Photoblog

Found something suspicious on a fecal in Parasitology lab

We get cool tools in Toxicology for quick dosing. Pretty nifty!

An engorged tick collected from a horse in Parasitology lab.

Tennis balls...a regular part of studying.

The special birthday cake Amanda and I made for Ryann's birthday!

To: Amanda and Heather

Ryann's birthday trip to Bryce Canyon NP

Ryann's birthday trip to Bryce Canyon NP: Rachel, me, Kristen and Ryann

Practice obstetrics for Therio lab

Pretty much how I felt during all of musculoskeletal radiology

Roxy has a disgusting love for my roommate's anatomy books...

Mare palpation for Therio lab!

Chelsea, Amanda, me

Spring means kids and lambs!

Heather showed me the ropes at the Aggies basketball game

Dad's surprise birthday daddy-daughter date

The USU and WSU SAVMA Symposium attendees.

Lean Cuisine coming together!

I'm definitely not going to miss this when I move to WA...

Burton gave me a nice surprise when he urinated soy sauce/au jus/motor oil colored urine this year...it was transient and he was fine.

This is how Amanda and I do Radiology distance ed at USU!

Babies!!!

Me and Anika snowboarding together at the Beav

Snuggling one of the new palpation dogs for first year anatomy! Daaawwww!

My classmate Colton scrubbed in and assisted with a ewe Cesarean. Amanda and I were at the ready to catch the lambs.

My friend Ashley and I threw a surprise birthday party for my good friend Abney!

As always, miss Roxy Roo is very helpful with homework...

It's going by so fast!!!

I've had 'new blog update' on my reminders list on my iPad for a while now...I have a lot of catching up to do!

This semester has been fantastic so far! It was difficult to believe, but those who came before me were right in telling me that this semester is a little less intense than Fall semester of second year. That's relative though, right? I mean, vet school is not for the faint hearted or lazy, so my days are still pretty jam packed with activity. I'm starting to feel more and more like a doctor every day which is both scary and exciting. My classes this semester include Parasitology, Toxicology, Anesthesiology, Epidemiology, Communications, Radiology, Public Health, Large Animal Theriogenology and Emerging and Exotic Diseases. I've really enjoyed all my classes this semester. Radiology had a steep learning curve, but I've started to pick it up and now feel like I can competently evaluate a radiograph. I also really like communications. There is a lot to learn, but I feel like it's a bit of an innate skill for me. The course is set up such that we practice the initial interview with mock clients who have been trained to act for our class. We are presented with a case much like what would be in our daily appointment book and the objective is to take an initial history and build a relationship with the owner. I've always known this, but there is so much more to being a veterinarian than just being a clinician. Another really important aspect to the job is effective communication which includes empathy, education and active listening. This class has given us a really fun and safe environment to practice developing those skills before it's the real thing. Another class that I am absolutely in love with is the therio class. We are really fortunate that WSU and USU came together to revise the curriculum to allow us to take large animal therio at USU and make use of the phenomenal resources at our school. In the weeks leading up to spring break, our weekly labs entailed mare palpation where we transrectally palpated the ovaries and uterus of several horses. Just this week, we transitioned to bovine reproduction in lab which started with bull breeding soundness exams. Thanks to this class and the work I did with my beloved advisor Dale back at UNR, I have fallen in loooooove with therio, reproduction and neonatal care. I've even put it on the list as a possible career path/specialty. It's a subject that just makes sense and is really fun for me. So fun that I even paused in the midst of the midterm for that class and thought "I'm really enjoying taking this test!" (Wha?!?! Who says that about a test?!?! So nerdy!)

Earlier this semester, USU SVM underwent a site visit by the AVMA to assess the program and to verify that it meets the criteria that WSU is held to in order to remain an accredited veterinary school. I was selected by the faculty to be one of the students to meet with the review committee for a lunch to discuss our program. It was a very exciting opportunity!

I finally attended my first Aggie hoops game this semester! I'm sad I didn't go to more, because I had a lot of fun. USU is fairly well known for having one of the rowdiest student sections for basketball. I still don't know the words to the Scotsman, but thanks to Heather, I know the moves!

I also got the chance to enjoy Utah snow a couple of times. I picked a couple of really good powder days to hit up Beaver, the local ski resort just up Logan canyon for some half days. I had a lot of fun. It felt really good to get back on my board again. And I vowed that I will not skip out for two seasons in a row ever again! So hopefully WA has some decent slopes for me next season...

Last week was spring break for us. And of course, living by the motto 'work hard, play hard,' I spent my time doing just that. I worked on my dog skeleton for skeletal prep over the first weekend. I have the spinal cord mounted on a base and I have the ribs and sternum attached. This weekend, I am going to work on attaching the limbs with magnets at the articulations so that the limbs can be removed and demo'd. It's turned into a really cool project and looks really good. Oh, and I've named her 'Lean Cuisine!' Then, I drove down to Las Vegas early in the week to surprise Dad for a milestone birthday. Actually, Burton ended up really doing the surprising because I couldn't contain his excitement when he saw Dad walk through the door! Needless to say, I think I actually surprised one of the hardest people on this planet to surprise! We got to spend some much needed daddy-daughter time together and even went on a daddy-daughter date--on a roller coaster! It was a short visit though, because I signed up to go to the annual SAVMA Symposium held in Fort Collins, CO this year. I road tripped with a group of USU students from the class of 2017 and met up with a bunch of my friends/classmates/colleagues from WSU. We attended the ceremonies, checked out the booths, listened in on some lectures (including Temple Grandin!) and went to the Denver Aquarium. The evenings were just as fun as the days--drank good beer, had good food and socialized with lots of awesome people. I caught up with some friends from UNR (including one of my dearest friends Nicole), saw some friends from VLE and enjoyed lots of time with my USU and WSU friends. And then it was suddenly over and back to school. :( The good news though, is that we only have 6 weeks left in the semester! Just a few more  midterms and before I know it, finals and then summer!!!

I'm looking forward to another relaxing summer. I plan to stick around Utah for most of it again. Lots of hiking and camping trips planned. I will continue pet sitting through the summer too to save up for the big move up to WA. It looks like I will be moving toward the end of the summer. I haven't officially signed the lease on the place I plan to move into, but that will hopefully be accomplished soon. I found a duplex to live in with one of my Utah classmates! I was selected to be a COLE mentor again this year, so the last week of my summer will be spent at the orientation for the class of  2018 (whoa).

It's hard to believe that I am almost halfway done with veterinary school. This whole process has really flown by fast. It's had its intense challenges, but the mountain tops sure outweigh the valleys. It will be bittersweet to leave Utah, but I am looking forward to the next chapter up in Washington.

Until next time...

(pictures to come when I get a chance to upload a few!)