phew

Done with half of the classroom work of my vet school career! I had a class turn out better than I had expected and a couple not what I was hoping for, but overall better than first year by far. It was very stressful the last few weeks. I pretty much lost all motivation and really didn't retain as much as I would have liked.
Anyway, let me try to remember everything I didn't mention from the last month, or so. I got to help with AQHA world show check in and got paid for that last month. It was fun to get to see a bunch of fancy horses. Went to my parents for the Thanksgiving eve bonfire. I worked some overnight shifts at the hospital.  Not very many interesting cases, but one of my best vet school friends got the job, too, so she was training with me one night. I tried to adopt some cute dogs from the shelter, but hubs wouldn't let me. Husband's boss almost bought a new, bigger house at auction last week, but it went too high so that was no bueno.
Last Friday some friends, hubs, and I went out to the bars to celebrate my birthday and end of finals. It was really fun! Yesterday I went to my parent's and celebrated all the December birthdays and it was good to see them. The rest of break I work a couple overnight shifts, a horse show, and hopefully get to visit a friend that works at a nearby equine hospital and hang out.

I've been putting off writing lately partly because I've been busy, but mostly because it has been too difficult to put into words. Amongst all the quizzes and tests I lost my most precious fur baby. It was the most difficult experience I've ever had. I guess I can go back to where I left off. We decided that since she wasn't improving any and not eating well to finally be more aggressive in treatment for the hepatocutaneous syndrome (which is what I wanted to do from the beginning, but couldn't get the community practice doctors to talk to the internal medicine doctors because they were all too busy). So we transfered her to internal medicine and started amino acid therapy IV to help with all that she was losing from her crappy liver. She would eat 1 type of meat for a couple days then not touch it, so her diet was constantly changing.
The day after her 2nd amino acid treatment she had an awesome improvement so we decided to do more than 1 a week. Her lesions were looking a ton better and her appetite was voracious. The day before her 3rd treatment she totally quit eating and was regurgitating a lot. Her 3rd treatment was on a Friday. By that Saturday night she still wouldn't eat so I started syringe feeding her. By Sunday night she couldn't stand on her own and I decided it was time. I held her all night.
The next morning, which was this last Monday,  I took her in before class and held her furry little head one last time and we ended her suffering. I was and still am beyond devestated. She was my soul mate, best friend, and more than I could ever ask for in a dog. This all happened in a little over a month. Everyday was a rollar coaster. My doctors on internal medicine were so awesome, and shed a few tears with me that day. I've lost family members and lots of other pets, but nothing prepared me for this overwhelming feeling of loss. It hasn't quite been a week yet. The pain still runs through my heart, but the tears aren't falling as often. Trying to take comfort in that I'll see her one day on the other side.

Another tiresome week done. Monday was bacteriology exam. I didn't do the greatest, but I maintained the letter grade I had in the class. Wednesday was clinical anatomy and still not sure how that one went. Didn't feel too great walking out of it. We got our pharm grades from the previous week and it wasn't the most pleasant. We have parasitology 2 lecture and lab exam on Tuesday.  I really want to do better on it than I did the last one.
I think I forgot to mention this, but in January I got selected to do an equine wet lab at Texas A&M. I'm pretty excited. Hopefully i get into the ones I want.
Friday we had fall break and my friend and I needed to log 3 necropsies for our intro to clinics class so we went to OADDL that morning. Of course they ended up not having any so we stayed at school and studied parasit until after noon then went to buffalo wild wings for lunch. It was pretty tasty, but may have had some adverse effects on my bowel at work that night. It was pretty busy, too, and we had quite a few interesting cases.
The next morning without any sleep my husband and I went to my parent's and loaded 75 square bales, ate lunch, visited a friend that is moving to Florida soon so she is giving me all her stuff from her barn, came home and stacked the 75 bales, took a shower and crashed! I was so tired, but we went to church this morning and went grocery shopping afterwards.
My dog update is that she is doing 'ok.' She won't eat unless I soak her dog food in water, slather it in a high quality beef and gravy baby food, and literally spoon feed it to her. She is officially off phenobarb and on levetiracetum. We took her off almost all her other pills to help her appetite. She is on dasuquin, Denamarin, and a couple more days of simplicef. I guess that is it here. Time for some more parasit!

