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.