Second year begins!

Hello! So I know I disappeared for an entire summer, but I was keeping myself pretty busy and there wasn't a whole lot of time for blogging, plus I lacked an internet connection for a big chunk of the summer. I know, how did I survive? Anyways, I've got a whole lot of catching up to do. Lets travel back in time to where I left off in May....
So as I mentioned last time, I worked at Banfield for six weeks at the beginning of the summer acting as a Pet Nurse, doing pretty standard technician duties. It was great to work on my small animal skills and get more comfortable drawing blood, putting in catheters, etc. I also started doing the dental cleanings towards the end, so that was kind of fun. After a quick six weeks, it was time for my big adventure. I went home to Southern CA just for a couple of days, some quick partying with family and friends, then road tripped seven hours north to Davis, CA. I did a one month clinical rotation in Equine Surgery that was not short of amazing. A total life altering experience. I rented a room from a main campus professor which was a little uncomfortable at first, but I got settled in, and quickly bonded with her three dogs. UC Davis has an awesome vet hospital, although my school is still way better. At Davis I was sort of an acting 4th year student. We were assigned our own cases and we were expected to work up the entire case starting with the history from the owner, doing the physical exam, and helping the doctor with any procedure that was needed. The doctors let us do most of the stuff while they coached us through it. If our patient went to surgery, we got to scrub in and assist with that. We did all of the record keeping, surgery reports, and discharge instructions. It was the most intense four weeks, but I learned more in that time than I thought possible. It was a constant challenge. We had rounds twice a day, where we were expected to present our case to the rest of the group and so we had to be completely on top of everything having to do with that patient. The doctors would sort of quiz us on pertinent information, and if we couldn't answer, we'd have to look it up for the next day. So, as you can tell, the days were very, very long. A typical day would have me at school by 7 am, doing my morning treatments, and leaving anywhere between 8-10 pm, not including any studying. They expected a lot from me, but were understanding that I was only one year into vet school. But as most of you know, I work better under pressure, and so I thrived in this type of environment. As for the horses, I fell in love with them. They have personalities just like dogs and cats, and I definitely bonded with a few of them. As far as the skills go, I could not have done more. It's hard to put into words all the cool stuff I got to help with, especially if you aren't in the field. But if you want more specifics, I'd be happy to share. But don't worry, even though I think I had two days off the whole time I was there, the Davis girls took care of me. They took me out, showed me the ropes of downtown, took me dancing.... so we were able to squeeze some fun in between all that learning. The last weekend of the program, Dan came up to visit and to drive back down south with me. We went to San Francisco for the day. It was awesome to get some quality time in with my brother. I wish Kev could have come too. Next, I hung out in Torrance, my hometown for two weeks, and had a blast spending time with friends and family. I never feel like I have enough time there, and I never get to see everyone, but still a great trip home. Then back to the east coast, and back to work at Banfield for about a week and a half before school started. Mom and I drove up to Atlantic City for a couple of days the last weekend before school and gambled at the casinos, shopped at the outlets, and dipped our toes in the ocean. It was a nice finale to the summer. But right when we got back, I decided to take another trip... up the stairs at home.... resulting in two fractures in my big toe, one going into the joint. I know I'm clumsy, but come on, who does that? So luckily I was only on crutches for a couple of days, and then I got to wear a pretty stylish open toed walking shoe. A month later my toe is much better, but I still can't wear regular shoes. Hopefully soon. Anyways, appreciate your toes, they do more than you think. Before I knew it the semester had begun. Classes are a combination of awesome and hard. So far, the only one I'm not really into is Pharmacology, but it's getting a little better now that we're getting into the different types of drugs. I like the classes though because we're getting into some relevant information, and my summer experiences were a nice introduction to a lot of what I'm learning about now. We started doing surgeries this semester. We're in groups of three and we're doing spays and neuters on dogs. We had our first surgery on Tuesday. I was the anesthetist, so I had to keep that puppy alive. And somehow I did. Even though I'm dying to get in there and use the scalpel, with the whole toe injury, standing for that many hours isn't possible. But hopefully soon it'll be ready. I had a swine lab on Friday, which was cool except that the pigs are so stinky. But it was fun, we got to check the sows (females) to see if they were pregnant, and I like using the ultrasound machine, so that was great. I played with a couple of babies too, just because they're so cute. Lets see what else... oh, I am now officially a North Carolinian! I got residency so my tuition went way down, and my debt will be quite a bit less. I also discovered my first tick, on my leg, and to my own surprise I didn't freak out, but calmly got some tweezers and removed it. I guess pulling them off the dogs at Banfield got me ready for that moment. So I think I've earned my east coast status after that one. I also just got hired for the Large Animal Treatment Crew. I'm already on the Small Animal version, but this will give me a lot more responsibilities and I'm hoping to do some cool stuff like I did in Davis. Mainly I'll be working with horses so it should be a lot of fun. Well I think I've caught you all up on what's been going on with me for the past few months, this blog has been in the works for a long time, just had a lot to catch up on. Now that I'm back in a more normal routine I should be able to keep this thing updated a little better. Hope you are all doing great and that you had an awesome summer as well! Time for pictures!