It's been a somewhat stressful week. Monday we had our equine therio final. It went oddly... Our professor for the class ended up going into early labor with her human baby a couple of weeks ago so we have been having a few other house officers teach the class. So, for the final the head of the therio dept walks in (kind of an intimidating guy) and hands out the test and asks if we have any questions.  We all just took that as, if you need any clarification you can ask a question. So 8ne person asks about a question and he pretty much just gives us the answer. Then, I ask about 2 more and he flat out tells us the answers. It was weird and felt like cheating, but I wouldn't mind if that happened for all my finals. So I have 1 down, 9 to go for finals this semester.
Monday night when I got home my dog that was thought to just have pododermatitis and some arthritis was doing much worse. She could barely stand up and was just not doing right. So when I talked to my student Tuesday morning she and the clinician on the case said to bring her in immediately. So I skipped clin path and went home and got her. They drew some blood to recheck her values from last week (which were pretty much all in normal range) and did radiographs to rule out hemangiosarcoma. Luckily they didn't see any evidence and her hips didn't look too bad. So they started to lean towards pemphigus foliaceus, a rare autoimmune skin condition. I brought her in the next day so they could sedate and do a biopsy of her feet. I dropped her off and went to class, but when I came back they were in the middle of ultrasounding her liver and it was covered in lesions. Her blood work indicated a spike in liver enzymes, too from the wek before. Her lesions had also begun to spread to her lips and vulvar area. A new differential popped to the top of the list: hepatocutaneous syndrome. They think it was brought on by being on phenobarb for so many years. I haven't got my discharge papers back confirming the diagnosis yet, but for now, she is on a high protein food for her liver, we cut the phenobarb dose in half and hopefully be able to cut it all the way out, started on a new anticonvulsant levetiracetum, still on antibiotics, added a new pain control and took out the NSAIDS,  and now has twice daily foot, elbow, and vulva soaks. Needless to say, I have been spending a lot of time taking care of her. Prognosis is ok, since we can hopefully eliminate the source of the problem. She seems ok, but definitely not her normal self. It is really heartbreaking because she is my soulmate dog.
On to the rest of the week. We had a pharmacology quiz Wednesday that went alright. Friday we had a pharmacology exam... not really sure on that one. Then for a lunch meeting a guy from the Oklahoma aquarium gave a talk on parasites found in fish. It was actually really interesting. Then, we had clinical anatomy lab for the GI system and I got to put an esophageal tube in a cow so that was exciting. I can't really think of anything else, so I better get to studying for my bacteriology exam that's tomorrow.

It hasn't been long since I wrote, but it feels like quite a bit has happened. Had our bacteriology lab exam on Wednesday and they put grades out Friday and I forgot to check mine so I'm still in the dark on how that went. We had a small ruminants meeting Wednesday night about dealing with cranky llamas and we actually had the llama at the meeting.

Her name is Delilah and she is the school's blood donor llama. She has some anger issues, but isn't too bad. 

Then the rest of the week something weird happened... we didn't have a test or quiz the rest of the week. I could have been a good student and get ahead on studying... but I wasn't and it was wonderful! I did start kind of studying for my final in equjne therio which is tomorrow. I'm sorda worried about it aince its half our grade, but I feel pretty good about the material. We have a pharm quiz Wednesday and an exam Friday which I need to get going on, too. 

Friday I brought my horses in to the school to get Coggins down and float there teeth. I hauled them in before class and got them set up in some stalls. They screamed neighed almost the whole time I was there, but finally started to calm down. One was across from a mule, and one of the residents told me he sat and stared at it all day. They had the vet school picnic in the rain on Friday. It was different this year. They had food trucks instead of a cookout, and while it was delicious, it was no fun standing in line forever in the rain. Went back to the hospital for my appointment and the resident let me do some of it with the hand floats and it was pretty exciting and I actually did a decent job! There were a couple other 2nd years getting their intro to clinics hours and I let them practice blood draws and injections on my horses. This weekend has been pretty laid back and it's been nice. Better get to studying though.

