I have so many things to be happy about.
Except that it is early. And that I am typing this on my couch because it's cold out and I don't wanna go outside. Or that I gave blood for the first time yesterday.
Oh, you think that is a good thing?
Well it was good, hit the vein on the first try, but because there was a tissue plug or something keeping the blood from flowing, it wouldn't flow and they dug in my arm for like 15 min. Then they couldn't even get the blood! So my arm is bruised and sore and I didn't save anyone. Sad day man, sad day.
But! In anatomy lab we are going over lab animals, which meant hearing a lecture on pocket pets like guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters, and rabbits. We also dissected rats in lab and I never thought I would be in a room where you would hear girls squeal things like:
"Look at that teeny,tiny uterus!"
"Oh my goodness! That is the sweetest little spleen I just can't belie- Loooooook the bitty little KIDNEYS!"
I was one of the worst offenders. I have a thing for miniatures.
I also had my first day and AHCC which actually went really well. They showed me what I needed to be shown and it was fine! Except for the technician I had been warned about who treats you like you are a complete moron. Which was fine, because it was nice to have a refresher course, however I had already had training and also am not a complete moron. I mean 1 or 2 practice rounds of checking the patient and writing in the charts was probably ok, but after 4 or 5? I think I can probably do it on my own. But it was fun and I got to buy a sweet digital watch so I could time heart rates.
AND - best thing ever! - One of the dogs had one of the only diseases I have learned anything about. Like seriously it has been talked about in like 3 classes and we just had it on a test. Big big big moment for me. To recognize a disease and have some idea of how it happened and the symptoms? So cool.
And my daddy won tickets to Reba and The Band Perry in St. Louis which is so amazingly cool. I don't love Reba like dad does, but the show should be amazing and I do love The Band Perry. Plus it is me, mom, dad, and my brother, so it should be a blast. And my momma made me oatmeal cookies just cause I said I wanted some.
What a mom :-)
so now I should go study for my anatomy quiz and eat some breakfast. As a rewward for...being busy (?) I am gonna buy lunch at Zou and not make it, so I did have time to type this post.
Everyone have a great weekend!
-OH! and also I am going to walk in the Dog Jog tomorrow morning with some of my girlfriends. It's a 5K and I would love to run it, but I have been doing more Zumba and less running lately and am not sure that I can. Next year I will. But nonetheless, it'll be fun and I believe the money goes to our local humane society.
AND the roomies and I are carving pumpkins on Sunday.
AND I have to make a dalmatian costume because our Halloween theme is 101 Dalmatians so our whole class will be rocking spots on Monday.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Even at 6 am
I get a little tingle of excitement walking into school, because I'm still in vet school and it's still so awesome!
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Monday, October 24, 2011
Vacation from my vacation
Apparently, even though you spent about 16 hours driving this weekend, the world does not stop and give you an extra few days to recoup.
Weird.
So I spent the weekend with some of my best friends, former residents, and of course my boyfriend at my undergrad university. The leaves on the trees have changed and the whole drive there was sunny and beautiful. Plus I listened to the book "The Help" while driving, which is great so far. I also listened to two of my lectures that had been recorded. They were not great. But they happened so....that's that.
I had a great time with Harv and my little nephew dog, we took them to the dog park, partially because I am an awesome aunt, but mostly because the dogs were so excited to see each other that we thought they might break something in Mike's apartment. At the dog park I observed some truly moronic behavior. These 3 girls (turns out they are 15 yrs old) got dropped off with one great pyrenees (BIG DOG), one little terrier mix, and one herding/shepherd/pointy earred dog. Then one of the girls carries a small kennel into the dog park and proceeds to dump one small and one teeny tiny puppy out of it, shut the kennel door, and walk to the far end of the park where she and her buddies scream everytime a dog slobbers on them and giggle over their cell phones. Meanwhile, myself, my cousin, Mike, and a few others at the park proceeded to mother the puppies. Not that the other dogs were bad to them, by any means; they were so sweet and gentle with them. But the poor pups were terrified and just wanted someone's legs to stand between. Also when a bunch of 50-90lb dogs are running in a pack, it is very easy for little puppies to get stepped on. After a long while (like 30-45 min) the girls come grab the puppies, tell us they found them on the side of the road, and leave.... Very strange.
But I had a great time with my guy and my dog just hanging out, cooking breakfast, grocery shopping, etc... I miss him more when I see him. It doesn't help that when I get in the car, the dog puts his paws on the window and gives me the most pitiful face on the planet. Gotta love having a long distance relationship with your guy and your dog. But I don't have to vaccuum up the dog hair, so that's a silver lining I guess.
