautiful!

Life and Death--On Monday morning there was no electricity at the hog barn and it had gone out on Friday. Of course it happens to be a farrowing weekend and one sow was in labor and overheating. We tried to cool her with water but she unfortunately she died anyway. We could see the piglets still moving inside her so my boss asked me if I've ever done a C-section on a pig. Definitely not, but she was already dead so what did I have to lose? We got the pigs out as fast as possible and I felt a couple weak heartbeats on two of them but we were sadly unable to revive them.

Happiness--I've always found it interesting how different things make people happy. One thing may mean the world to you but another person has no interest. In the grand scheme of life, I suppose that's a good thing. If everyone loved the same things, how boring would life be? I sit pondering this mostly because I will nearly be in Wyoming tomorrow at this time and that thought makes me the happiest person in the world. I try to explain it to people, but I think it's just something you have to experience. A friend of mine went to Wyoming recently and she texted me a picture of a beautiful view with mountains and wild flowers. All her text said was "I understand now... WOW!" I don't think I could sum it up any better than that. To me, Wyoming is a place where "everything feels right". Sitting at the top of Fan Rock watching the sun rise, laying in a field of wild flowers and breathing in their aroma, running on a horse with the wind in your face...if ever my soul has felt overwhelmed with the goodness of God, it's moments like these. And I look forward to what the next week and a half brings.

Robin, Criation, and Wrestling calves

Yesterday we had a three year old Holstein dairy cow named Robin come in because she was ADR (ain't doing right). The previous week she'd had twin calves--one of which was born dead--and there had been a lot of trauma during calving. I think I'd be a little ADR myself. We flushed out her uterus and put her on some antibiotics, pain meds, and some dextrose as a pick-me-up. This morning she was looking much better and was interested in eating again. Things are looking up for this girl and hopefully next time she gets bred she's not unlucky enough to have twins again.

This morning when we came in we got to see an alpaca give birth. I felt like I was watching something out of Jurassic Park. Here's a picture of a newborn cria: http://www.swalpacas.com/images/Diana2.jpg . At the very least I imagine that is what baby giraffes look like at birth. The baby cria had a neck that was almost as long as his skinny legs and he made sounds that reminded me of a Velociraptor. The rest of the morning we did breeding soundness exams on four rams and we finally sent Green and Lime home.

This afternoon we had a calf come in for an umbilical hernia. She was short, squat, and all muscle, weighing in at 470 pounds. She was feisty and stinkin' cute with a bald face, four socks, and a white tipped tail. As the students on the case were wrapping things up with the owner, the tech asked me if felt comfortable taking the calf back to a stall. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of the guys on my rotation head our direction and I quickly said yes and took the lead rope from the tech. I admit it, I have my pride. And I certainly wasn't going to let a boy do what I knew I was capable of. So Shade and I made our way down the hallway with Caleb following us to open the stall door, though I think he really followed us to make sure the calf didn't run away with me... She tried to take off a few times, but years of working with horses has taught me how to use what little weight I have to my advantage and every time that sucker took off she just found herself going in a circle. We made it down to her stall with minimal excitement and as I shut the gate behind her I wanted to dust off my hands and say "so there". Brute strength doesn't always win. Sometimes it helps to have leverage on your side. That and determination not to be one-upped by a boy :)

Green, Lime, and Clover

Wow. So I hadn't realized how behind I am. A lot can happen in six days. Last Thursday we had a Holstein bull come in from Select Sires and he was the most massive animal I have ever seen in the hospital. At 2,600 pounds, he was at least 5 feet from the top of his withers to the floor of his chest. He was giant. We also had a large Boer buck named Golgotha who presented for lameness in his stifle. The name peaked my interest and I had a conversation with the owner about it. Apparently they try to name all of their goats after people, places, or verses in the Bible as a conversation starter at shows which I think is really cool. He mentioned another buck they had named Crown of Thorns and a doe named Esther 2:15.

So Green, Lime, and Clover are three of our patients right now, which I find amusing. Granted, green and lime are the color of their ear tags and not their actual names (these sheep have no names), but I find it comical that we have a color theme going. Green came in for lameness and Lime had a rectal prolapse that we fixed last week. Clover is the mother of a baby alpaca that had a fractured tibia that we fixed yesterday. Oh yes, yesterday...

So Sunday I was on call starting at 8:00 am. I got a phone call at 9:45 am to come in for emergency surgeries. Our first surgery was a goat with a broken cannon bone. Clover's baby was our second surgery. And then our third surgery was a fair hog with a rectal prolapse. By the time it was all said and done, we left the clinic at 7:45 pm. It made for a very long day, but overall it was rewarding.