Forgot my Sunday update for the past week, so lets see if I can remember everything.  We had our clin path test last week and man is a scratch off test stressful,  especially after you miss a question. I ended up doing well though. Bacteriology quiz went better than the first one, and while didn't really study enough for the pharmacology quiz, it went all right.
Last week, one of my older dogs started to seem a little off. It has been harder for her to get up and Friday I noticed she was kind of limping. I looked at her feet and saw some redness in between 2 toes and it was a little painful. I brought her into the vet school to get her checked out today and the 2 toes spread to both front feet. Turns out she has pododermatitis (foot infection.) Also has some hip arthritis so she is now on antibiotics, daily foot soak in antimicrobial solution, and NSAIDS for her arthritis. Hopefully she gets to feeling better soon. Just to add to the vet bill for the week I'm bringing my horses in to get their teeth floated and Coggins done on Friday, so that should be fun.
Saturday we had or wetlab on distal equine limb. First we got to surgically transect the distal check ligament, amputate part of a 4th metatarsal bone, and do a nuerectomy. Then we practiced joint injections on both thoracic and pelvic limbs. We also learned some suture patterns. It was totally cool and I'm so glad I did it.
We had a signs and symptoms test yesterday that I felt ok about until I started talking to everyone else about it... hopefully I did ok. That afternoon i went with another group and did a uterine culture on a mare for equine therio elective because they ran out of horses in my group. It was pretty fun! I feel so much more comfortable rectally palpating now. We have our final for that class next Monday.  Tomorrow is our first lab exam for bacteriology that I can't make myself study for. Better get my **** together and just do it.

ketchup

I don't think I'm ever going to catch up. Monday night we had the first meeting for our joint injection/distal limb surgery in horses lab. It was ok, but I definitely should have been studying for our parasit exams we had Tuesday. Those went ok, but should have done better. Tuesday night we had the second meeting for the lab. Wednesday we had a Pharmacology quiz that I way over studied for. We got our pharm grades from the first test back and I did REALLY well, so that was exciting. Thursday we had a web based lab exam for clinical anatomy and that went pretty good.
I had to work Friday night and it was quite busy. Got home Saturday morning, slept about 2 hours, got up and headed to the Tulsa State Fair with a classmate. We got there and parking was a cluster and kept getting griped at by police about how disorganized the birthing center was, so that was fun getting griped at for something that you have no control over. Finally found where we were supposed to be and there were a ton of pre vetters there that were trying to take over and pretty much just stood there holding babies the whole time while my friend and I cleaned stalls and talked to the public. Definitely not a great experience and I won't be doing that  again. Hopefully the public got something out of it. My parents, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew came by and I got to show them baby goats, sheep, and pigs. Also ran into my husband's brother's wife and kids which was a nice surprise. We did get some good fair food, though: corn dog, strawberry lemonade, and dip n dots, mmm. I got home around 8 pm and watched tv for a bit, but crashed by like 930 and slept really hard untik morning. I need to start studying for everything next week which includes a clinical pathology exam Tuesday, bacteriology quiz wed, and Pharmacology quiz Friday. *yawn*

Cute mamma and baby!

Tests galore

Finally done with my first major test week of the semester. Infectious went ok, clinical anatomy went wayyyyy better than any anatomy test I've ever taken, and we're still waiting on pharm grades. This semester it seems like I am putting way less time into studying per class and still pulling out with decent grades. Hopefully the rest of vet school is like this, but doubtful.  I was going to bring my horses in the get Coggins done and teeth floated on Friday, but they didn't have any openings. I'm kind of glad because I just came home Friday at noon, watched all my dvr'd shows and took a nap.
Saturday morning we had training for work and it was pretty much a waste of time. I did get to take an arterial blood sample on a horse for the first time though. Then a friend and I went to Fuzzys tacos for lunch and it was a let down on the food. We studied for our parasitology 2 exam which is Tuesday, then went to the gym for a short work out. I had to run by walmart, then came home and watched football with my husband. Not a lot going on today, besides trying to memorize parasite treatments.
This week we have training meetings on Monday and Tuesday for a joint injection and surgery wetlab on the distal limbs of horses. I'm pretty excited that I got selected to participate in that lab. I have to work overnight next Friday. Saturday afternoon is when I'm helping with state fair birthing center. Hopefully that is fun. Well, better go get my emodepsides and benzimadoles straight.