I did play the evil auntie this weekend because my cousin had me trim my poor nephew dogs toenails, and let me tell you, he is a con dog. He jumps as if I am going to cut his entire toenail off. I did nick him, but just barely, because if you have ever quicked a dog (cut the vein in their nail a little) then you know that it bleeds as if the dog is planning to just evacuate it's entire blood supply in the next 5 min. But he barely bled at all, which means he was fine. However, he had me in such a tizzy about picking on my little nephew that his nails were cut progressively less short until his front toenails got barely cut...I got conned, okay? And I knew it, but it didn't matter. My Harvey sat perfectly still except for trying to lick my hand while I did his, thank goodness because I know he could con me big time.
So I am not glad it is Monday, and I don't want to study, but you can only put it off for so long....
Oh yea, but I still love vet school :-)
Weird.
So I spent the weekend with some of my best friends, former residents, and of course my boyfriend at my undergrad university. The leaves on the trees have changed and the whole drive there was sunny and beautiful. Plus I listened to the book "The Help" while driving, which is great so far. I also listened to two of my lectures that had been recorded. They were not great. But they happened so....that's that.
I had a great time with Harv and my little nephew dog, we took them to the dog park, partially because I am an awesome aunt, but mostly because the dogs were so excited to see each other that we thought they might break something in Mike's apartment. At the dog park I observed some truly moronic behavior. These 3 girls (turns out they are 15 yrs old) got dropped off with one great pyrenees (BIG DOG), one little terrier mix, and one herding/shepherd/pointy earred dog. Then one of the girls carries a small kennel into the dog park and proceeds to dump one small and one teeny tiny puppy out of it, shut the kennel door, and walk to the far end of the park where she and her buddies scream everytime a dog slobbers on them and giggle over their cell phones. Meanwhile, myself, my cousin, Mike, and a few others at the park proceeded to mother the puppies. Not that the other dogs were bad to them, by any means; they were so sweet and gentle with them. But the poor pups were terrified and just wanted someone's legs to stand between. Also when a bunch of 50-90lb dogs are running in a pack, it is very easy for little puppies to get stepped on. After a long while (like 30-45 min) the girls come grab the puppies, tell us they found them on the side of the road, and leave.... Very strange.
But I had a great time with my guy and my dog just hanging out, cooking breakfast, grocery shopping, etc... I miss him more when I see him. It doesn't help that when I get in the car, the dog puts his paws on the window and gives me the most pitiful face on the planet. Gotta love having a long distance relationship with your guy and your dog. But I don't have to vaccuum up the dog hair, so that's a silver lining I guess.
I did play the evil auntie this weekend because my cousin had me trim my poor nephew dogs toenails, and let me tell you, he is a con dog. He jumps as if I am going to cut his entire toenail off. I did nick him, but just barely, because if you have ever quicked a dog (cut the vein in their nail a little) then you know that it bleeds as if the dog is planning to just evacuate it's entire blood supply in the next 5 min. But he barely bled at all, which means he was fine. However, he had me in such a tizzy about picking on my little nephew that his nails were cut progressively less short until his front toenails got barely cut...I got conned, okay? And I knew it, but it didn't matter. My Harvey sat perfectly still except for trying to lick my hand while I did his, thank goodness because I know he could con me big time.
So I am not glad it is Monday, and I don't want to study, but you can only put it off for so long....
Oh yea, but I still love vet school :-)
Monday, October 17, 2011
And I suck a little tiny bit at life
...or just at blogging
I really did mean to post every week and then life kind of happened.
Things are moving right along as far as school goes. My exams are all going fine, and I seriously kicked some Physiology butt on the last test which will balance out the badness from the first exam. Summary - Phys grade now semi fixed.
In other more interesting news, our dear dissection dog, Cujo, was awarded a very big honor in lab the other day. Whilst dissecting his manly bits, we enlisted the help of one of our professor, (for the purposes of this blog, we will call her Dr. Nerves 'cause that is what she rocks at!) Dr. Nerves for help in identifying some of the smaller nerves and blood vessels of the sensitive groin type variety. When she came over she first told us that we had done a great job dissecting it (hell yea group 4!) and also that Cujo has
...drumroll....
The very best and well dyed examples of blood vessels and nerves in his manly bits area that she had
Ever. Seen...Ever.
It was such a momentous occasion that she requested that Dr. Badluck (when I describe him later, you will know why) come over and take a photo to be shown to new generations of vet students. We, of course, requested to be in a picture with Cujo's amazing manly bits and if I get the OK from the office, I will post the picture here :-) Thus, Cujo's manly bits will be instructing many years of vet school students about how things are supposed to look down there. Dissection dog win.
