Class of 2015... How ya doing?

Veterinary Science Graduate Certificate from UofI
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i am really sick of vet school at the moment. I am so tired of feeling ridiculously stupid and inept. I hate feeling so lost and confused all the time. I only feel great about one of my 5 classes and decent in another leaving me feeling crummy about more than 50% of my course load. not a great feeling. i hate having no time, even though it's not really true. i miss the little bit of sanity I used to have. i want to feel like I am doing a better job managing my responsibilities instead of feeling like I'm letting people down. i just want to be able to have my happy balance back. i miss feeling like me
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Sorry you're feeling that way jmo :( while I don't think I'm quite that bad off I do relate to what you said and I agree, it sucks. What has helped me somewhat is filling out my calendar, highlighting important stuff and making every effort to check my calendar daily. It makes me feel as though I have some tiny shred of control over this insane semester. I hope you can find a way to get back into balance, or at least a better feeling overall.
 
doing my first junior surgery castration tomorrow! not sure who thought it was a good idea to trust students with this sort of thing...i'm getting jokes about performing castrations underwater with SCUBA gear (i just completed my 30th dive in 6mo). too bad that would break all sorts of sterility rules ;)
 
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They have underwater welding...how different can it be? ;)

Spending my Friday night with diagnostic radiology notes...midterm Monday, exotics final Wed (plus jr. surgery quiz due), equine midterm Friday. Someone in our class wrote a FB post (and later deleted it) encouraging all of the lower years to help out with our school's open house tomorrow because "the third years have exams too but we're all helping out!". I signed up for one hour of helping but honestly, I just want to study. I feel like I'm in first year all over again...
 
Next week is exam Monday, surgery labs (dentals and enucleation) are Wednesday and Thursday, and there is another exam Thursday. I won't have enough time to watch all the surgery videos and study for everything as well as I should. But I'm still going out to eat with my husband because he hasn't gotten home until 11pm the last two nights.

I'm such a procrastinator, anyway. And I work the fair tomorrow so there goes most of Saturday...
 
We had a long week, and it's not really over because I have to go to campus and take a test before Monday at 7 am. Whatever. Today's therio test went muuuch better than the first one, to the extent that I would have been content with that score on any other test in any other class. I'm taking the weekend off.

Two more weeks until clinics. My first rotation is nutrition and I found out I get to spend 2 of those days at a conference, so it's going to be fun.
 
One of my classmates posted this on Facebook, and I thought "so true, so true" when I read it. Pretty much exactly how vet school has gone for me. Except I didn't study quite that much first year. Anyway:

"1st year vet school: study for every test for the entire week before
2nd year: "I at least read through all the notes once"
3rd year: "What lectures are on this test?" the day of test...."
 
nyanko said:
I don't! ;)

There are things about clinics that suck sure, but if someone told me I had to repeat a year of classroom BS in order to graduate I would quit vet school right now.
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Right with you.

Re: the drugs thing, I think it's questionable to give out multiple whole bottles of hydro like that from a controlled drugs perspective... is it at least locked up when you're not using it?!
 
bunnity said:
Right with you.

Re: the drugs thing, I think it's questionable to give out multiple whole bottles of hydro like that from a controlled drugs perspective... is it at least locked up when you're not using it?!
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At the start of surgery during pre-meds, each group gets a 1ml break top bottle (like this http://www.akorn.com/prod_detail.php?ndc=17478-540-01). Someone from each group signs for that bottle. You take what you need for pre-meds, seal up the bottle and stick the bottle to the patient's chart. After surgery, if you need more post-op, you take from that bottle again. Any left over is discarded at the end, and the amount discarded is recorded on the patient records.

I'm assuming they have to do it this way in order to have someone sign for each individual bottle, but I don't know enough about the laws to know any more than that. Like I'm not sure why the anesthesiologist couldn't sign for a couple of 1ml bottles and then each group take a little from that couple of doses, rather than 10 groups each having their own.
 
We were just given our hydro+ace in syringes already drawn up, right before pre-med time, and then they would put post-op doses of methadone in a safe within the locked kennel room, also already drawn up. Even in the hospital they won't give you more than 1 dose of a controlled drug at a time. I feel like leaving hydro out on a chart is weird, but I also know there have been "problems" here in the past so maybe that is why they are so strict.
 
