Not Yet a Vet: Adventures of Veterinary School

Friday, July 24, 2015

Adventures of a Fourth Year

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!

Monday, April 27, 2015

Third Year Second Semester Recap: we're in the home stretch!

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). :(

Me and Cassie in Leavenworth, WA!

Palouse Falls

Cassie, me and Adrienne at our Spring Fling--reliving the 90's!

Me, Jennie and Nicole at Horseshoe Bend

THE WAVE!!!!

Wire Pass!

Top of Angel's Landing with Stephen and Jennie

The Wave!!!

Did a total ear canal ablation (TECA) on a cadaver in skills lab! That little hole is where the ear canal enters the skull!

The ear canal!

Pet shaming...

Roxy has improved with her communication skills with her roommate Bagheera

Daffodils were everywhere on the Palouse this spring! My favorite!

Ma practicing her ultrasounding skills at the CVM Open House during Mom's Weekend.

Waiting for Sheryl Crow!

I saw them throw a fish at Pike Place.

Grover, my little neuter patient! It was near impossible to get him still enough to take his picture.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Surgery Block

I did it! Made it through surgery block in one piece! It was one of the more intense three weeks I've had in my life, but I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot. During block, school and exams continued as normal, on top of a pretty demanding schedule and multiple patients in our care. Lucky for me, I got partnered with two good friends Matt and Chelsea. Chelsea and I got to work together for DC 1 and DC 2 last year, so I was really excited to have her in my group because we've worked well together. Matt and I are co-Vice Presidents for our class council together, so I was also stoked to have him in my group too!

Week one was a good introduction to what surgery block is all about. On Monday, we met our first patient who was a sweet Pitbull mix named Zeus. We were also tested on our surgery skills on day one. During the week, we ran pre-operative tests to assess Zeus' health status for his neuter. Then on Wednesday, my group and I ran anesthesia together for his procedure. A fourth year student came in to perform the neuter while we monitored him. The surgery suite is set up into 10 different stations. So once things get rolling, there are 10 procedures going on at one time. During surgery, there are multiple doctors scrubbed in who wander the suite to help as needed. We also have an anesthesiologist who rotates around to help make sure things are going smoothly. As stressful as the surgery suite is, it's also kind of low pressure because nobody hovers over you and questions your every move. Instead, the doctors are there for support and all you have to do is call them over. They were awesome at helping us think through things too instead of just giving us the answer. So things went really well for Zeus during surgery. He had a really long recovery, but ultimately he recovered well.

Every day (even the weekends) during block, we went in for patient care one to two times a day to assess vitals and give any medications. The Friday of our first week, we had a lab where we practiced skills such as liver biopsy techniques and a gastropexy (adhering the stomach to the abdominal wall to prevent it from twisting). That Friday also happened to be Halloween! The last two years I have missed out on Halloween because we have had an exam the following day and I stayed in to study. But this year, I was not going to miss out! A group of friends and I did a group costume of Alice in Wonderland together and we went to the school Halloween party. It was a really fun night!

Week two was our first week of surgery. Zeus went back to the shelter (to hopefully be adopted!) and we got a new patient for the week! Her name is Maggie and she is a Dachshund-Jack Russel mix. We did a physical exam and ran pre-op bloodwork and urinalysis. Matt was the surgeon, I was his assistant and Chelsea was his anesthetist. I scrubbed in to help Matt with Maggie's spay. It was a successful procedure and he did an awesome job. We both had an exciting moment when Matt made his incision and Maggie's skin bled (totally normal!). It wasn't my first time assisting with a live procedure, but it had been a long time and we don't get to practice on live tissue, so seeing the blood sort of surprised us. Also, Maggie had really tiny organs so I helped Matt externalize the ovarian pedicles. We both got excited about handling live tissue that was warm. It was a really fun experience and it eased my nerves to help Matt with his surgery prior to being the head surgeon the following week. Maggie had already been adopted prior to her surgery which made us all really happy (and kind of sad because I wanted Matt to adopt her), so she left at the end of the week to go to her new home.

