RANT HERE thread

[thedogisgreen]

Had a really intense situation at work the other day. We had this 14 year old doxie hospitalized with us for renal failure, among many other complications, for over a week. Two blood transfusions and many treatments later, she looked a bit better on better but still felt awful and was refusing to eat. She was completely lethargic and had a ridiculously low BG. The doctor decided to put a feeding tube in as a last resort, even though surgery was risky. Her vitals were fine all the way through the surgery, but it was a pretty long procedure because we had to get a new catheter in, which took forever with really crappy veins. When we turned off the anesthesia and had her on oxygen, her bp suddenly dropped and she stopped breathing. I immediately told the vet, who started CPR and I went for the epi, but none of it was of any use; she was gone. I took out the e-tube, cleaned her up, and made her look peaceful in a bed for her dad to come say goodbye, but was so overwhelmed by the intensity of it the entire time through. Bagging her and putting her in the freezer was pretty awful, so much worse than for animals who are euthanized because it was time. Yes, she was very sick and probably wouldn't have made it much longer without the surgery, but.... but but but.
It really got me thinking - how can we deal with losing patients too early? The constant what if we had done this, what else could we have done, what went wrong, and so on... they keep haunting me still several days later. I'm worried about eventually as a vet having to deal with the responsibility and guilt of such situations. They don't happen off, but they do definitely happen. This one feels like it will stay with me forever and it's just so hard to move on from..

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[lunajett]

Bagging her and putting her in the freezer was pretty awful, so much worse than for animals who are euthanized because it was time. Yes, she was very sick and probably wouldn't have made it much longer without the surgery, but.... but but but.
It really got me thinking - how can we deal with losing patients too early? The constant what if we had done this, what else could we have done, what went wrong, and so on... they keep haunting me still several days later. I'm worried about eventually as a vet having to deal with the responsibility and guilt of such situations.

Sorry for the crappy day, those situations do really suck. But it sounds like in this case, it WAS the dog's time and it was NOT too early. Maybe it was even too late, meaning the procedure shouldn't have even been attempted on a patient who seems to have had a very poor prognosis. I worked for the past couple years at an emergency/specialty referral hospital, which means we got to deal with all the hard cases, where the referring vets had already done all they could do and often didn't want the patient to die at their hospital, or they didn't want to tell the client (or maybe weren't even really aware themselves) just how bad things were.

Our vets often could seem to work miracles, but I also often felt they went way too far with patients who should have been allowed a quiet, peaceful death, maybe like this doxie. I can't tell you how many cases where the patient spent literally weeks or a month or two in the hospital, undergoing stressful, painful procedures, while the bill runs up to $30K or $40K.. Then suddenly, the patient would crash and burn in the middle of the night, with no familar loving faces to see him out, and it was all for naught. Or maybe they would finally be discharged, only to die a few days later at home.

I think it's one of the most diffcult dilemas we will face as vets, the double-edged sword of advances in veterinary care. Yes, often we *can* do something, and it *might* help, maybe for a few days or couple months, but at great expense in QOL and $. And I guess we have a responsibility to present all options to a client. But, in my experience anyway, it seems like we often do a disservice by encouraging, or not steering clients away from, choices that we know in all likelihood will not end well. I guess we all have to decide our own risk tolerances and where we fall on the optimism scale. And of course this is all complicated when there is a client who is desperate to "do whatever it takes," won't face reality, and has deep pockets, and there is an owner/manager keeping track of every billable procedure a vet racks up.

It's strange, but I often feel like I've learned more from those cases that went terribly wrong, maybe because I never want to be the vet who has to present the $40K bill to the client whose beloved family member just died under my care, and who was led to believe that Fluffy would be coming home good as new at the end of the week. Those are the cases that stick with me most, the Tuffys and the Keyways and the Ghepptos. I think about how much they suffered, how much their parents spent, and for what? The maybe 1 in a 100 shot that these incredibly complex cases would end well?

I guess what I'm saying is we deal with those cases by learning from them. What else can we do? Sometimes it's the best we can make out of a crappy situation. This case impacted you, it will stick with you, and maybe years from now it will help you, as a vet, to avoid such a dismal outcome.

 

[StartingoverVet]

Really good post Luna. Well stated.

 

[Tobysgirl81]

Sorry, this is off topic from the last few posts...I just need a moment to complain. I've been out of work for the past 3 weeks on vacation before school starts. I expected a nice fat paycheck coming in on monday which was my leave hours getting paid out to me. Instead, its a rather measley check that gives me heart palpatations. Why?

Well, my last week of "work" was actually paid leave vacation. If I hadn't have taken it I wouldn't have gotten those hours paid out to me and I didn't want to waste them. I earned them!