We then spend around half an hour discussing with Dr. Badluck the various injuries he sustained in practice and then continued into a conversation about how all the men in the Badluck family seem to acquire weird injuries included but not limited to: being run over by a van, being lifted up by the groin by a horse shoe, having to have a nerve moved to a different place, and having a kidney stone. He also has a very dry and ironic sense of humor. So we really enjoyed that even though we learned very little about anatomy.
Tomorrow is one of the best days of all days. Free Product Day. I kid you not, that is actually the name. All the vet students and residents and such get to come into the conference center and get all the free stuff that different companies want us to try. This means a lot of free stuff along with some raffles for some bigger free stuff. I have no money and am VERY excited about this. It's like a little mini Christmas.
This is another week of meetings which is actually great for me because that means I get fed dinner 3 out of 5 days this week. Plus in ZEW (zoo, exotics and wildlife) club we get to have someone come talk about bats, and that is a very nice change of pace from learning about dogs and cats.
But the very best thing is that Friday I am driving back to Ohio to see some of my favorite people and animals! The boyfriend, Harv-man and I will be chilling all weekend AND my best friend and my best sister/cousin/friend are coming to see me on Sat. And I am going to say hey to my people at my old clinic.
So despite having a rather large pair of tests today and tomorrow, all around this week is going well.
Rock on vet school!
I really did mean to post every week and then life kind of happened.
Things are moving right along as far as school goes. My exams are all going fine, and I seriously kicked some Physiology butt on the last test which will balance out the badness from the first exam. Summary - Phys grade now semi fixed.
In other more interesting news, our dear dissection dog, Cujo, was awarded a very big honor in lab the other day. Whilst dissecting his manly bits, we enlisted the help of one of our professor, (for the purposes of this blog, we will call her Dr. Nerves 'cause that is what she rocks at!) Dr. Nerves for help in identifying some of the smaller nerves and blood vessels of the sensitive groin type variety. When she came over she first told us that we had done a great job dissecting it (hell yea group 4!) and also that Cujo has
...drumroll....
The very best and well dyed examples of blood vessels and nerves in his manly bits area that she had
Ever. Seen...Ever.
It was such a momentous occasion that she requested that Dr. Badluck (when I describe him later, you will know why) come over and take a photo to be shown to new generations of vet students. We, of course, requested to be in a picture with Cujo's amazing manly bits and if I get the OK from the office, I will post the picture here :-) Thus, Cujo's manly bits will be instructing many years of vet school students about how things are supposed to look down there. Dissection dog win.
We then spend around half an hour discussing with Dr. Badluck the various injuries he sustained in practice and then continued into a conversation about how all the men in the Badluck family seem to acquire weird injuries included but not limited to: being run over by a van, being lifted up by the groin by a horse shoe, having to have a nerve moved to a different place, and having a kidney stone. He also has a very dry and ironic sense of humor. So we really enjoyed that even though we learned very little about anatomy.
Tomorrow is one of the best days of all days. Free Product Day. I kid you not, that is actually the name. All the vet students and residents and such get to come into the conference center and get all the free stuff that different companies want us to try. This means a lot of free stuff along with some raffles for some bigger free stuff. I have no money and am VERY excited about this. It's like a little mini Christmas.
This is another week of meetings which is actually great for me because that means I get fed dinner 3 out of 5 days this week. Plus in ZEW (zoo, exotics and wildlife) club we get to have someone come talk about bats, and that is a very nice change of pace from learning about dogs and cats.
But the very best thing is that Friday I am driving back to Ohio to see some of my favorite people and animals! The boyfriend, Harv-man and I will be chilling all weekend AND my best friend and my best sister/cousin/friend are coming to see me on Sat. And I am going to say hey to my people at my old clinic.
So despite having a rather large pair of tests today and tomorrow, all around this week is going well.
Rock on vet school!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Did you know
The best things I learn in vet school are not going to be on any tests in the near future
Some examples:
Some examples:
- You can make a horse hold its breath by holding its nose
- If you squeeze your fingers along the sides of a dog's spine, the cutaneous muscles will twitch (their skin moves)
- Vultures are the only social raptors
- Birds have little bones in their eyes
- If you want to hear a cat breathe but they are purring, you just turn on the water in the exam room
- Rats can do agility
- There are such things as pigs with flourescent noses
Monday, October 3, 2011
Good Morning!
And here I am at the vet school...
Suprise!
Getting ready for a baller week. One quiz (which is really more like a test), one regular test, and then an anatomy exam which is really more like 2 exams.
