Class of 2015... How ya doing?

Veterinary Science Graduate Certificate from UofI
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Waved goodbye to radiology yesterday (after ingesting way too much food at our potluck...). I'm so stoked to get back into the barn for large animal medicine and surgery! Three weeks of ponies! (And the occassional cow.)
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Sigh. G'bye GenPractice! You were maybe the best rotation I've had so far in fourth year. Excellent clinicians, excellent techs, variety of cases ranging from puppy litters to finding previously undx'd problems.... couldn't have been better. Well. Maybe if you hadn't videotaped me and made me watch myself. But still.... about as good as a rotation could get.
 
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Holding down the equine ICU fort today. Too much time to think between the hourly checks on our patients, but I got a lot of stuff done, such as reviewing SOAPs, updating my discharge letter for my inpatient, and figuring out expenses for the upcoming year. Otherwise, I keep saying stupid stuff during rounds and the resident (who knows the situation) keeps sticking up for me, which gives me hope that I'm not totally failing at life. I did catch two dosing errors that were made by other students, so at least I've shown an attention to detail...

Otherwise, the days are getting better and the nights are a little less lonely, and my classmates who know have been amazingly supportive.
 
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First day back in the barn and I get stuck with tonight's after hours shift. And there's an emergency coming in, but it won't be here until at least 10pm. And it's a mare and foal. Technically, I'm only here to do treatments and someone else is responsible for emergencies, but with a mare and foal, it's going to need all of us. Bugger.
 
I have discovered my true supervillain power. I am Dr. Death.

Every first case I get on any remotely medicine-like rotation ends up dead. Small Anim Internal Med (the first time - lymphoma), Small Anim Internal med (the second time - another lymphoma), Cardio (hemangiosarc), Anesthesia (cause of death unknown, it arrested 5 days later in ICU) .... tonight on my first day of ECC my first case didn't even make it to the hospital and died on the way in.

The only exception was General Practice ... where I found a toe cancer on my first patient that resulted in taking the toe off the next day. But last I heard he's doing fine.

Of all the superpowers to get.......
 
LetItSnow said:
I have discovered my true supervillain power. I am Dr. Death.

Every first case I get on any remotely medicine-like rotation ends up dead. Small Anim Internal Med (the first time - lymphoma), Small Anim Internal med (the second time - another lymphoma), Cardio (hemangiosarc), Anesthesia (cause of death unknown, it arrested 5 days later in ICU) .... tonight on my first day of ECC my first case didn't even make it to the hospital and died on the way in.

The only exception was General Practice ... where I found a toe cancer on my first patient that resulted in taking the toe off the next day. But last I heard he's doing fine.

Of all the superpowers to get.......
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Ugh. Our large animal med rotation was full of death. Only a couple animals made it out of there and it was depressing.

Coquette22 said:
Today sucked. I did my first euthanasia. It was the right decision for this pony, but it still sucks.
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I'm sorry :( I'm glad it was the right thing but I know it isn't easy. I'm sure the pony was grateful to have a nice end though.

Surgery is a cluster. Each person tells you something different about when you need to do something by, how to do this, if you need to do that. As the personality type that needs structure, it's driving me nuts. Everyone has been nice, the cases have been cool, I've been acing rounds so it isn't like I hate it. But it's only day two and we're 10x busier than small animal medicine and I feel like I'm scrambling. Starting to gain a little traction but ugh, this is definitely going to be one of the most, if not the most, challenging rotations.

Dropped my husband off at the airport after the long weekend yesterday AM. To save money we decided to just forgo any more visits and just reunite when I go home for good at the end of November. Which means 99 days until I see him again :(
 
Ugh, that sounds miserable, redhead. I'm now dreading that rotation even more than I was. Varying answers used to drive me nuts in juniour surgery.

Hang in there, redhead. You're in the double digits! It won't be long before you and mr redhead are together all the time!
 