Anyhow, it turns out the following pay period started in the middle of that week. And since its university policy to pay out your unused leave the paycheck AFTER your last paycheck...The paycheck I *THOUGHT* was my last paycheck is not. This one is. Which is unfortunate because I thought I would have more money coming in in 5 days than I actually do. Now, instead, I'll get a nice fat paycheck coming in at the end of the month. Granted I get the money either way, I was just planning for it to come in next monday instead!

*sigh* Guess my tires will have to wait a few more weeks....

 

[Highlsnds3]

Just had to rant at myself for not going back to school earlier. Just found out from a vet I used to work for. His tuition at Auburn in 1999 was $1,000 per semester!!!!

 

[StartingoverVet]

Just had to rant at myself for not going back to school earlier. Just found out from a vet I used to work for. His tuition at Auburn in 1999 was $1,000 per semester!!!!

Did you really have to tell us that?

My rant: Finding out on SDN that Auburn tuition was $1000/semester in 1999.

 

[Highlsnds3]

Did you really have to tell us that?

My rant: Finding out on SDN that Auburn tuition was $1000/semester in 1999.

Yep, really kicking myself!!! At that point my GI Bill would have paid for EVERYTHING with $$ left over. But, better late than never!

 

[cuitlamiztli]

Ames is flooded because we've been hammered by thunderstorms, and now our water is potentially contaminated. Fun times.

(And I promise you ISU 2014'ers and anyone thinking of applying - the weather this year has been ridiculously abnormal!)

 

[nyanko]

^^I went to Ames for a Ph.D. fellowship interview at the end of February and snow drifts were literally taller than me. Everyone said "No really this is not typical we promise!!!"

My rant:

See, here's the thing. I theoretically can write, and write pretty well for the most part. My introduction/lit review for my thesis took a little while but is great, and my results and discussion have come together quite nicely and easily. However, (and this is the second time I have had this issue with a thesis) I am beyond terrible at writing what is for most people the very easiest part: the Methods section. I just don't know how to be descriptive enough. Sure, I understand exactly what I did, but I have this terrible habit of relaying the bare minimum about it, which I think has to do with my psyche assuming other people are smarter than I am, so if I understand they obviously will and I don't need to explain it. It takes so much conscious effort for me to actually be detailed in one of those, and even when I think I've overexplained it, I get feedback from profs that says "No no, LEAD ME THROUGH IT" and I'm like aaaaack I did that!!!!

This is driving me insane.

 

[psilovethomas]

Just had to rant at myself for not going back to school earlier. Just found out from a vet I used to work for. His tuition at Auburn in 1999 was $1,000 per semester!!!!

To make you feel better, I find this hard to believe because the vet I work with is a 2002 Auburn CVM grad and she said she has ~$70k of debt from tuition loans. And yes, she was IS.

 

[HopefulAg]

^^I went to Ames for a Ph.D. fellowship interview at the end of February and snow drifts were literally taller than me. Everyone said "No really this is not typical we promise!!!"

Was there around that same time for an interview. I think all that snow they had has just finally melted and now they're getting the inevitable result.

 

[jpeterman13]

Ames is flooded because we've been hammered by thunderstorms, and now our water is potentially contaminated. Fun times.

(And I promise you ISU 2014'ers and anyone thinking of applying - the weather this year has been ridiculously abnormal!)

I was just coming here to b*tch about this! It's insane. And it doesn't help that it's like 100 degrees outside. I'll trust you that it is abnormal, that's what my roommate said too.

 

[thedogisgreen]

Really good post Luna. Well stated.

 

[Whyevernot55]

One word: migraines. All day yesterday I felt kind of funny. It finally hit just as I was leaving the barn from riding my horse, which, PS, is an hour long drive home. With my friend that I carpool with. I would have made her drive, but my car is stick and she doesn't know how.
I spent the next hour trying to focus on simultaneously not vomiting and not letting the top of my head fall off while also driving on the highway.

Ahhhhhh I hate migraines.

 

[GellaBella]

^^I went to Ames for a Ph.D. fellowship interview at the end of February and snow drifts were literally taller than me. Everyone said "No really this is not typical we promise!!!"

My rant:

See, here's the thing. I theoretically can write, and write pretty well for the most part. My introduction/lit review for my thesis took a little while but is great, and my results and discussion have come together quite nicely and easily. However, (and this is the second time I have had this issue with a thesis) I am beyond terrible at writing what is for most people the very easiest part: the Methods section. I just don't know how to be descriptive enough. Sure, I understand exactly what I did, but I have this terrible habit of relaying the bare minimum about it, which I think has to do with my psyche assuming other people are smarter than I am, so if I understand they obviously will and I don't need to explain it. It takes so much conscious effort for me to actually be detailed in one of those, and even when I think I've overexplained it, I get feedback from profs that says "No no, LEAD ME THROUGH IT" and I'm like aaaaack I did that!!!!

