VRSP updates

Did I tell y'all about my dinner at Dr. VRSPs house? Ok her name isn't really Dr. VRSP, but she's the doctor I'm gonna do research with, so it'll work.
So I finally get to her house after some problems with directions and it is this beautiful farm house. Huge and from the 1800's. She has completely redone the house and it is just amazing. Flat out amazing.

But she has made us this huge mexican taco dinner and it is me and like 10ish other people. Phd students, masters students, internal medicine residents, other clinicians, everyone was definitely older/wiser/ not a vet student. So I was understandably nervous. It was a little like going to a doctor you have seen on a TLC special. You know their names, you have spoken to them in passing, and you know they know a lot. I have worked in the ICU with some of these people, but I am in the background helping, I'm not up in their business or having meaningful conversations. It is like meeting a celebrity only way nerdier.

But we chat about animals and pets and how vets are not great vets to their own animals. We either ignore stuff or freak out about everything or basically do all the things normal pet owners do, except we should know better. I had a great time with these people and it was so much fun.

Then we got to discussing the paper. The paper was an article about a group of experts who got together to talk about the current protocols for Sepsis (this is the definition according to the Mayo Clinic - Sepsis occurs when chemicals released into the bloodstream to fight the infection trigger inflammation throughout the body. This inflammation creates microscopic blood clots that can block nutrients and oxygen from reaching organs, causing them to fail. If sepsis progresses to septic shock, blood pressure drops dramatically and the person may die.). In other words it's when a really big infection affects your entire body. But this paper was using research to suggest different treatments by citing many different studies that say it will work instead of just one doctor's opinion. It was pretty cool, but....

...the coolest part was that I actually understood the physiology behind the processes. I understood why a treatment might be suggested, why it wouldn't work, why it only works sometimes. I mean I don't know enough to be able to offer up my own opinions just by reading, but when the clinicians are talking about it, I totally understand. This was a huge moment for me. It made me feel like I was going somewhere and that I could have opinions and a valid understanding of medicine already.
It was unbelievable.
Remember when you rode a bike for the first time without training wheels?
This was me gliding down a hill, no training wheels, all by myself :-)