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LetItSnow said:
That sounds nice. I haven't aced anything on rotations. What's it feel like? :)
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It's really nice to feel like I retained some of the $250k worth of knowledge that's been crammed down my throat over the last few years :laugh: To be fair though, the clinicians I'm working with are very fair with their questions and not super intimidating, which helps encourage me to throw out an answer even if I'm not confident about it.
 
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Dealing with clients is not my favourite part of the job by far. But I had the sweetest couple yesterday and today, ironically with the pony that was euthanized. Restores a little of my faith in humanity that they were so lovely and thankful to us even though we couldn't save their boy.
 
My patient that was supposed to be discharged today was lame (SUPER LAME) this morning. I am really upset, and was distracted all day, thinking about what could happen because we weren't prepared to keep him when I transferred him this morning to another student (we change rotations on Wednesdays here). Fortunately, I am on ambulatory, and there aren't enough seats in the truck to take all the students, so after we work an evening ICU shift, we aren't required to be there the next day unless we want to hang out on surgery or medicine. It just so happens that two of the surgeons and the resident I've been working with are evaluating him tomorrow, a day that I have off because I am working an ICU shift tonight, so I am hanging out with team surgery tomorrow to see what will come next for my boy.

Around the time I heard this, one of the surgeons came in, looked right at me, said she was sorry for his decline and that it's really crappy, and then said that I did a really good job taking care of him the past two weeks. It really made up for a lot of the frustration and stupidity I felt during those two weeks.
 
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@scb44f I'm glad to hear a surgeon is being nice to you! I have heard scary things about one of them- just that one of them is very intimidating/ makes people cry. Have you had the pleasure to work with @shortnsweet yet?
 
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Kpowell14 said:
@scb44f I'm glad to hear a surgeon is being nice to you! I have heard scary things about one of them- just that one of them is very intimidating/ makes people cry. Have you had the pleasure to work with @shortnsweet yet?
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Yeah, the one you're talking about is the one who said that to me, which made it extra special! For as much stupid stuff as I said, we get along fantastically and I'm going to miss the heck out of her. The secret: be confident in what you say and always have a plan for your patient with reasons why. This applies to all of vet school, but she really pushes you unlike other services. It can be intimidating and you may feel like crying, but ultimately she just wants students to learn and she is very forgiving of people who say stupid **** like I do hahaha.

Yes, I have gotten to work with her! Pleasure is an understatement because she is amazing!
 
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scb44f said:
Yeah, the one you're talking about is the one who said that to me, which made it extra special! For as much stupid stuff as I said, we get along fantastically and I'm going to miss the heck out of her. The secret: be confident in what you say and always have a plan for your patient with reasons why. This applies to all of vet school, but she really pushes you unlike other services. It can be intimidating and you may feel like crying, but ultimately she just wants students to learn and she is very forgiving of people who say stupid **** like I do hahaha.

Yes, I have gotten to work with her! Pleasure is an understatement because she is amazing!
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Aw you guys. Don't make me blush. :love:

And scb is a rockstar. She's gonna be an amazing vet!!
 
One of my favourite clinicians gave me credit today to a client for a diagnosis that I suggested that turned out to be right because I caught it and he initially brushed it off. :)

Meanwhile, another clinician continues to annoy me because of his amazing ability to tell you we're about to do something, then seemingly vanish into thin air, only to appear 15 minutes later and act like you're the one that's being slow when you've been waiting for him and trying to figure out where he went.
 
scb44f said:
Yeah, the one you're talking about is the one who said that to me, which made it extra special! For as much stupid stuff as I said, we get along fantastically and I'm going to miss the heck out of her. The secret: be confident in what you say and always have a plan for your patient with reasons why. This applies to all of vet school, but she really pushes you unlike other services. It can be intimidating and you may feel like crying, but ultimately she just wants students to learn and she is very forgiving of people who say stupid **** like I do hahaha.

