Not Yet a Vet: Adventures of Veterinary School: 2015

It's amazing how quickly fourth year flies by! It's hard to believe I've already been through nine weeks of rotations. I feel like my first day was yesterday! I've finally started to feel like I'm settling into the hospital. The learning has been tremendous and I've really enjoyed working with all of my classmates I've had on rotations with me so far. By far, this has been the best year of vet school!

Technically, my first rotation was two weeks of vacation. Much needed vacation, I might add! I'm glad my schedule fell that way because I really needed a break immediately following finals. I was able to veg a bit and catch up on sleep. Then I went to California with Jason for a road trip up Highway 1 from Big Sur to Fort Bragg. I've never driven along any of Highway 1 before, so it was a brand new experience for me! We found some great camping spots and Burton was probably the most tired he's ever been in his life. It took him a good week to recover after five whole days of getting pummeled by the waves while playing in the Pacific Ocean.

After vacation, I started my first rotation in the VTH. I was VERY nervous for that first day. And rightfully so, because there is a steep learning curve with all the paperwork, patient care and interaction with clients. The first service I was on was Small Animal Soft Tissue Surgery. I had a few interesting cases and some very nice clients. I got to scrub in for a couple of surgeries (though I wasn't the surgeon), and I got to observe several other procedures. One of the surgeries I scrubbed in for was a prophylactic laparoscopic gastropexy! I was really lucky to start off with a really amazing group of colleagues for that first rotation. We all worked really well together and everyone was incredibly supportive and helpful.

My next rotation was Large Animal ICU (overnights). Most nights were fairly slow and we are fortunate to be allowed to split shifts when it gets slow like that. I learned that I'm probably not made out for graveyard shift...I definitely need daylight hours. My body got really confused! I was hungry all the time and I got tired at weird times because I don't know that I ever really adjusted. I'm glad I got ICU as my first rotation in the barn. I got to know how things work without the pressure of the daytime routine. We had several horses come in for emergencies and we also had to care/treat patients in the barn.

After LA ICU, I headed out to Bozeman, MT for my SIPE (student-initiated rotation). I spent two weeks working at a mixed animal practice. One of the doctors was a recent WSU grad, which was super cool! All of the doctors were phenomenal to work with. I got a lot of practical, real life experience and was able to develop some of my technical skills that I've needed to work on. Part of me wishes I could have arranged to do that rotation after a little bit more experience in the hospital, but that's the way the scheduling worked out. It was an amazing rotation nonetheless! While I was in Montana, I took a weekend to go camping at Cliff and Wade Lakes. I found a paddleboard to rent and paddleboarded out on the lake for a few hours during the morning. I saw two bald eagles! Over the Fourth of July, I met with Jason and his fam! We floated Henry's Fork in ID (saw four moose!) and went into West Yellowstone for fireworks. Fourth of July is still probably one of my favorite holidays, so Yellowstone was definitely a cool way to spend one of the best days of the year!

After the Fourth, I had to get back to Pullmania quickly! Two weeks without Roxy and Burton was really difficult! I missed them a lot! The next rotation I had was Small Animal Referral Medicine. That one is famous for it's high volume of paperwork! In the thick of it, things were very overwhelming. But looking back, the amount of learning and growth was phenomenal! I've given thought to taking it a second time. I had a fantastic group of colleagues who made the two weeks really fun. I had several really good cases and some wonderful clients to work with. I've started to really gain more confidence in my clinical skills. I'm starting to feel more sure of my physical exam findings and I'm getting better at developing a diagnostic plan for my patients.

Finally, this last week, I was on Clinical Pathology. That was a nice change of pace after the lightning fast pace of medicine since Clin Path is not a real-time patient care rotation. We reviewed a number of cases this week developed a list of differential diagnoses based on the clinical findings of the case and then developed a plan for treatment or further diagnostics. Then in the afternoons, we had a laboratory section to review cytology. It was a really helpful rotation for me. I had a lot of fun, plus it was nice to have the more relaxed pace.

Now I have a week of vacation! Then, I have a few more one week rotations. One is in Spokane for Dentistry and Dermatology. Then I'm back in the hospital on Pharmacy for a week.

I haven't had much time for anything else lately, I've been having so much fun finally playing doctor! We are only 287 days away from graduation! Lots more has to happen between now and then, but I'm really loving it. Hooray for fourth year!

Today was my last Monday of lecture EVER!!! This week is our final week of instruction. Then, we have final exams next week and the majority of my class begins clinical rotations on May 8th. I lucked out with two weeks vacation to begin my 4th year off, so I don't start rotations until May 26th. We have orientation to the hospital for two afternoons next week. It's really hard to believe that my years of sitting on my butt in the classroom are coming to an end! After vacation, my first rotation is soft tissue surgery!

This semester has been a whirlwind! Lots of excitement. Our class had our 4th year schedules pretty well laid out by March. I'm pretty happy with how mine shaped up. Only a few minor things didn't go my way.

This semesters schedule has morphed a lot. I took a dental elective which only lasted for about 4 weeks of the semester. It was a great class to take. I got a lot of practice performing extractions (on cadavers), taking and assessing radiographs and getting a better understanding of dental diseases. I'm also taking a behavior elective. I have learned a TON! I'm so glad I opted to take the class. We've had several hands on labs and worked with patients and clients to modify their dogs' behavior. Cases have been everything from separation anxiety, to fear and aggression, to noise phobias. We had a lab working with horses last week and tomorrow we will get to work with birds! It's given me lots of helpful tools in my bag that will no doubt be valuable in practice! Another elective I'm taking is a leadership elective. Part of our grade for the course is developing a project within the community. I partnered up with a friend and got the chance to use my camera to take pictures of animals that are up for adoption at the Whitman County Humane Society. Our goal was to take photos that caught the eye and showed the animals' personalities. My partner did the editing of my shots and put them into collages. We've handed the collages over to the HS and now they are up on Facebook! It was a fun project! Another elective I have taken is a clinical problem solving course. We go through a case each week from top to bottom. It's been a helpful class and I think it will do a lot of good for 4th year. And finally, my fifth elective I took was small animal soft tissue surgery. I am most definitely glad I took this class. I got two more opportunities to run anesthesia and two more solo surgeries. My first was a spay and the second was a neuter. Both were fun and successful procedures. Each surgery I've improved on the goals I set for myself and in turn discovered new things to work on.