Week three was by far the craziest of the block. It was the final week, we had two patients (and thus two surgeries) as well as a round of midterms! Prior to being the surgeon and the anesthetist, we had an oral exam of our skills and knowledge of what to do in certain surgical scenarios. The dog I was assigned to spay was a sweet lab mix named Stella. And Chelsea's patient was an adorable little Pitbull maybe beagle mix named Meredith. Again, we did physical exams and ran bloodwork at the beginning of the week. I was the surgeon on Wednesday, Chels was my assistant and Matt was my anesthetist. I was really really nervous while we were prepping Stella, while I did my surgical scrub and when I was making my incision. Once I started, I was less nervous. Stella had a few minor abnormalities that gave me a little bit of a challenge. She had probably already had puppies because her uterus and ovarian pedicles were large! And she might have been just about to come into heat and she had a lot of vasculature to her organs. Also, she had a ton of fat! Fat is annoying to deal with during surgery! Fortunately, I had some good help from the surgeons and ultimately her procedure and recovery went smoothly. She spent the night in the VTH ICU because her recovery went past 7:00 (policy!). My group and I grabbed a pizza together and then went in for her two hour recheck later that evening. But my night wasn't over there! I went home and wrote up Stella's surgery report. Needless to say, it was a late night. The next day was Chelsea's surgery day. I ran anesthesia and Matt was her assistant. Meredith's spay went really well. And she was textbook for anesthesia for me. Chelsea did an awesome job (though I wasn't able to watch the whole thing, just bits and pieces of the procedure). At the end of the week, the girls went back to the shelters to be adopted. I have no doubt Meredith will be adopted quickly! She was a ham. I checked on Stella today and she still has yet to be adopted. I am really really hoping she finds a home. She is an absolute sweetheart. Early in the week, she was developing kennel cough, but by the end of the week, she was feeling better and her personality really came out. Stella was very mellow and just wanted to be loved on. She'll make an awesome family dog.

During that last week of block, we had an exam on the day I had surgery on Wednesday and on Friday. We had patient care through the weekend and then exams on the Monday and Tuesday. I am super thankful to have had Amanda help me through those six days. We had dinner together in the Bustad lounge multiple nights in a row during several intense late night study sessions. The exams all ended up going fairly well, but that week was a blur!

We got the week off for Thanksgiving and so I definitely caught up on sleep. Tomorrow its back to school. We have two more weeks of regular classes and then one week of finals. This semester flew by! After this, we only have one more semester of sitting on our butts in the classroom. We get reminded almost every day that we'll be on the clinic floor in six months and out looking for a job in 18 months. Crazy!!!

I submitted my draft of my fourth year schedule. We still have to add in our supplemental rotations, so its not finalized yet. I'm also still trying to figure out where to go for my SIPE (student initiated rotation). I'm looking for a mixed animal practice, but I've got some time to figure it out.

Before I wrap it all up, I have some pictures from surgery block! Until next time!
xoxo

Zeus! He was full of energy!

I went to a corn maze down in Lewiston, ID with a group of girlfriends before surgery block. Of course Cassie (my vet school twinsie) and I had to take pictures as a cow and a potato!

Our Alice in Wonderland group costume!

Heather and I awaiting our oral exams for surgeon and anesthetist. Of course everything is alphabetical, so I was last on the list for my exams.

Chelsea's patient Meredith! Such a cutie pie!

This was my last day with Stella Bella. It was so hard to say goodbye to her. Somebody adopt her pleeeeeease!!!!

Stella got super cuddly in the days following her spay. Look at that face!

Stella broke my heart every time I put her back in her kennel. She would jump up on the fencing like this to watch us walk out the door.

My friends were amazing surgery support. These were the goodies I got from them the day of my surgery. I joked that I should do surgery every day because it was like my birthday! And look, Amanda got me a Nevada Wolfpack surgery cap (and I should note that UNR reclaimed the Fremont Cannon at the rivalry game last night--no matter where I end up, I'm always first and foremost a member of the Wolfpack)!!!

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Pullmania!

Better late than never, a quick update! I officially moved from Logan to Pullman at the end of the summer. I've settled in to what will be my home for the next two years. I have an awesome roommate. She has a cat named Bagheera, so Roxy and Burton have a new roommate too. The kitties still aren't too sure of each other, but they tolerate/ignore each other.
School is going well. This semester is all the medicine courses. I'm feeling more and more like a doctor every day! The classes I'm taking are Small Animal Medicine, Equine Medicine, Large Animal Medicine, Small Animal Surgery, Clinical Pharmacology, Communications and Applied Anatomy. And starting on Monday, I begin my surgery block! I'll be on block for three weeks and will get to performa spay for my first solo surgery! I'm very excited and a little bit nervous, but all around looking forward to the experience. The classmates I'm grouped up with are awesome, supportive people, so I'm really glad to be working with the two of them.
We are already starting to plan our schedule for 4th year. It's a complex process so it's kind of overwhelming, especially to be working on it so early. I've also got a tentative plan in place for my senior paper, and have arrangements for a mentor who will be awesome to work with.
A few pictures of the events of the semester so far are below! I hope to update again after surgery block! Woo hoo! A chance to cut is a chance to cure!