Yes, I have gotten to work with her! Pleasure is an understatement because she is amazing!
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Oh wow, thats awesome Scb!! Yea I had heard she was intimidating, but im glad to know that there is a way to make her happy lol

shortnsweet said:
Aw you guys. Don't make me blush. :love:

And scb is a rockstar. She's gonna be an amazing vet!!
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Hey if you guys both want to go to Trops tomorrow you are more than welcome!! there is a couple SDN people that will be there like @Rainheart , @dvmdreamer and myself. Its sure to be a good time!!
 
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Sometimes I look back over my schooling and think, "Wow, I've mastered three years of really tough coursework. I'm a third of the way through rotations and haven't done anything too stupid. I've made a long distance relationship work through vet school. One day soon, I'm going to be a vet and people are going to entrust animals' lives to me."

And then I find myself gowned in ridiculous MRSP PPE, sweating, cursing, breathing in a heady perfume of poop and Virox, cleaning smeared sht off the walls of a cage and between an animal's toes in an isolation unit on a Friday night.

You win today, universe.
 
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Kpowell14 said:
Oh wow, thats awesome Scb!! Yea I had heard she was intimidating, but im glad to know that there is a way to make her happy lol



Hey if you guys both want to go to Trops tomorrow you are more than welcome!! there is a couple SDN people that will be there like @Rainheart , @dvmdreamer and myself. Its sure to be a good time!!
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I am on call tomorrow but I will keep it in mind, plus their non-alcoholic slushies are cheap :)
 
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that redhead said:
Sometimes I look back over my schooling and think, "Wow, I've mastered three years of really tough coursework. I'm a third of the way through rotations and haven't done anything too stupid. I've made a long distance relationship work through vet school. One day soon, I'm going to be a vet and people are going to entrust animals' lives to me."

And then I find myself gowned in ridiculous MRSP PPE, sweating, cursing, breathing in a heady perfume of poop and Virox, cleaning smeared sht off the walls of a cage and between an animal's toes in an isolation unit on a Friday night.

You win today, universe.
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Wanna come hide in the large animal barn?
 
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shortnsweet said:
It's really hard to say no to a trops date...
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Mmm, there's also a Trops location in my undergrad city (where I'm still living), and if I end up at Mizzou next year that will be nice perk!
 
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Bombed a catheter placement. Failed at rounds. Forgot something I was supposed to do like 10 minutes later. If the universe was beating redhead the other day, it was going after me today. Didn't even feel like a functioning human let alone someone who should be left in charge of the health and well being of an animal.
 
Coquette22 said:
Bombed a catheter placement. Failed at rounds. Forgot something I was supposed to do like 10 minutes later. If the universe was beating redhead the other day, it was going after me today. Didn't even feel like a functioning human let alone someone who should be left in charge of the health and well being of an animal.
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Ugh :( if it makes you feel any better, the universe doubled its efforts on me today too. I like the people I'm working with but this rotation is brutal.


Just got home. Am sitting on the couch in my scrubs, eating directly from a jar of peanut butter with a knife and washing it down with an alcoholic beverage. One of those days, man.
 
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that redhead said:
Ugh :( if it makes you feel any better, the universe doubled its efforts on me today too. I like the people I'm working with but this rotation is brutal.


Just got home. Am sitting on the couch in my scrubs, eating directly from a jar of peanut butter with a knife and washing it down with an alcoholic beverage. One of those days, man.
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Wait wait wait.

I do the whole peanut butter + booze thing on GOOD days.

You do it on BAD days?
 
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that redhead said:
Ugh :( if it makes you feel any better, the universe doubled its efforts on me today too. I like the people I'm working with but this rotation is brutal.


Just got home. Am sitting on the couch in my scrubs, eating directly from a jar of peanut butter with a knife and washing it down with an alcoholic beverage. One of those days, man.
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I've got the alcoholic beverage (mmm, cider...) but instead of the peanut butter, I've got chocolate chips. And pyjamas. My scrubs have hoof abscess on them.
 