Another week into second year. Nothing too exciting. Spent most of the week going to meetings again. Didn't study as much as I should have, but for some reason I'm not that worried. Maybe that is the difference that makes 2nd year better than first... if I made it through that I can do this. I have bacteriology exam Monday, clinical anatomy Tuesday, and pharmacology Friday. Needless to say, I won't be going to many meetings.
Last week the gym got a little neglected because of meetings. The only thing we did was walk the 3 miles around boomer lake Thursday afternoon after I got out of my communications lab (got videotaped during client interaction and critiqued by a clinician and group of classmates, not so fun). Friday after clinical anatomy lab a friend and I had to get in another hour for intro to clinics and got to help bandage a leg and give some shots. Then, they had a necropsy of a neonate with spina bifida and scoliosis which was cool to see. This weekend has consisted mainly of studying. I really want to go out and ride a horse or two, and I know I'm wasting enough time flipping through Facebook that I could, but for some reason I feel more guilty riding than I do interneting. Better get back to reviewing the plague and anthrax... bleh...

This past week was pretty eventful.  Monday we had off for labor day. In parasitology 2 lab we started working through case based material which was kind of fun. We also had to find giardia cysts on a microscope and I found one right off the bat, which was exciting because I really struggled with it last semester. We also got cute temporary tattoos that say 'I found giardia' and has a cute trophozoite on it. I'm saving it for a special occasion. Also got to start ultrasounding our mares. The first horse I brought in was a 17 hand thoroughbred, which was stupid because I couldn't reach anything. I ended up seeing the whole uterus and the right ovary, but I couldn't reach the left with the probe.
We were supposed to have a cookout for bovine practitioners on Tuesday but it was raining that more so they canceled it. Ironically it stopped raining and was a beautiful afternoon. It was good though because I needed to study for pharmacology and bacteriology quizzes the next day. I did ok on the quizzes, but definitely didn't study enough. I did much better on the short answer than I did on the matching for bacteriology. Multiple choice stuff like that always throws me off.
Wednesday we had orientation for the state fair birthing center. I'm going to help out at tulsa in a few weeks. The orientation was really long, kept repeating the same things over and over, and seemed more geared to undergrads. Pretty much a waste of time. We had a VBMA meeting afterwards about communications. It was interesting, but nothing we haven't been harped on in our classes so far.
Thursday I had my anesthesia lab for intro to clinics and we had to place catheters in rubber dog legs. It was completely unrealistic, but I think the lab was more about learning techniques than anything. Then we went over to surgery and they weren't supposed to have any surguiries going on, but they happened to have an emergency colic surgery and I just so happened to be the only equine person who brought scrubs so I got to watch the end of the surgery and help the anesthesia student and technician recover the horse. It was kind of fun. Afterwards, I went back over to the school for a SCAVMA meeting. That was another waste of time because it was totally geared for first years, but we got free fuzzys tacos for dinner.
Friday I only had morning classes so I just came home and relaxed and watched tv. Saturday it rained all day so I didn't get to ride. Then, I had to work at ICU Saturday night. It was relatively busy and I was exhausted when I came home this morning.  I have a signs and symptoms quiz tomorrow.  Not sure what it's going to be like so I should probably get to studying.

break

Have a 3 day weekend because of labor day and I'm so glad. The last 2 weeks have been exhausting. I remember last years all the 2nd years saying how bored they were and I don't see it. I spent yesterday at my parent's house getting my horses' feet trimmed and it took almost all day. 4 of them acted awful! Also, I didn't even study a smidge yesterday. When I got home, my husband wanted to go to a friend's house for a football party for the season opener. Well, when we got there they didn't have the channel so we ended up listening to it on the radio, while all the guys played dominos. Pretty lame!
For palpation last week we got a different set of mares and I could feel everything so much better in them. We start ultrasounding on Tuesday so I need to research ultrasound images before then. I also have Pharmacology and Bac T quizzes Wednesday I need to study for the next few days. Tuesday is also the first bovine practitioners cookout/meeting, Wednesday is an orientation for working at the birthing centers for the statefair followed by the first scavma meeting, and Thursday is the first vet business management meeting. Needless to say, this week is going to be a little hectic. Mixed into all of that we have to get a few hours in at the hospital for intro to clinics. The rotations I've done so far are community practice and radiology, so I have equine med, equine surgery, food animal, internal med, small animal surgery, and log 3 necropsies at OADDL, which is Oklahama animal disease and diagnostics lab.
My friend and I are actually keeping up with working out at the gym a few times a week. We are getting bored with the routine though so I thought about taking up tennis lessons; however, they are around the times we have club meetings and as much rushing around as I already do, it might be a bad idea. With our class schedules so erratic, it is hard to fit in any group fitness classes. Speaking of friends, one of mine had to put her dog down last week and it was heartbreaking. I know one of my dogs is getting up there in age and is on phenobarb for seizures and that hasn't done her liver any favors. On that note, I better get back to studying.

