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!