So I took these electives on top of my regular class schedule. We've had Large Animal Medicine, Large Animal Surgery, Theriogenology (just lecture since we had the lab down in UT), Small Animal Medicine, Ophthalmology, Dermatology and Nutrition. Ophtho, Derm and Nutrition have already wrapped up. And Small Animal Medicine has essentially wrapped up as well. In place of the Small Animal med final, we take a Clinical Proficiency exam that is case based.

As always, staying mentally healthy has to happen for me, so I've had some fun this semester too! Over Valentine's weekend, I went to Leavenworth, WA with my friend Cassie. We met with a big group and stayed at a gorgeous house for the weekend and just hung out (while they went skiing...there was pretty much no snow, so we opted out). Got to hike around a bit and see the town of Leavenworth. Drank some beer and wine (haha ok, it was Franzia), played games, danced around, enjoyed the hot tub. It was a very fun weekend! For spring break, I ironically went down to Southern Utah with a few of my very close friends Jason, Nicole, Jennie and Stephen. We road tripped from Reno to Zion. We camped in Peekaboo Canyon for our first night so we could be close to Kanab. The following morning, we packed up really quickly and got to Kanab to put in for the lottery to hike to The Wave. It was nuts! Only 10 permits are handed out each day (in addition to 10 handed out to the online lottery, so only 20 people hike to The Wave each day). Out of 50 total applications, somehow mine was chosen. Unfortunately, the first applications drawn had taken up six of the permits, leaving us with four for our group of five. It was incredibly frustrating and disappointing but Nicole was an angel and let the four of us go. (just means we have to go again so Nicole can come!). We then drove out to Horseshoe Bend and then went back toward House Rock Valley Road to camp close to the trail head for the next morning. The next morning, we got up early and hiked along Coyote Buttes North out to The Wave. There isn't a marked trail, so we followed images of features the rangers had indicated would guide us. It was a gorgeous hike and it was very isolated. We saw coyote paw prints in the river bed. The Wave itself was gorgeous. It was a lot of fun hiking around on it and seeing Coyote Buttes to the north. The weather was perfect. It could not have been a better day. The Wave was a huge bucketlist item for me, so it was incredibly meaningful to check it off. I had tried a few times to get an online permit for it back when I was living in UT. But it's a tough lottery to win. After a few hours out at The Wave, we hiked back and met up with Nicole to hike Wire Pass and some of Buckskin Gulch. We fell in love with our camp spot, and decided to stay there another night. Both nights we heard coyotes very close to our camp as well as an owl. Despite being as prepared as possible, it still got REALLY cold overnight. I'm in love with my zero degree mummy bag though! Once I was burritoed in, I stayed warm. But we didn't anticipate the amount of dew that formed on everything overnight and the mornings were close to or below freezing. The next day we headed up to Bryce Canyon for a day trip. It was chilly and rainy. The next day, we went to Zion! The last time I was in Zion, it was only for a half a day. I've been wanting to go back and see more. So I was able to check another item off my bucket list. Me, Nicole, Jennie and Stephen hiked Angel's Landing. It's one of the most popular hikes in Zion. It is incredibly steep and the last half was along a ridge with deep chasms on either side. Definitely not for those with a fear of heights. A lot of the hiking and climbing, you utilize chains bolted into the rock. Once we reached the top, the view was amaaaazing! It provides you with a 360 view of the canyon. It was unforgettable. After Angel's Landing, we regrouped and hiked up to the exit of the Narrows and agreed that we would do that next time. (It was chilly and a little out of everybody's price range to hike it this time). Then we parted ways with Nicole and headed back to Reno. It was a perfect spring break and exactly what I needed! A few weekends ago, my mama came up to Pullmania for the weekend. Every spring, WSU hosts Mom's Weekend. I picked her up in Spokane. We went to the CVM open house, took professional pictures together and went to the last 30 minutes of the craft fair. And then, she offered to take me to the Sheryl Crow concert that night! We went to dinner together and then the concert which was an incredible performance! We had a really fun weekend together even though it went by really fast! Cassie and I also had another whirlwind weekend trip together. (We've started calling these The Adventures of Cassie and Chiara because we have so much fun together!) We went to Seattle for her roommate (and my friend) Andrea's bachelorette party! We went out on the town, had an amazing dinner. And then the next day got to see some of the sights since it was my first time in Seattle! This last weekend, my class hosted Junior Revue. It was a hilarious show where we reminisced and made a little fun of the life we've lived for the last three years. Afterwards, the vet school pretty much took over My Office! It was a blast!

As of today, we have 376 days until graduation!!! There is a lot to happen between now and then, but I am so very excited to finally be starting my clinical year. I'm looking forward to my friends from Utah to move up and start their third year. Lot's of exciting things going on! Until next time!!!

I have a pen pal from the local elementary school. We've written a few letters back and forth. Each time, I get a cool drawing from him!

Dental lab!

Burton being a good boy for his Schirmer Tear Test during ophthalmology lab. His STT was normal, but we did find out that he has small retinal vessels and I've noticed some very subtle signs of vision impairment (usually if it's dark or dim lighting). :(