I agree, Coquette - have the anesthesiologist sign out bottles as needed.Another wtf is when the anesthesiologist tells us to draw up 3cc of alphaxalone (the injectible that we induce with) when we needed 0.7ml for our cat..."just in case you need more, you don't have to go get it". Really? Just in case I need more than 4x the dose? And then we discard what we don't use, which is of course nearly all of it.
 
that redhead said:
I agree, Coquette - have the anesthesiologist sign out bottles as needed.Another wtf is when the anesthesiologist tells us to draw up 3cc of alphaxalone (the injectible that we induce with) when we needed 0.7ml for our cat..."just in case you need more, you don't have to go get it". Really? Just in case I need more than 4x the dose? And then we discard what we don't use, which is of course nearly all of it.
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Yeah, but that particular anesthesiologist is, um, a bit odd. :rolleyes: B came back with the syringe and I was like, "Um, you did the calculation, right? We only needed at most, 0.8ml." And she said "Yeah, but Dr S told me to." :confused: That'll be going on the eval definitely.
 
bunnity said:
We were just given our hydro+ace in syringes already drawn up, right before pre-med time, and then they would put post-op doses of methadone in a safe within the locked kennel room, also already drawn up. Even in the hospital they won't give you more than 1 dose of a controlled drug at a time. I feel like leaving hydro out on a chart is weird, but I also know there have been "problems" here in the past so maybe that is why they are so strict.
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This year, they don't even leave the post-op doses for us. They draw up for that evening and the next morning and then leave the syringes in ES for us to pick up. The ES staff really seems to love this arrangement.
 
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Unrelated to vet school, I was offered to part-lease one of my instructor's horses today. So exciting. Wish I'd started riding a year earlier so maybe I could've done this a year ago and not right as I'm about to start clinics... Major eye rolling going on over here. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it yet. I explained the whole "I'm never going to know my schedule so it would be a random night that I pop in" thing so I'm leaving it up to her if she thinks it's going to be more of a hassle than it's worth. She only teaches ~5 students, so I don't think she'll really care, but at least she will know that her horse isn't going to be ridden 2x/week.

Aaanyway, my final set of finals are next week. I couldn't be more excited. I ordered my dress for white coat this weekend. Therio is almost done, and my class (including me) did WAY better on the second exam than the first.
 
Well I was going to go see Max Brooks speak tomorrow but I just got the invite to an elephant necropsy and am going to that instead. Finals might not be pretty, but I figure this is a once in a lifetime opportunity as someone who doesn't want/plan to go into zoo med.
 
So glad this week is over. Three exams in a week. I think they all went reasonably well, despite not really having enough time to study for any of them. I'm also very happy that we don't have to do this again for the rest of the semester. The next time we have 3 exams in a week, it'll be finals and we don't have classes to juggle at the same time. Until then, it's just 1 or 2 per week. I'm so ready for Thanksgiving weekend! I need the extra day off.

We figured out our surgery schedule for the semester. I'll be on anesthesia for the first and second surgery, surgeon for the third and fourth and assistant for the fifth and sixth. We've agreed as a group that the surgeon will be totally responsible for the patient that week. So we each have two weeks where we'll be run off our feet and the rest of the time, we can relax a little bit more.
 
DONE with Neuro until 4th year rotations! WOOOHOOOO!!!!! Neurology has been my very very very very least thing to learn about. This year was much better because the diseases and treatments made it easier to understand but it still pretty much makes my brain refuse to learn. :D
 
heylodeb said:
DONE with Neuro until 4th year rotations! WOOOHOOOO!!!!! Neurology has been my very very very very least thing to learn about. This year was much better because the diseases and treatments made it easier to understand but it still pretty much makes my brain refuse to learn. :D
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Niiiice. Neuro is not my strongest area... I hope to learn a lot on my rotation next year ;-)



In other news, finals week is here: 2 quizzes, 7 exams, 6 days. At least the quizzes and one of the exams are done. I'm not sure I'll have the energy for the 3 exams left on Friday after Therio is over. Fortunately my give-a-f is broken.
 
