This past week seemed to never end! The Friday before last a pretty big storm went thru Stillwater and knocked the power out there so a friend came over and brought her dogs (since no power=no air conditioning) and we did a little art project in the barn...

Then we made little suture pads out of felt and this square stuffing material. Sunday I went to my parent's for my niece's baptism. She is getting so adorable and chubby! Also studied some... Bleh.

Monday was pretty uneventful. After class my friend and I ran three miles and went home and studied. Tuesday after class we went down and prepped our surgery packs, gowns, gloves, etc for our first cadaver surgery Wednesday, then had a bovine foot and bandaging lab for muskuloskeletal. After that I decided to go to a friend's house to watch videos to get ready for surgery and ended up taking until about 930, so instead of studying when I got home I zonked out. 

And then the stressful Wednesday came. I spent most of my classes ready junior surgery manual prepping for my neuter, celiotomy, gastropexy, and gastrotomy; but then we got an email saying that they weren't going to have enough dogs. When we got down to lab at 1230 they only had 1 make dog that was already castrated and a bunch of females, most of which had been spayed. I started freaking out a bit because I had prepared for a neuter not a spay. Well, I ended up splitting with my assistant surgeon because we didn't have a dog and joining another group that had a female that was also supposed to have a male, so we had 2 primary surgeons and an assistant surgeon. Once we got it we realized she was already spayed so that was good I guess, but I also lost a primary surgery and don't get to neuter a dog until we start on live animals :S. I only ended up performing the gastropexy, too. I closed half of everything on the abdomen though, and the surgery intern was impressed with my speed and how nice my patterns looked. I did an intradermal on the skin because of time, but apparently we were supposed to do simple interrupted. 

Thursday, I was assistant surgeon for spay, celiotomy, and chest tube insertion. Everything went pretty well, but all I got to do were some simple interrupted on the skin closure, which I realized that is my worst suture pattern. It is really hard for me to keep my spacing apart and from the incision edge as well as making sure it's not too loose or too tight. 

I got home exhausted Thursday night after spending 2 days in surgery for 5+ hours and had to study for our first exam (only 2 weeks into school, but we had double lectures for that class so it was like 4 weeks of info and 2 weeks to learn it).  I think the exam went pretty well on Friday. About 11 my friend and I were starving so we skipped therio and went to pie five and it was delicious! We went back to school and I met with my fellow surgeons and wrote up or surgery reports. 

Oh I forgot to mention I may have accidentally picked up another 2 hour elective, systemic pathology. So after our surgery reports I got together with another group to discuss the case for that class. The professor had told us not to jump to conclusions because it probably won't be it and we all jumped on chronic kidney failure and just kept circling around thinking it wasn't going to be that, and ended up being exactly what it was. It was super frustrating at points, but also felt really good putting everything together and coming up with a diagnosis. 

My friend and I went and worked out after that and didn't do much because we were too stuffed with pizza. I came home, barely studied, and crashed. Yesterday and today I pretty much have just been studying. Guess I better get back to it for the surgery lecture final on Friday.

Three days in to 3rd year and I'm exhausted. I forgot what it's like to be out of the house all day long. Scheduling for third year has been awful. They changed our schedules from block to regular, all semester long classes and it has wrecked havoc on the elective schedules. I've ended up dropping both the small animal and equine radiology electives because of conflicts. It'll be nice to only take 18 hours, but surgery is definitely taking more time than I had anticipated.
Monday we were out of class at 2 so I did elliptical and lifted weights with a friend. Yesterday we got out at noon so we went to a local store and got some new scrubs and a surgery cap. I'm so excited about these scrubs because they are so comfortable! Then we ran 3 miles.
Today we had class until noon then had to be at junior surgery for orientation. They showed us how to gown and glove, how to fold and wrap stuff, drape for surgery, reviewed anesthesia equipment (we have a new anesthesiologist and she is super awesome!), learned how to do QATS (quick assessment tests), and practiced suturing. Luckily I've been down to junior surgery and worked at a decent clinic before so most of it was pretty much review. It took about 4 hours and I'm definitely a little tired. This Friday some people have their first anesthesia or assistant surgeon assignments. Luckily I don't have mine until sept 4th but it would be nice to get it out of the way since our first test is next Friday and the Friday after that is our surgery lecture final. When we do we have to come in the day before between 4 and 7pm and do our QATS, then come in again at 9pm and walk and feed, then come in again at 7am and walk. I think I might try to get my anesthesia partner to do the 9pm walking and I'll do the 7am walking so I don't have to stick around Stillwater that late.
I was in a group with the girl I'm going to be doing surgery on the cadavers with and while I thought she would be kinda cool, she actually was totally unprepared so I'm a little nervous about that. Hopefully she steps up her hand before next Wednesday and Thursday when we practice neutering, celiotomy, gastropexy, spay, and chest tube insertion. Better get to studying...

Am I really a third year?!

We got our cadaver surgery schedule yesterday so I guess that means yes! I truly can't believe how fast the first 2 years went by. I was just thinking the other day about the summer before vet school started my husband and I had dinner with some friends and one of them was about to start 3rd year and I was so jealous he was halfway thru vet school and now that's me. My surgery partner is a girl that seems pretty cool and the best part is we are about the same height so we won't have to fight over table height and I don't have to stand on a stool. My first "surgery" is the 23rd... And school starts in less than 2 weeks.
We still don't have our day to day schedule so I haven't dropped any electives yet, but I know the time is coming. I know more than likely it will be the shall animal one, but I guess I'll just have to see what conflicts the most with my schedule. The only 2 times I work for the rest of the month are this Friday and next Friday. We have a 150 page syllabus and surgery videos to read and watch so I have a feeling that's what I'll be doing in my down time at work. The night tech that has been at the hospital for several years just quit so they are wanting us to work half shifts once school starts. I don't know how busy I'll be but I could always use the extra money.
I've been working out almost every day the past couple weeks and i feel like my arms and legs are more toned and that I can run longer without feeling like I'm dying at the end which is awesome. I've also been reading a ton of books over the summer. I started with the Grimm series and it really got me hooked on fantasy books. Another series a liked was the grey wolves series. There were a few other random books then the last one I read was called finding Fraser and it was about a girl trying to find me right based off the outlander series. Right now I'm reading true to the highlander which is the first book in a series also about a girl traveling back in time to 15th century Scotland and its been pretty good. Well I better get all my fun out of the next couple days and enjoy the rest of the summer.