Hades and his friend Anna playing in the backyard. This one is for anyone that is questioning his happiness here. Do you see his smile?


Angela, Larissa, and I at PF Changs.


My adorable grandparents, or as I call them, Abuelo and Abuela.


My godson Sean, doing his traditional playing with your hair while he drinks his bottle. Isn't he getting big?!


The capital building, in Sacramento, CA, when I was playing tourist one day.


Prepping for a hernia repair.


Here we are doing a distal limb perfusion, which is a way of pumping a large dose of antibiotics into a specific region of the limb to prevent infection.


Here is the "Surg 1" group in my second week. Kristin, Sadie, and I with one of the cutest colts, Comet.


Dr. Castro is doing a biopsy on an oral mass.


These are the ovaries we just pulled out of that tiny incision on the side of the horse. An ovariectomy.


We are doing a tracheotomy on this horse prior to doing an arytenoidectomy (where we remove the arytenoid cartilages to open up the airway). We can't place a normal endotracheal tube because it would be in the way of the surgery site.


We are inducing this horse prior to anesthetizing it for surgery. Everything with horses is a huge team effort and requires a lot of strength and machinery.


We are doing a treadmill exam to evaluate the airway function of this horse with respiratory difficulty. We do an endoscopy while they run so we can look for paralysis in the airway anatomy.


Becky and I are scrubbing the limbs for surgery. We did periosteal stripping to correct angular limb deformities on foals. We did about 14 strips and 2 hernia repairs in one day.


The surgery team after an intense day of speed surgeries at Harris Farms.


These were the cute dogs I babysat while I was in Davis. The three of them and I slept in a full size bed. I'm not sure how that worked. After that, I don't think Hades hogs the bed at all.


Me, Dan, and Amanda at Baker Beach in San Francisco. Check out the Golden Gate Bridge behind us!


Nacca, Me, and Larissa at the Paris casino buffet. I can't go home without a quick trip to Vegas. :-P


Nacca, Morgan, Larissa, and I at the Coca Cola factory in Las Vegas.


Avenue A, Redondo Beach, CA. Steph who is allergic to the cold, actually got in the water with Dan and Josh and attempted to body surf. No hives! That's the first time I've swam in the ocean in about four years, so I was stoked.


Me and my awesome cousin/brother Josh at Hermosa Beach.


Here is my house in Torrance, CA for you non-Californians to see. I miss that place and hope to steal it from my brothers one day.


Atlantic City, New Jersey. This is the boardwalk, which reminded me of a cleaner version of Venice Beach, CA.


Any place that combines casinos, outlets, and the beach is totally awesome.


Mom and I at the Hard Rock Cafe on the boardwalk.


Hades cruising in the mustang.