Today we had treatments on our patients in the hospital and then we saw a Brown Swiss dairy cow with enlarged lymph nodes. On rectal palpation, it was amazing to feel the huge football sized lymph nodes inside her body. Definitely abnormal. On our physical exam, I also got to hear a "ping" due to the amount of gas in the rumen. That was pretty cool too. We did a biopsy which sadly confirmed our suspicion of lymphoma. Unfortunately it's the end of the line for this cow.

One kid, Two kid, Red kid, or Blue kid?

So I got called in last night at 12:30 am for a goat that was having trouble giving birth. When they arrived at the hospital at 1:00, it was easy to see why. The kid was very large and there wasn't much room for it to fit through the birth canal. It took the vet awhile to get the kid out, and honestly, I didn't think she was going to be able to do it. I thought we were going to be doing a C-section. But the little baby goat was born alive and well and we sent them both home at 2:30. That made for a tired day today at the clinic, but it was still a cool one because our group got to do surgery on a heifer calf with an umbilical abscess. We all helped in the procedure and got to cut, snip, cauterize, and suture our way through the surgery. It was pretty cool. I can now say that I've sewed up a cow. And it wasn't too shabby of a job either; even the vet said so. I guess all those years of sewing in 4-H paid off!

Chicken With Its Head Cut Off

So, in my mind, this morning was supposed to be predictable and easy. Reality was more like "oh....crap".

What was supposed to happen: Get to school at 7:00 am and do physical exams on 7 horses with another student, then write up the exams and print them out. No big deal. That should certainly take less than 2 hours. Go change and get to next rotation at 9:00.

What really happened:  Get to school at 6:50 am. Yay! I'm early. Start physical exams. Oh hey, there's 8 horses, not 7. No biggie. Get physicals done on 6 horses. It's 8:00. We're cruising. Seventh horse turns out to be a stallion who "kicks, bites, and rears unless you feed him carrots during your physical exam". Awesome. Let's skip him for now until we can get a technician to help us. Eighth horse's turn. Do physical exam. Wait, where are the drugs for his treatment? They aren't in his box. They aren't in the fridge. I don't know where they went. The techs don't know where they went. What do we do? I don't know. Who will tell us what to do? No one? Awesome. Let's go back and do the stallion. After spending ten minutes doing a careful exam so as to not get my head bashed in, the vet shows up and says, "Oh you don't have to do a full exam. It's not worth dying over. Just get his heart rate." Oh. Great. After I already did the whole exam... Finish paperwork with a frenzy. It's 8:45. Print. Print. Print. Whew. Ready to head out. Vet shows up. "Did you guys do that horse in Ward 4?" Awkward silence. "What horse?" "The one that is going to surgery in fifteen minutes." Panic ensues. Rush to stall. Thank you Lord, it's a cooperative horse. Do exam. Run back to computer. Type. Type. Type. Print. RUN! Downstairs to change clothes and then back up stairs to be in the food animal ward at 9:01 am. And that was my morning...

...So I started my food animal medicine and surgery rotation today, lol. First patient was a steer with a skin problem. Second patient was a miniature pig (adorable!) with stress diarrhea. Third patient was a dairy cow that had a decrease in milk production. And the last patient of the day was a beef cow that had shattered her cannon bone and had to be euthanized. I tell you what, if every day is this busy, this rotation is going to be over before I can blink. I think I'm going to go sleep now...

Little Miss Pixie

Today, my patient (a tiny 5 year old Arabian mare named Pixie) had surgery to remove a bone fragment from a joint in her fetlock (ankle). For the surgery, all they did was make two tiny incisions. A camera went in one incision and instruments went in the other. At the end of the surgery after they had removed the bone chips, I got to use the camera to look around in the joint, which was really cool! Because our patient was so small, they couldn’t prop her leg up like a normal sized horse so I got stuck holding her foot in an extended position during surgery. I didn’t mind too much. It was a good workout for my arms. But the kicker came when I had to suture up the small incisions at the end. My hands were so fatigued from holding the hoof in place for a half hour. They shook so badly I could hardly grab the needle with my forceps. Talk about feeling like a pansy. I wasn’t nervous or anything—it was only two incisions and neither was even an inch long. But for the life of me I couldn’t make my hands stop violently shaking. But I smashed them against the horse’s leg enough to slow the shaking and got the job done. Little Miss Pixie is now short a few pieces of bone, but hopefully it will serve her better in the long run.

