Lots of cool stuff!
So I know I've been hiding out for the past few weeks, but as you are about to see, a lot of cool things have been keeping me busy (also some not so cool things like tests). Lets see, where to begin.....
Well, I think I left you last time when I was in search of a yummy burrito. Mom and I have had some success; first we discovered a place called Moe's, but then Mom found a little hole in the wall taqueria in Durham that was amazing! I think we have a winner! Yay!
So a few weeks ago, a group of classmates and I went to the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus which was awesome. Supposedly I've been to the circus, but I don't remember, so it was all new to me. They had lots of cool tricks, cute animals doing all kinds of crazy things, plus I got to wear a cool hat and eat cotton candy, so you know I had a blast.
Last weekend, my friend Keri had a bachelorette party so we got to have a nice dinner, play some interesting games, and then we all went to a bar downtown where we listened to music and embarrassed Keri. I'll post pictures from both events as soon as I get them.
As far as school goes, they have been keeping us busy! Lots and lots of tests, especially this past week. This semester they like to cram every class's exam into the same week or two, which allows for very little sleep. On a fun note, last week I got to work with horses and learned how to do a full physical exam, and this past Friday we learned how to do a physical and a body condition score on dairy cows.
Last Monday I was on call for Colic Team, and I got called in! My first call so far, and it was awesome. Even though I really needed to be studying for my Cardiology exam that was the next day, I stayed from about 6-11:30 pm, to watch an amazing surgery. The horse was a one year old colt (male horse) that had a cecocolic intussusception, which is when the cecum gets invaginated and stuck inside the colon. So after I took the history, I watched them pass a nasogastric tube, do a rectal, ultrasound, and physical, before they decided we needed to get into surgery. What was so cool was that we just finished learning the abdomen in anatomy, so I was completely following everything the doctors were doing, and could tell as soon as they opened up the abdomen that all the intestines were displaced. So the short version of the surgery is that they pulled the cecum out and ended up removing about half of the cecum that had become necrotic (dead tissue). Then they realigned all the intestines and sewed him up. It was the coolest thing I have seen so far. I've been checking on the colt and he seems to be doing really well.
Last night, we had a vet school prom. I know, how cool is that?! So we all got pimped out, and had dinner, cocktails (which for me was sweet tea) and then danced and danced. It was a lot of fun, and I will definitely be posting those pictures soon.
I had another full day today. This morning I went to a course on Farriery. I learned about basic anatomy of the horse foot, common problems, and how to pull off the shoe (which is the only farrier type procedure I'll be doing). Then in the afternoon I did a raptor lab. I had done a basic raptor lab last semester, but this one was an emergency procedures lab, so we got to anesthetize the bird, do a physical, examine the eyes with an ophthalmoscope, pass an esophageal tube, draw blood from the wing, give an intramuscular injection, subcutaneous fluids, cloacal swab, and then learned some bandaging techniques for the wings and feet. It was cool because I don't have a lot of bird experience and they are so different from what I normally work with. Plus, we were able to do so many cool things.
The weather here has been interesting. It has been pretty cold, but all of a sudden it was gorgeous 70 degree, California weather, which I was loving! But then today, out of nowhere it was freezing again, and I was definitely not dressed for it. I did see a few snowflakes, what people here are calling a "wintery mix". It may be snowing in the next couple of days, so I'm planning on staying warm indoors. Me and the cold don't mix.
Well you are probably tired of reading so I'll put some pictures up.
Dr. Frederico pulling out the cecum. This only works if you have small hands.
McKae, the cutest horsie, a few days post surgery coming over to say hello.
Listening to the heart rate.
Dr. Smith showing us how to do a physical exam on a dairy cow.
Examining the eye.
Listening to the heart rate. Can you tell I'm obsessed with using my stethoscope?!
Drawing blood from the wing.
I hope everyone is doing great and I really miss you all!
Well, I think I left you last time when I was in search of a yummy burrito. Mom and I have had some success; first we discovered a place called Moe's, but then Mom found a little hole in the wall taqueria in Durham that was amazing! I think we have a winner! Yay!
So a few weeks ago, a group of classmates and I went to the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus which was awesome. Supposedly I've been to the circus, but I don't remember, so it was all new to me. They had lots of cool tricks, cute animals doing all kinds of crazy things, plus I got to wear a cool hat and eat cotton candy, so you know I had a blast.
Last weekend, my friend Keri had a bachelorette party so we got to have a nice dinner, play some interesting games, and then we all went to a bar downtown where we listened to music and embarrassed Keri. I'll post pictures from both events as soon as I get them.
As far as school goes, they have been keeping us busy! Lots and lots of tests, especially this past week. This semester they like to cram every class's exam into the same week or two, which allows for very little sleep. On a fun note, last week I got to work with horses and learned how to do a full physical exam, and this past Friday we learned how to do a physical and a body condition score on dairy cows.
Last Monday I was on call for Colic Team, and I got called in! My first call so far, and it was awesome. Even though I really needed to be studying for my Cardiology exam that was the next day, I stayed from about 6-11:30 pm, to watch an amazing surgery. The horse was a one year old colt (male horse) that had a cecocolic intussusception, which is when the cecum gets invaginated and stuck inside the colon. So after I took the history, I watched them pass a nasogastric tube, do a rectal, ultrasound, and physical, before they decided we needed to get into surgery. What was so cool was that we just finished learning the abdomen in anatomy, so I was completely following everything the doctors were doing, and could tell as soon as they opened up the abdomen that all the intestines were displaced. So the short version of the surgery is that they pulled the cecum out and ended up removing about half of the cecum that had become necrotic (dead tissue). Then they realigned all the intestines and sewed him up. It was the coolest thing I have seen so far. I've been checking on the colt and he seems to be doing really well.
Last night, we had a vet school prom. I know, how cool is that?! So we all got pimped out, and had dinner, cocktails (which for me was sweet tea) and then danced and danced. It was a lot of fun, and I will definitely be posting those pictures soon.
I had another full day today. This morning I went to a course on Farriery. I learned about basic anatomy of the horse foot, common problems, and how to pull off the shoe (which is the only farrier type procedure I'll be doing). Then in the afternoon I did a raptor lab. I had done a basic raptor lab last semester, but this one was an emergency procedures lab, so we got to anesthetize the bird, do a physical, examine the eyes with an ophthalmoscope, pass an esophageal tube, draw blood from the wing, give an intramuscular injection, subcutaneous fluids, cloacal swab, and then learned some bandaging techniques for the wings and feet. It was cool because I don't have a lot of bird experience and they are so different from what I normally work with. Plus, we were able to do so many cool things.
The weather here has been interesting. It has been pretty cold, but all of a sudden it was gorgeous 70 degree, California weather, which I was loving! But then today, out of nowhere it was freezing again, and I was definitely not dressed for it. I did see a few snowflakes, what people here are calling a "wintery mix". It may be snowing in the next couple of days, so I'm planning on staying warm indoors. Me and the cold don't mix.
Well you are probably tired of reading so I'll put some pictures up.
Dr. Frederico pulling out the cecum. This only works if you have small hands.
McKae, the cutest horsie, a few days post surgery coming over to say hello.
Listening to the heart rate.
Dr. Smith showing us how to do a physical exam on a dairy cow.
Examining the eye.
Listening to the heart rate. Can you tell I'm obsessed with using my stethoscope?!
Drawing blood from the wing.
I hope everyone is doing great and I really miss you all!
posted by Steph at 10:09 PM
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