Just thought I'd give you a glimpse of what can happen when you decide to trip up the stairs. I don't recommend it. Luckily, the splint covers most of the bruising and ugliness. Good thing I had just given myself a pedicure.


Colleen, Arit, and I at Red Room, a Spanish tapas restaurant in Raleigh.


This is Harley, our first surgery patient. He was a 12 week old Pit Bull Mix, and totally adorable.


Here's my schedule for the semester. Class breakdown: Pharmacology, Parasitology, Pathology, Anesthesiology, Surgery, Teaching Animal Unit, Physical Exam Skills, plus all the labs. That should keep me busy until Christmas.

Summer!

Wahoo! I survived my first year of vet school! So since my last update, I went through some killer finals, and my selective courses afterwards. For my selectives I took Farrier Medicine where I rode around with a horse shoer for a week and practiced pulling off shoes. I know it doesn't sound like much but that is probably one of the most physically grueling jobs. I could barely walk at the end of each day. The second week I took Advanced Equine Podiatry where we studied all about the horse foot, and practiced doing x-rays, measurements, and foot trims. One day we drove up to Virginia to a clinic that had a three-legged horse. Very cool.
So now I'm on summer break and loving every minute of it. I started a job at Banfield, The Pet Hospital, which is the vet inside Petsmart two weeks ago. They have a program for vet students to help us gain more hands-on skills in the clinics. I'll be working there for six weeks as a "Pet Nurse". I'm working about 40 hours a week and I really like it so far. I'm definitely getting great experience dealing with clients and their pets. After the six weeks, I will be going to UC Davis for another externship. I'll be doing a summer clinical rotation in Equine Surgery for a month (June 19-July 17). It sounds pretty intense, but I think it'll be a great opportunity. I'm hoping that I'll be able to persuade family and friends to come visit me while I'm there. Davis isn't that far, right? :-)
So those are my summer plans. Other than that, I'm hanging out with Hades and the cats. Hades is still doing great, chasing birds and squirrels when he's not sleeping the day away.
Here are some pictures of events I mentioned last time, plus some new stuff.

This is taken at the vet school's open house. Nikita and I worked at the pony picture booth. It was so cute to see all the little kids riding the ponies. I realized how much I miss working with kids.



Here's a couple of pictures from our last days in anatomy lab. Mandy is slicing away at Moonpie, our cow cadaver. As you can see there isn't much left of her.



Mandy, Me, and Nikita taking a picture break.



Here I'm doing a venous cut down on a dog cadaver. It was part of a CPR and Emergency Procedures lab.



My friends and I were all signed up for a mare palpation lab, where we were going to perform rectals for the first time. We were all super pumped, but unfortunately the lab was cancelled. So, we decided to take silly pictures pretending we were palpating. We called it the "air palpation". Notice the sad, disappointed faces.... ;-)



Some cute chickens from TAU. We didn't do too much with them, just learned how to pick them up and do a quick physical exam.



Here is the famous, "cow with a window" that you may have heard of. Not quite what I was picturing, but still pretty cool. They're called fistulated steers.



Shoulder deep in rumen! For our GI physiology lab, we got to palpate the rumen in the fistulated steers. It was awesome! Such a weird feeling to have your hand inside an animals stomach. Craziness.



My arm is covered in rumen contents, and I couldn't be happier. Only a vet student.



So I'm officially a southerner, because I can now milk a cow. My friend Keri works in the milking parlor at school, and she taught me all the magic that goes into milking. Another awesome experience.



This is taken at the farrier course I took. Here I'm cutting the clenches which hold the nail onto the hoof wall. You have to knock these off, or when you pull the nails out you can rip the hoof wall. And if you can't tell, I'm pretty much under the horse right now.



Here I'm using the shoe pullers to help pry the nails loose.



This is at Kanki, probably one of the best restaurants here, celebrating Chris and Alana's birthdays.



Here I am taking measurements of hoof angles at the Podiatry Clinic in Virginia.