Made it the first week. Spent most of the weekend studying, which wasn't fun. I have a new horse here and my husband really enjoys riding him, so we went riding yesterday morning before I went up to the school. It was nice and refreshing to get out. I hope we can keep up riding on Saturday mornings.
I get to palpate more mares tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully I get to feel more comfortable with it. We had a neuro animal come in last weekend at work and on necropsy they found out it was rabies, so we have to have a little meeting tomorrow night reviewing proper handling of neurologic cases. Then payne county animal response team is having a meeting at 5:30 that our professor for emergency response said we should go to if we wanted. So, I'll pretty much be in class and meetings from 8 to after 6! Talk about exhausting! Well, I better get another hour of studying before bed.

Back to school

So I've had my first 2 days of the semester and all I can say is holy cow, I'm worn out. Vet school is definitely kicking my butt. 21 hours is a lot! My core schedule this semester includes clinical anatomy, clinical pathology, Pharmacology 1, infectious diseases 1, parasitology 2, and intro to clinics and my electives are SA medical diagnosis: signs and symptoms, veterinary emergency response, and equine therio. We have had conflict after conflict this semester and it is super frustrating, but we're getting through it I guess. Also parking this semester has been pretty bad because of construction so we have to get to school by like 730 every day.
A buddy and I worked out pretty hard Monday after class and I really started paying for it around 10 this morning. Then, we started (rectally) palpated mares in equine therio today and I wouldn't be surprised if my arms weren't black and blue tomorrow. It was kind of frustrating because I never felt comfortable about the stuff I was finding so I need to brush up on my female anatomy before next week. Hopefully I won't feel so awkward next time.
The first years seem to be getting along well. I heard a few of them talking about how overwhelmed by the amount of material and I was trying to be as un cynical as I can, and trying to remember I felt the same way after day 2, also. We got 4 transfer students in this semester and they seem a little more outgoing than our last 4. I'm thinking it's because they aren't all from the same school. Well, I better get some studying done before I pass out from exhaustion.

Whelp...

I can't believe summer is coming to a close. I didn't get a lot accomplished this summer, but I'm kinda ok with that. It seems like everyone was so busy with summer plans going to externships or working their butt off on research or whatever and never had time to relax. I totally don't regret having a real job because I kind of feel relaxed,  and while I'm not quite ready for school to start I do feel refreshed.
Besides working at the ICU I've also got to help with drug testing horses at horse shows. The first was in June at the reining derby and I got to see some really great horses compete. Then on Saturday I got to help with GO Shows hunter jumper show and those horses are amazing athletes. Plus, it is REALLY good money. I think when I graduate I am going to apply to be a drug tester. The vet does the blood drawing while the technician waits and waits and waits to catch urine. There were 3 of us technicians and I was pretty much the only one who had to wait for hours for the horse to pee.
This past month I haven't had to work in the icu much so I got to do a lot of riding. I also got to go to Texas to see family a couple weeks ago and finally got to meet my cousins baby. He sure is fun, but not sure I could handle school and a baby.
I've read quite a few books this summer. I started with the hunger games series, then fualt in our stars, the cowboy way, horse vet by Courtney diehl, orange is the new black, fifty shades of grey (thought they were awful, bleh), divergent series, a few others not worth mentioning, and now I'm on the 3rd book of the outlander series. If you have a ton of time on your hands the outlander series is a really good one, but I'm afraid I won't have time to finish them before school starts and I feel like I really should start reviewing for school soon. Whelp, not much else going on here.

