Friday

So Friday I got up at 4:40 am and drove three hours to Hardin, Montana for a job interview with Dr. Mark Francis. The town of Hardin sits right on the edge of the Crow reservation, and to be honest, the town made me a little nervous. When I pulled into the clinic, the dog warden's truck was in the drive. When I walked inside, the first thing I saw was a black dog on a rabies pole pushed against the floor and about to be euthanized. Welcome to the Animal Care Center. Dr. Francis was really nice, as were the receptionists. Dr. Francis gave me a tour and I discovered that he is a brilliant and resourceful man. He built the clinic nearly on his own and brainstormed and then created his own anesthesia machines which he now sells to other practices. He uses the local hospital for his bloodwork, CT, and MRI scans. He has obtained a free ultrasound and surgical tables from the hospital as well. He also has digital radiographs and an endoscope. I was very surprised with how much he had available to him. The clinic was very nice and organized. I watched Dr. Francis remove a mass from a dog's mouth and then we drove out to ORIgen so that he could do some TB checks on a few of the bulls there. We also did lots and lots and lots of paperwork. It wasn't a very busy or exciting day, but Dr. Francis was getting ready to leave for vacation and this was the only time our schedules worked out to meet. I stopped at another clinic on the way back to Cody and got a tour there as well. When I got back to Cody, I was exhausted and pretty much went straight to bed because I didn't feel very well. It was a long day.