I am so tired of apparently not doing anything right when it comes to our large animal surgeon. I cannot please hir at all and it's driving me nuts. Our intern, at least, is amazing.
 
Coquette22 said:
I am so tired of apparently not doing anything right when it comes to our large animal surgeon. I cannot please hir at all and it's driving me nuts. Our intern, at least, is amazing.
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I know it's hard not to take personally but having been on two rotations with you, I know you know your stuff! I get the feeling they're just like that :\

I'm starting to feel some emotional fatigue in regards to my long term patient. It doesn't help that I'm also just outright tired from waking up early every morning to come in and do the same darn thing every day, weekend, holiday or otherwise. I need a break and there isn't one in the near future. I get a decent amount of sleep, I get decent quality sleep because I'm so tired at the end of the day, but it isn't cutting it.
 
*reads redhead's post* Sooo... what she said. All of it. I really want to sleep in past 7 at some point.

On the bright side, we had mid-block evaluations today. And the incredibly hard to please surgeon said she thinks I'm doing "fine". Halle-freaking-lujah.
 
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Yeah... I finally slept >5.5 hours in a day for the first time this week. It was fantastic.

In other news, don't trade shifts with someone 2 weeks ahead of time and then 3 days before say "Sorry, but I can't trade with you afterall," after being an dingus the entire rotation and not showing up to stuff or helping your rotation-mates out before rounds and before leaving for the day.

Edit: lol sdn changes a$$hole to dingus.
 
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scb44f said:
Yeah... I finally slept >5.5 hours in a day for the first time this week. It was fantastic.

In other news, don't trade shifts with someone 2 weeks ahead of time and then 3 days before say "Sorry, but I can't trade with you afterall," after being an dingus the entire rotation and not showing up to stuff or helping your rotation-mates out before rounds and before leaving for the day.

Edit: lol sdn changes a$$hole to dingus.
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Ugh, rude and terrible. (I did lol at dingus :D)
 
I was at school from 7:30 to 10 AM today. Then promptly came home and passed out until 1 PM. I hate sleeping in the middle of the day, but I badly needed that. On the bright side, ridiculously-hard-to-please-large-animal-surgeon praised my discharge instructions. I needed that win today.
 
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Coquette22 said:
I was really hoping you'd be at the hospital this afternoon, @that redhead. I needed someone to tail jack a cow for me. Went over to ICU to check and.... three exclusively small animal people.
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Damn! I would have been there too but B wanted to switch shifts last minute. I need another barn field trip :(
 
I may have terrified a first year into running away from vet school and joining the circus. But I blame redhead for bringing her into the barn while I was having a really bad shift and it was just me by myself. Redhead sent me a wonderfully cheery text to tell me she'd be visiting, to which I responded, "Bring booze."
 
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Coquette22 said:
I may have terrified a first year into running away from vet school and joining the circus. But I blame redhead for bringing her into the barn while I was having a really bad shift and it was just me by myself. Redhead sent me a wonderfully cheery text to tell me she'd be visiting, to which I responded, "Bring booze."
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:rofl: but I got my field trip after all!
 
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Discharging a long term patient today by myself. My discharges have all been solo but the surgeon has always been floating around the hospital. I'm terrified that the owners won't be happy with where their pet is at the time of discharge, recovery-wise, and be mad the surgeon isn't there and all these other minutiae. Obviously there will be other people around in ICU but ugh, I'm nervous.
 
that redhead said:
Discharging a long term patient today by myself. My discharges have all been solo but the surgeon has always been floating around the hospital. I'm terrified that the owners won't be happy with where their pet is at the time of discharge, recovery-wise, and be mad the surgeon isn't there and all these other minutiae. Obviously there will be other people around in ICU but ugh, I'm nervous.
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You'll do great. Answer the questions as best you can and invite them to call with others.
 
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