Which reminds me. I never explained how anatomy exams work. For each anatomy exam we have a list of things we should know about/be able to find/be able to label. For test 2 (this test) that list is almost 4 pages, 2 columns on each page, size 11ish font. That's a lot of terms.
For the written portion we have lectures about anatomy given by our various professors. The written test is about 1.5 hrs long and depending on your alpha number (kind of like an ID number) you will either take the written or the practical portion of the exam first. Since I took the written portion first last time, I will take the practical portion first this time.
The practical portion is kind of awesome but also a little scary. About 3am or 4am the morning of the exam, the anatomy professors go into the lab to start setting up. We have left all our dogs and cats out and the professors tag things on them, on lab specimens, on dried bones, and on radiographs (x-rays). A tag might be a pin stuck in a muscle; a string tied around a vein, artery or nerve; or a circled portion of a radiograph. It really could be anything and there may be 2 parts. For example, a muscle may have a pin in it labeled 27 and #27 might read "#27 a)Identify the muscle (if it's a certain portion of the muscle they may add "BE SPECIFIC") b) what innervated this muscle?" So you have to not only name the muscle, but also what nerve sends it signals.
You have exactly 60 seconds at each station with your clipboard and then once everyone has gone through once, you have another round with 20 seconds at each station. So it goes pretty quick. It is kind of neat to see what your brain has retained, but it is also kind of terrifying. And since I write so sloppy, I had the worst pains in my left hand from trying to hold my clipboard super steady. But the professor was still able to read it, so Win.
The littlest brother was here this weekend which was fun! We made a pilgrimage to 3 different pet stores. Mostly cuz it's fun, but also because I am investigating getting a pet rat. Yes I know you may think it is gross, but they are actually very smart and friendly, and I think it could be fun. And I'm a vet student, I need a little fun in my life :-)
Rat Agility Example. I know, who knew rats did agility?
Surprisingly little bro was not a hindrance to my studies because whenever I looked distracted he would ask if I was really studying, which I wasn't. And we played Cash Cab in my car where he would read me questions from my flashcards and I would answer them. Fun times with the big sis huh?
But never the less, I have a quiz in Micro Anatomy, also known as Histology, also know as looking at stuff on slides. Woo.
I really love vet school, I do! (not sarcasm...well not at this moment anyway)
Suprise!
Getting ready for a baller week. One quiz (which is really more like a test), one regular test, and then an anatomy exam which is really more like 2 exams.
Which reminds me. I never explained how anatomy exams work. For each anatomy exam we have a list of things we should know about/be able to find/be able to label. For test 2 (this test) that list is almost 4 pages, 2 columns on each page, size 11ish font. That's a lot of terms.
For the written portion we have lectures about anatomy given by our various professors. The written test is about 1.5 hrs long and depending on your alpha number (kind of like an ID number) you will either take the written or the practical portion of the exam first. Since I took the written portion first last time, I will take the practical portion first this time.
The practical portion is kind of awesome but also a little scary. About 3am or 4am the morning of the exam, the anatomy professors go into the lab to start setting up. We have left all our dogs and cats out and the professors tag things on them, on lab specimens, on dried bones, and on radiographs (x-rays). A tag might be a pin stuck in a muscle; a string tied around a vein, artery or nerve; or a circled portion of a radiograph. It really could be anything and there may be 2 parts. For example, a muscle may have a pin in it labeled 27 and #27 might read "#27 a)Identify the muscle (if it's a certain portion of the muscle they may add "BE SPECIFIC") b) what innervated this muscle?" So you have to not only name the muscle, but also what nerve sends it signals.
You have exactly 60 seconds at each station with your clipboard and then once everyone has gone through once, you have another round with 20 seconds at each station. So it goes pretty quick. It is kind of neat to see what your brain has retained, but it is also kind of terrifying. And since I write so sloppy, I had the worst pains in my left hand from trying to hold my clipboard super steady. But the professor was still able to read it, so Win.
The littlest brother was here this weekend which was fun! We made a pilgrimage to 3 different pet stores. Mostly cuz it's fun, but also because I am investigating getting a pet rat. Yes I know you may think it is gross, but they are actually very smart and friendly, and I think it could be fun. And I'm a vet student, I need a little fun in my life :-)
Rat Agility Example. I know, who knew rats did agility?
Surprisingly little bro was not a hindrance to my studies because whenever I looked distracted he would ask if I was really studying, which I wasn't. And we played Cash Cab in my car where he would read me questions from my flashcards and I would answer them. Fun times with the big sis huh?
But never the less, I have a quiz in Micro Anatomy, also known as Histology, also know as looking at stuff on slides. Woo.
I really love vet school, I do! (not sarcasm...well not at this moment anyway)
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