Coquette22 said:
I will be so glad when tomorrow is over and I can go back to ignoring ophthalmology.
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Yep, basking in the lack of ophtho now that that final is over. What's stupid is they allotted 2 hours for the final, starting at 7 am, for 42 questions. And the course coordinator wasn't even going to be there until 7:30 to answer questions. There was no reason to make it start at 7 am. Not bitter or anything...

Tomorrow is therio. Thank goodness for the quiz on Monday or else I would not have looked at it all week. Friday is food animal and equine.

Just one more lecture left for my pre-clinical junk. I lied. Two left, but one is on Friday and it's not for any of the aforementioned finals.

My classmates and I have suffered through 10 finals weeks with lectures interspersed amongst the finals. This one is the straw the broke the camel's back. So much to do, so many people lecturing at me, so many nonsensical words and phrases typed that I look back at and wonder wth I meant...

Please forgive me if my brain seems all over the place. That's pretty much how it's going to be until Friday at noon.
 
First major live surgery lab tomorrow morning. I'm on anesthesia so I'll be the first one in, at 6:30 AM. (I won't say "bright and early" because it'll still be dark when I drive to school, yuck.) Hopefully it won't be too long a surgery, it shouldn't be since it's just a neuter and a scrotal ablation, but you never know.

ETA: Everything went pretty well, except for some issues with the ECG (hopefully that's fixed before next week). I had some trouble placing the IV catheter, and at first I just thought I sucked because it was my first time doing it, but the anesthesiologist assured me, "Your technique is fine. This dog has weird veins." Both cephalic veins were pretty much impossible, so we tried the lateral saphenous and sure enough with a bit of guidance, I got it first try. Woo!
 
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White coat today!!!!!
 
When are you done with therio? The last two months absolutely flew by for me, so I hope the next several are the same way for you!

Do you guys get to choose the person who coats you? I chose my husband. We high-fived and then hugged. Several people awkwardly kissed their SO on stage. One guy slapped his girlfriend's butt. A couple of people fist-bumped and one person double high-fived their mom. It was really funny to see what people were going to do. And we only had 4 people walk across the stage in jeans.
 
Not until December. I think this exam (the first) is probably the worst because the entire contents of the Pathways to Preg and parturition book is worth oh... Just over half the total points on the exam. The rest is over path stuff. So yeah, thirteen chapters - an entire book - crammed into 90 points. Super fair.

Plus the professor wants us all to be learners and not memorizers... For the fill in the blank and multiple choice exam... Right.

I'm just attempting to make it through all the material once.
 
I didn't mind therio with our prof, but I'm really glad I'm done with it. There's third year therio electives for people who like that stuff. I am decidedly not one of them. :laugh:

I started picking electives for next semester. I have them more or less figured out except for 1 and that's because it's a lab and it's equine so I don't get first choice on it; it'll depend whether there's space in it for me.

Re: white coats. Ours is at graduation, and we can pick a presenter. It's a long way off, but I've already decided mine will be my mom.
 
twelvetigers said:
Not until December. I think this exam (the first) is probably the worst because the entire contents of the Pathways to Preg and parturition book is worth oh... Just over half the total points on the exam. The rest is over path stuff. So yeah, thirteen chapters - an entire book - crammed into 90 points. Super fair.

Plus the professor wants us all to be learners and not memorizers... For the fill in the blank and multiple choice exam... Right.

I'm just attempting to make it through all the material once.
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Gross.

And yeah, for test 3 and quiz 5, I just read through the new material once and called it good. It worked. I mean, I got a C on the final only because of the curve, but I still finished and passed the class!
 
Coquette22 said:
Re: white coats. Ours is at graduation, and we can pick a presenter. It's a long way off, but I've already decided mine will be my mom.
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Aww, nice!
 
Holy crap guys. First surgery was last Thursday (almost a week ago!? How did that happen?) and I've been going balls to the wall since then. So freaking much associated with being surgeon. Even though I had to be in 3x a day to check on the dog every day including our long weekend, my husband came up to visit and it was so nice to see him. Dog went back to her humane society this morning and should continue to heal well.