Reflux queen

So, it's been a while... I can't say that I've been super busy. I have definitely been enjoying the summer break and started taking full advantage of being lazy once I figured out how again. Been working a few days a week at the ICU, but I only work 3 days in July because they finally hired enough overnight techs: 3, 4, and 11th. One of the new girls is pretty cool and I'll miss working with her while she was training. She's wanting to apply here for vet school and trying to gain instate residency and its been fun mentoring her on vet school stuff. It's also been nice getting to know a few more students in my class and in the third year class a little better, too. When you're with someone for over 8 hours during the middle of the night the filters really turn off and you get to know people really well, really fast.
Overnights the past couple of nights has been kinda crazy. An equine was colicing and the owner didn't have enough money to go to surgery so we had to reflux him every 1 to 2 hours. What that means is we basically help the horse vomit (since they can't naturally do it) through a tube in it's nose that goes to it's stomach with the use of a giant syringe to create suction then let the reflux drain into a bucket. You continue to suck, drain, repeat from anywhere to several minutes to several hours, sometimes getting over 10 liters of fluid per reflux. This isn't an extremely 'fun' task, my hands really don't smell pleasent, and there are definitely some pinched nerves in my neck, but I wouldn't rather do anything else for my job. There have been a few more colics that ran into weird complications, a few horses with eye problems with sub palpebral lavages which allow us to essentially give eye drops without having to worry about missing the eye, and tons of goat babies.
Sometime in July I plan on going to my parent's house and halter breaking the mustang girls, getting coggins on them, and getting them sold. So if you know anyone who wants one or both for a project or friend for their horse they will be cheap and are very easy keepers.
We got a little fire pit and when we have a decently cool non windy evening its been really nice for the hubs and I to drink a couple beers and unwind, watching the pretty flames. Well, I guess that's about it for now.

So, I was kind of a slacker on the bogging front this semester if you didn't notice. Classes and extra curriculars kept me pretty busy. First off, I did pass my first year and now I can officially, and proudly, say I'm a 2nd year vet student. It feels realllly good! I worked my a** off this past year and it was totally worth every second; however, I don't think someone could pay me to re-do first year.
The last couple of months included helping unchain oklahoma painting doghouses in a competition, volunteering with open house, and working icu. Since school's been out I've been working icu, visited my family, helped my husband work some cows, and went to my cousin's wedding which was really beautiful. Had my first emergency come in after hours at work tonight, but it looks like the patient is going to be alright. I think I'm going to plant a little garden with some flowers, tomatos, and maybe some herbs tomorrow after I get up. I'm going to be off quite a bit this week so hopefully I can get the house and barn pretty clean and lopper some cedars fir my husband's boss. I really need to get some riding time in, too. I need to exercise and get to eating right this summer and get my weight back under control. Better get to my 4am rounds...

Meaning to life?

We had a guest speaker for a meeting the other night and he said something that really stuck with me that can be applied in so many ways (although his was to advocate agriculture)... "Everything lives and everything dies, but death with a purpose gives meaning to life." Or something along those lines. It is so short and sweet. Animal agriculture is a hot topic, especially out on the coasts and it is our job to do everything we can to not only educate our clients, but also the general public. A few highlights from the speaker tonight included spreading the word about hormones in our beef, crunchy mammas, and how much more we are producing with less resources and how cheaply our farmers are doing it today. For example, organic grass fed beef has 1.3 nanograms of estrogen per 3 oz, conventional beef has 1.8 nanograms per 3 oz, salad 1200 ng, cabbage 2400 ng, soybean oil over 3000, and birth control pills go into 5 figures! I understand breastfeeding your child and even using clothe diapers, but those crunchy mammas that eat their placenta, ummmm gross. Why do cows do it some may ask... to keep it from attracting predators, not for health reasons! Last, but definitely not least the amazing advances in the last 60 years. In the 50's farmers in the U.S. fed 1 person on 4 acres, today less than half an acre, we have 1/3 the cows now as we did then and are making more meat, and today each farmer is feeding close to 1000 people. Astronomical if you ask me. Back then the average household spent over 22 percent of their income on groceries and today it is less than 10.
Anyway, back to my life. A couple more weeks and I'll be 1/4 DVM! Hard to believe. The past few weeks have been rough and my grades aren't really where I want them to be, but I think I'm safely above getting a D in anything. We are going over reproductive endocrinology and it is like someones 60 year old grandpa is teaching it... super awkward. Undergrad reprod was definitely no where near this level of awkwardness nor was anatomy this year. I'm ready to never have this professor again. Well, I have to work tonight so I need to get a nap in first! Nighty night.