This horse had it's leg amputated years ago, and is still doing great, trotting around happily.



This pretty much shows what Hades and I do every night when I get home. He's a cuddle dog.

Happy Spring!

Well hello again! I know it's been forever since my last update but this past month has been a little hectic. I think most of you know by now that on the way back from CA, my mom got sick. She was diagnosed with viral meningitis which caused another condition, Bell's Palsy to occur. She's doing much better now, not perfect, but much improved, so as you can imagine, it's been a little tough with that and school.
As for spring break, it was AWESOME! California was beautiful (no surprise there) and it was great spending time with my family, even though it wasn't much time. I'm really sorry to everyone that I wasn't able to visit. The trip was short and last minute and I really only had time for family. The road trip back wasn't too bad. Hades did amazing. He pretty much slept the entire time. It took us 3 days, getting on the road at about 4 am and driving straight until 9ish p.m. Our only stop was in Texas, to get my mom checked out. Totally worth it for the cutest puppy ever. I absolutely LOVE having him here. It's nice to just look over at his cuteness when I'm studying.
Well, since I've been back it's been non-stop exams. The first three weeks back were tough, lots of studying, and not a whole lot else. This past week was much nicer. Just one paper to do, so I was able to catch up on some much needed sleep. On Tuesday, I was supposed to do a mare palpation (a mare is a female horse). We were supposed to do a rectal, but it was cancelled so unfortunately I won't be sending that picture back to everyone like I wanted. But we did take some silly pictures of ourselves that I'll post when I get them. Thursday though was super fun. In physiology lab, we got to palpate the rumen of a cow. You may have heard of these fistulated cows, or "cows with windows". The window is just over the rumen, which is on the left side of the abdomen. Basically the window serves as a plug, and so we unplugged it, and put our arm inside to feel different anatomical structures within the rumen. It was the coolest feeling. I won't get into too much detail, because I'm sure most of you already think I'm weird for enjoying this, but if you want the total scoop, just let me know. After that, my friend Keri, showed Nikita and I how to milk cows. The school has machines that do a lot of the work, but we still needed to hand milk a little to make sure the milk looked normal. It was a lot of fun. Pictures from all my cow fun will be coming soon.
Before spring break, in my goat lab, we got to work with the "kids" (baby goats). They were so cute! We dewormed them, put on an ear tattoo, castrated a few males, and trimmed feet.
Well I think that's most of the update for now, I'll post a bunch of pictures and add as I go. I'll post some more stuff later, so I don't overwhelm you all at once.

Me holding the cutest little baby goat.



Here I'm doing an ear tattoo.



Me and my handsome dad at the Redondo Beach Pier.



Just a gorgeous shot of the pier. I miss the beach.



Partying it up with the family at Naja's. That's my brother Dan, godfather Hector and aunt Cindy. Cousin Terra and uncle Jim in the background.



Cuddling with my godson Sean and little Tyson. Isn't Sean getting big?!



Driving through downtown, Los Angeles. This is for you non-Californians.



Hades thinks he's human. And look at those ears!



There was pretty much zero visibility driving through this snow storm in Arizona. Good thing we had an explorer.



Once we got past the Arizona storm, this is what the rest of the drive looked like. Clear skies, and lots of flat land.



I know what you're thinking, I'm a total nerd, and my hair looks crazy, but hey, aren't Hades and I cute?



This is what Hades did all three days.



So, when I got back to NC, I was called in to watch a foal that was sick. It's part of the Equine Emergency Team that I'm on. I just had to sit with the foal for 4 hours, make sure it wasn't trying to move around too much, and every hour help with treatments. It was a cool experience and a very cute foal. Isn't that pillow case awesome?



Last but not least, in lab, we worked with the pigs a little. We didn't do too much hands on stuff this time, but they were still cute in a pig kind of way.



I'll be back soon with more updates! Oh and Happy Birthday to little Sean and my friend Nikki!