Hope you're all doing well. Congrats scbf, how exciting! :D I need to get back to studying for musculoskeletal though...haven't touched it and exam is tomorrow at 9:30am :eek:
 
I don't have any surgeries until spring semester (some have them this semester and some don't, it's all just scheduling). I have my last two surgery labs tomorrow and Thursday - I'll be glad to be done with those. Too stressful with the one picky doctor coming around and tugging at stitches and looking for stuff you did wrong. Plus it's smelly.

I hope next semester isn't super stressful but who knows. At least I'll know it's my last one.
 
that redhead said:
Holy crap guys. First surgery was last Thursday (almost a week ago!? How did that happen?) and I've been going balls to the wall since then. So freaking much associated with being surgeon. Even though I had to be in 3x a day to check on the dog every day including our long weekend, my husband came up to visit and it was so nice to see him. Dog went back to her humane society this morning and should continue to heal well.

Hope you're all doing well. Congrats scbf, how exciting! :D I need to get back to studying for musculoskeletal though...haven't touched it and exam is tomorrow at 9:30am :eek:
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Yay! I'm glad you were able to enjoy some time with him! And thanks :-D
 
twelvetigers said:
I hope next semester isn't super stressful but who knows. At least I'll know it's my last one.
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Yup

(Sorry for the lack of multi-quote - too lazy to not use the sdn app)



In other news, my classmates start clinics tomorrow! I am in KS doin' some stuff with Hill's that our nutrition elective coordinator approved, so long as the two of us who came present to the others on the rotation when we get back.
 
ONE MORE EXAM, THEN ANESTHESIA ON TWO SURGERIES.

Then I am finally done with this week. JC on a cracker was it ever a long one. Too bad I have yet another exam on Monday, but at least I have time to study for it...
 
First day of clinics for me (2 weeks of nutrition). Showed up at 9 am. Released for lunch at noon. Don't have to go back to the teaching hospital until 1:30. I know no other rotations will be like this, but I do appreciate the nice and easy intro to clinics.
 
I'm finding I like short answer questions better this year. We have one professor who is fond of scenario questions, followed by, "What is your most likely diagnosis? What is a differential for these signs?" or "What would you tell the clients about this condition and the treatment options and the prognosis?" So much better than multiple choice. Okay, maybe I don't know that one particular fact about that disease to answer that multiple choice question, but I do know other stuff about that disease! Though I get that they're probably a pain in the ass to mark, hence why I love Dr B for using them anyway.

How are clinics going scb?
 
Coquette22 said:
I'm finding I like short answer questions better this year. We have one professor who is fond of scenario questions, followed by, "What is your most likely diagnosis? What is a differential for these signs?" or "What would you tell the clients about this condition and the treatment options and the prognosis?" So much better than multiple choice. Okay, maybe I don't know that one particular fact about that disease to answer that multiple choice question, but I do know other stuff about that disease! Though I get that they're probably a pain in the ass to mark, hence why I love Dr B for using them
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You've given me hope for third year after today's path midterm. That exam was brutal, mostly multiple choice and true/false, which was disappointing because gen path was mostly lists and SA. I studied so much for that exam and felt prepared until I actually wrote it :( I keep trying to remind myself that I'm here to be a good vet not get good grades but it is discouraging some times.

Rock on third years.
 
ky261682 said:
You've given me hope for third year after today's path midterm. That exam was brutal, mostly multiple choice and true/false, which was disappointing because gen path was mostly lists and SA. I studied so much for that exam and felt prepared until I actually wrote it :( I keep trying to remind myself that I'm here to be a good vet not get good grades but it is discouraging some times.

Rock on third years.
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Um, I didn't actually say we get a lot of short answer. :oops: Just that I like them. We still have tons of multiple choice. Ten ophthalmology lectures = 20 multiple choice questions. Oi.
 
Coquette22 said:
I'm finding I like short answer questions better this year. We have one professor who is fond of scenario questions, followed by, "What is your most likely diagnosis? What is a differential for these signs?" or "What would you tell the clients about this condition and the treatment options and the prognosis?" So much better than multiple choice. Okay, maybe I don't know that one particular fact about that disease to answer that multiple choice question, but I do know other stuff about that disease! Though I get that they're probably a pain in the ass to mark, hence why I love Dr B for using them anyway.