Update

This week has gotten off to a slow start compared to last week. Here's an update on what's been happening on Equine Surgery.
1. On Monday we ended up euthanizing PJ. She'd had a difficult and painful weekend, and everyone was in agreement that she shouldn't have to suffer anymore. I know it was a difficult decision for the owner to make, but now that sweet mare isn't in pain anymore. My heart aches for the owner as I know that 18 years together will be hard to get over.
2. Right now we have a three year old filly who ran through a wooden fence and subsequently obtained multiple lacerations on her neck, chest, and legs. She came in over the weekend and will be going home tomorrow.
3. We also have our rotation's long term patient "Poppy" who came in over a week ago for castration, lameness exam, atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat), and a dental exam. When we obtained Poppy, he had already been castrated and his a-fib had been converted to a normal rhythm. Today he went in for surgery to remove bone fragments from three of his joints. Poppy appears to be very disease prone as he has also come down with a fungal dermatitis and thrush while he's been here. And while he was in surgery, his heart converted back to a-fib. This horse just has no luck.

We've also had a horse with a fracture in his knee, a foal with a turned out leg, and a horse with a swollen fetlock. Tomorrow looks like it's going to be a slow day, but who knows. Maybe we will finally get to see a colic surgery!

Plain Jane

Yesterday we did a lot of odds and ends. I got to watch a neurologic horse exam, help the farrier put shoes on an uncooperative mare, and practice my suturing. This morning I watched a bilateral hock arthroscopy surgery, and in the afternoon I met Plain Jane, or PJ as her owner calls her. She is a 20 year old Quarter horse mare with laminitis in both of her front legs. I posted pictures in a previous blog that showed what a normal hoof should look like and what a laminitic hoof can look like http://suchatimeasthis-rachel.blogspot.com/2012/05/laminitic-horse-and-mysterious-bull.html . Poor PJ is very uncomfortable and we are doing the best that we can to try to treat this difficult disease. We put foam padding on all four of her feet and she is getting her front feet iced 24/7 for the next 2-3 days, which is an intensive treatment as the ice often needs to be changed every hour. She is also on pain medications. I wish we were allowed to take pictures of patients in the hospital. She is such a sweetheart and has stood still for everything I've needed to do--a rare patient indeed. I was at the hospital until 7:00 tonight taking care of her and I'll be back in at 7:00 tomorrow morning. I would love to see this mare pull through. Her owner has had her for 18 years and adores her, and rightfully so. I don't think you will find a more docile horse anywhere. Keep your fingers crossed for PJ! Hopefully we can turn her around.

Stallions and Dwarfs

I am now on Equine Surgery for two weeks. Today I had a 2 year old cryptorchid Appaloosa who was getting gelded. I got to scrub in and assist with the surgery. It was a very cool experience and now there is one less stallion in the world. Definitely not a bad thing! We also had a miniature dwarf come in to have her feet trimmed and teeth floated. Cosette was so small that her back only came up to my knee. Dwarf minis are uncommon and usually don’t live very long because they often have numerous health problems. Below is a picture of a mini dwarf so you can get an idea of just how tiny they are!

For Jeremy

Jeremy was demanding a post, since apparently it's upsetting him to not know what I'm up to. The reason I haven't posted is because there really hasn't been anything too exciting to post about. Each day we get 1-2 cases each...maybe. And the majority of them are itchy dogs. Some have infections, a few have food allergies, and others have atopic dermatitis. I've been doing a lot of skin scrapes and cytology and looking under the microscope. Over the weekend I moved Rusty to his summer home (yes, even horses can have summer homes) and went riding with some good friends. Even though it was hot and humid, it was so much fun to get to ride my little buddy! I did not have clinics on Memorial Day and spent the day working at the hog barn and catching up on random chores around the apartment. The other day I was watching a Discover Channel-esque show and they talked about a place called the Valley of the Geysers on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. It has geysers similar to Yellowstone and you have to get there by helicopter or a 3 day hike. Talk about stunning!

Rewind

Ok, so last Friday on my pathology rotation we had a 47 year old gorilla from the Columbus Zoo! Mumbah was massive and smelled like twenty teenage boys after a basketball game. Nasty. But the necropsy was cool and I got to hold hands with a gorilla! (Yes, I know he was dead but still, how many of you can say you’ve held hands with a gorilla!!!)

I spent Saturday and Sunday with my family since David was in town for the weekend. We all went to watch Nathan and the TFC ministry team Sunday morning in Wapak. On the way back to Columbus, I stopped to see Rusty again for a little bit. It was blazing hot outside and luckily he was close to the barn so I just hopped on in my shorts and no shoes and rode for a little bit. We went crowhopping through fields together. I’m convinced that having a group of mares all to himself has given him an ego trip and he thinks he doesn’t have to listen anymore, but I digress. It was good just to be with him for a little bit, even if we couldn’t agree on what should be happening.

I’m now on my Dermatology rotation. Yesterday I had (surprise, surprise) two itchy dogs. Overall it’s looking to be an interesting rotation and I’m excited to see what we do tomorrow.