6 weeks until I'm a second year (hopefully)! This semester is flying by, but still really awful. We had spring break last week. I worked a couple days and got to work with a cute little foal. Something crazy happened to my horses, too. They got attacked by something (nothing serious, just a few superficial scratches) and I think it might be a mountain lion. I've been keeping them close to the house lately and haven't had any other incidents.  Definitely not going out alone anymore though.
We had a phys 3 test after spring break. I studied what I felt like was enough, until the day before the test and a friend told me it was double the material than I had thought. Needless to say I pretty much pulled an all nighter and still probably didn't pass. We had a parasitology quiz today that didn't go well either. Luckily all we have is a pathology test Friday for the rest of the week, but parasitology test and lab exam Monday and Tuesday respectively, and Anatomy Thursday.
Saturday they are having a dog house painting competition that I'm participating in and I'm pretty excited for the stress reliever, but I should probably be studying instead. The next Saturday is open house for the vet school and I am helping out with that, too. I'm also hoping to run for an officer position for theriogenealogy club next semester.
Well, better get back to studying :/

favorites

About the time I decided to apply to vet school I found a site called Student Doctor Network or SDN.com in which pre-vet/med/dental etc are joined together in a site where students and professionals get together and discuss topics important in each division. The pre-veterinary forum has started a blog topic of the week, and the past few weeks I have either been too busy or uninetersted in the topic, but this week is something a little more upbeat (and I've been able to relax and enjoy a glass of wine tonight) and less complainey ( I only had 3 hours of sleep last night so I can make up words if I want to).
Anywho, this week is about what your favorite subject or special interest is in. All I have to say is neurology.  While, I'm pretty sure I don't plan on making a specialty out of it, the subject really peaked me interest. It is amazing how one little lesion can make all the difference in an animals life and how prognosis can go from grave to recoverable by just a couple symptoms. It took a while for the physiology of it all to click with me, but once it did I was in awe of how everything worked. If I were smarter and younger that would definitely be something worth pursuing. Even the large animal side of it (especially the equines) is a relevant field. But, alas, I will stick with my goal of being a mixed animal practitioner. While it might not be as rewarding (physically and financially) I do think I will be happy with that decision.

My writing this semester really has dwindled compared to last. One reason is classes, of course, and how much more work they take to stay afloat. This week is a bit of a stressful one. Monday and Tuesday we had a parasitology written and lab exam, the written went better than I thought and the lab portion went well, but I felt like I should have done better. Today we had kind of a pop quiz in pathology, and we have our first pathology exam tomorrow morning. We also have an Immunology quiz tomorrow over an article I really should read soon. Friday we were suppose to have a physiology 3 quiz, but the professor decided to move it to Monday because of our test packed week already. Then next Tuesday we have our first Immunology test and Thursday our second physiology 3 test.
I feel like I need a break and soon! Something about this semester is really dragging me down. The yogilatis on Tuesday and Thursday mornings has kind of fizzled out. Most of our tests are on those days so studying and sleep have won out. As a comprise we are trying to go Friday and Saturday at noon and walk around a little lake with a 3 mile trail in the afternoons once a week. I feel like I am comprising sleep a lot more this semester. I'm constantly tired, but I don't know how to change my studying habits to be more productive. I can't wait for spring break to reorganize and catch up on everything, but I'm scheduled to work 3 days of it so I'm thinking I'll be doing more sleeping than anything else.

My arms are sore

As much as it sounds like a complaint, it's not. It's a reminder. A reminder why I spend so much time sitting in a classroom, studying, neglecting family and friends (and housework, oohh there goes another dust bunny past my pile of unfolded half clean half dirty laundry). I worked an icu shift last night and had a patient with a nasogastric tube in because it wouldn't nurse off momma. So every 2 hours I had to lift 70 pound baby up (hence the sore arms), try to get it to nurse momma or take a botte, and if neither worked force feed through the tube, which is not an easy task when baby is trying to lay down or run away the whole time. But, at about 4 this morning baby decided to make a turn for the better and aggressively enthusiastically started nursing. It was such a wonderful and exciting moment and hopefully I can keep that bright, happy feeling as long as possible to make it through the next few weeks of quizzes and tests knowing that I at least partly was responsible for keeping that baby going. So everytime I pick up a textbook, or my backpack for the next day or so I can have a little tinge of happiness knowing that I'll be able to do what I love one day.