How are clinics going scb?
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Oh yes, those questions are much more fun than multiple choice!

1 week in, and I love it. Nutrition here is less about going in and communicating with clients and is more about sitting in "rounds" for 5.5-6 hours a day, discussing and presenting articles, doing case studies as a group, sharing opinions, etc. The nutritionist and the two residents communicate with rDVMs, or are consulted on cases in the ICU if they have a feeding tube placed and want to make sure they're doing it properly. Then they come back and present it to us and use it as a teaching opportunity.

I have learned a TON of practical stuff and I'm a lot more excited about this rotation than I thought I would be. Our nutrition class was the only class I consistently skipped during first year :p

I'm excited for cardiology, which I start next week. Looking at my schedule though, I'm really nervous for internal med, which I have after cardio. There are only 4 of us on the rotation, which seems like so few...
 
Coquette22 said:
Um, I didn't actually say we get a lot of short answer. :oops: Just that I like them. We still have tons of multiple choice. Ten ophthalmology lectures = 20 multiple choice questions. Oi.
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Some short answer is better than none at all. I'm just feeling discouraged after path.
 
To think that I used to love radiology........

<Insert language here that is probably inappropriate under SDN's TOS.>

ky261682 said:
Some short answer is better than none at all. I'm just feeling discouraged after path.
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Clin path, or other path? Clin path can definitely do that to you. That was one of the best hardest most frustrating classes I've taken here.
 
LetItSnow said:
To think that I used to love radiology........

<Insert language here that is probably inappropriate under SDN's TOS.>



Clin path, or other path? Clin path can definitely do that to you. That was one of the best hardest most frustrating classes I've taken here.
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totally the opposite for me...i HATE path with a firey burning passion. clin path on the other hand... :love: :shrug:
 
jmo1012 said:
totally the opposite for me...i HATE path with a firey burning passion. clin path on the other hand... :love: :shrug:
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Oh I 'loved' clin path. It's when things finally start to click and make sense and whole cases suddenly come together.

It was just really, really hard. Our two teachers for it are ... demanding. Which is good. But it's a tough class. Fretted out my grade the entire semester.

You know how every school has its classes that fail people out of vet school? Clin Path is one of them here.
 
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LetItSnow said:
Clin path, or other path? Clin path can definitely do that to you. That was one of the best hardest most frustrating classes I've taken here.
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First half of systemic path. We get clin path next semester along with the second half of systemic. It was one professor's section that I really struggled on. I haven't figured out the best study strategy for his exams yet.
 
Count me into the "love clin path" group. I'm also in the "holy hell that was a lot of work" group. I distinctly remember a friend texting me the afternoon after that exam and all she wrote was, "What the hell was that?!" Our professors were great (except for the one who did red cells, I never did seem to figure out what she wanted for answers and I found her notes really disorganized), it's just a buttload of material. I still have all the biochemisty notes and white cell notes and refer to them frequently.

First week as surgeon for me next week. My first choice is a dog castration, second was a dog spay. Knowing my luck, I'll get a tiny little cat spay.

I'm currently studying for our radiology final. I like radiology. At least until we get to abdominal radiology next semester.
 
Coquette22 said:
Count me into the "love clin path" group. I'm also in the "holy hell that was a lot of work" group. I distinctly remember a friend texting me the afternoon after that exam and all she wrote was, "What the hell was that?!" Our professors were great (except for the one who did red cells, I never did seem to figure out what she wanted for answers and I found her notes really disorganized), it's just a buttload of material. I still have all the biochemisty notes and white cell notes and refer to them frequently.

First week as surgeon for me next week. My first choice is a dog castration, second was a dog spay. Knowing my luck, I'll get a tiny little cat spay.

I'm currently studying for our radiology final. I like radiology. At least until we get to abdominal radiology next semester.
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how does surgery work for you guys?? we have 6 surgeries - a castration set (surgeon, assistant, anesthetist roles) and a spay set (same deal) and all our stuff is on dogs
 
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