Not a lot of new stuff going on here. Had our first anatomy quiz of the semester Thursday and it went ok. We actually get to do our quizzes in groups, but our exams are all individual. Pathology we've had 2 quizzes so far and I aced them. They were pretty easy terminology quizzes though. Last week we had immunology quiz and still haven't gotten it back yet. We had a physiology 3 quiz with the same dreaded professor from last semester and it could have gone better :/ .
We've had a lot of lunch and dinner meetings this week and next week is no different. It's nice to have free food, but I do long to be sitting on my couch at home. Lunch meetings have definitely been bad on the waste line. I have been eating so awful the past couple weeks.
Surprisingly my buddies and I have kept up with going to yogilatis Tuesday and Thursday mornings and Friday afternoons, and we are going to try to make it on Saturday at noon, too. It is such a relaxing way to give your mind a break from vet school.

I guess since we've already had a week of school I should write something. I don't feel very motivated to blog yet this semester and I'm not sure why. Some changes have happened this semester,  first of which is our classes. We have pathology, parasitology, Immunology,  Physiology 3 (which encompasses gastrointestinal, metabolism, reproduction, and some endocrinology physiology), comparative anatomy, Epidemiology and evidence based medicine. Of all those parasitology is suppose to be the worst. I have started studying some, but nothing like the beginning of last semester. I really need to get my butt in gear, but I feel like something is just dragging me down this semester. Hopefully it gets better soon. The nice thing about our schedule is we are out of class by noon on Fridays, but Monday and Wednesdays we are stuck in the same classroom for 4 hours of lecture in the morning and all concentration is gone by hour 2 if not sooner.
I had my first overnight shift at the ICU while school was in session last night. It wasn't too awful, but again I didn't study near as much as I should have...but that's why we have a 3 day weekend, right? Ate IHOP in stillwater with my parents this morning. It was nice to see them.
I've really decided I need to get myself in better shape since this weight gain has gotten out of control, so my buddies and I are going to yogalatis on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 630, and man is it hard to get up at 5 am, but it is going to be worth it. We also go to a plain yoga class on Fridays after we are done with classes and it is a nice way to end the week. Well, I better get to studying.

*Official/obligatory* New years post

Cause everybody's doing it! (Please ignord any typos, been up a while) New year started out with a bang kind of rough. I am working my overnight ICU tech position and about ready for some bed. I worked the equine side which was fun, except for the foal you can't touch and the horse you have to fill ice boots on every other hour that wants to kill you. My fellow worker on the food animal side called me over to look at one of the patients and it was in respiratory distress and salivating copious amounts and had gone down hill from the 11pm rounds at midnight. Had to call the resident and clinician in and they debated trying  to save or euthanize. Decided to save and not even 30 seconds after some injections the animal passed away. Rough, exciting,  Awful way to start the new year :/

The rest of the night was slow, which was kind of good because I got an awful migrane. Just waiting for the students to hopefully get here soon so we can leave!

Christmas was good. Had a relaxing morning with the hubby and opened presents. Went to my parents for lunch and more presents and had a great time. Last Thursday went to the in laws for Christmas. It is always crazy there with all the nieces and nephews running around. 

I've been making a lot of recipes from Pinterest lately, mostly good, one ok. Made a chicken dish with spinach, tomato sauce, and noodles and baked it and some drip beef sandwiches in the crock pot which were both awesome. I tried the ice cream made out of bananas (and got to use by new blender thingy) but it didn't turn out that tasty (pinterest and your lies!) Oh and I got an immersion blender so I started making green smoothies out of oats, almonds, flax seed, fruit of your choice, and kale, stick it in the freezer portioned out, so in the morning just have to add some milk and blend. They are pretty good and keep me full so thats all I can ask for. 

Time to pack things up. Hope you had a good new years.