This is driving me insane.

Haha. Ahh the thesis. If I wasn't on my phone I'd insert some PhD comic in here that would perfectly sum up the agony and the ecstasy of it all. Do you have something to look at to help you? Previous theses etc? I did have to re-write that section a few times to get all the details in. It's tricky cause for a publication you'd keep it short and sweet but in a dissertation it's like every detail imaginable. if it would help I'd be happy to send you a portion of my materials and methods or to look at yours and let you know what other details I would need to have, as someone unfamiliar with the work, to repeat your exp, which is the ultimate test and goal I guess

 

[Whyevernot55]

You guys will appreciate this one. People never cease to amaze me.

We had a cat come in yesterday that was hit by a car. One of our regular clients found it. She was driving to work through a rather nasty part of town and saw a woman sweeping something on the street. The something moved. Of course this client pulled over. Apparently, the cat had been hit by a car the night before (!), and the woman didn't like cats and didn't want it in front of her house. So she was trying to finish it off. By sweeping it into the storm drain. A F***ING storm drain. The cat can't use its rear legs. Of course our client picked the cat up and drove straight over. I probably would have gotten arrested for slugging the woman in the face.

Said cat is young, neutered, and very nice. He's got some mild spinal displacement over his pelvis in two vertebrae, but he HAS feeling and reflexes in his rear legs and will most likely make a full recovery. He will happily eat wet food off my fingers and loves to have his ears scratched, although being poked with needles makes him Very Upset. Even when the needles contain large amounts of pain medicine. The client that found him thinks she has someone who will adopt him, so hopefully this one will have a happy ending.

People make me so angry some days. Thank goodness not everyone is as horrible as the woman trying to drown a half-paralyzed cat.

 

[HopefulAg]

I've ranted about a similar topic in the past I believe but I've got a new one in relation:

We found some old German documents, two books and three letters, at my grandfather's house last weekend or so. I've been translating one of them (written in 1827) tonight with the help of Google (I don't read nor speak German), which has been a mental exercise in and of itself.

The document is typed in a style called Fraktor, and it ****ing sucks. Some of the letters look NOTHING like the English equivalent. I realize it's a different language, but they do share common roots. And it's just ridiculous, really, because the 's' and the 'f' look identical, as does the 'I' and the 'J', for that matter the 'i' and 'j' are pretty much the same except the 'j' has a bit of peach fuzz on his chin. Same thing for the 'O' and 'Q'. Same shape, except the 'Q' has nothing more than just a little smidge about 1 micrometer in length on the bottom to distinguish it. The 'B' and the 'V' don't just look identical, they ARE identical! It's the exact same damn symbol for both letters! Who the hell came up with that idea?

Luckily the modern type faces are pretty much identical to English, so there's none of those shenannigans to contend with any more. But who ever 'Fraktor' is can go **** himself.



One of the other letters is so brittle I don't dare unfold it and the last letter is written fully in cursive, which I typically prefer, but from previous documents I've read there only seems to be one version of cursive that Germans of that time period wrote in: illegible.

 

[FutureDVM2016]

Okay my major pet peeve-at least this year. Im sick of the "I rule the world and you're just here to admire me" attitude of some of my classmates. It's great for you if you can drink all weekend and then come in and bust an 100 of an exam. But that doesn't make you a better person and I don't either care or want to hear about your escapades or subsequent grades. It further infuriates me that you get awarded all of the scholarship monies (based on your GPA) and daddy is paying for your vet school education. Meanwhile, my unemployed husband and 3 kids are sacrificing everything so I can attend school. You have the maturity of a 2yr old and the complexity of a sea squirt and frankly I dont need any of your crap!

Thanks, I feel better now.

So, I'm a little late with this reply, but I have to say, you just made my week! Thank you for this!

 

[cuitlamiztli]

Ames is flooded because we've been hammered by thunderstorms, and now our water is potentially contaminated.

More fun times - so the flooding caused 8 water main breaks, which pretty much drained the city's water supply. We've been in a state of water emergency since Wednesday afternoon... yet people are still washing their cars/watering their lawns/not conserving water! What part of "discontinue all non-essential use of water so we can refill the water towers and flush out the system so the city can actually have drinkable water next week" don't these people understand??

 

[lunajett]

More fun times - so the flooding caused 8 water main breaks, which pretty much drained the city's water supply. We've been in a state of water emergency since Wednesday afternoon... yet people are still washing their cars/watering their lawns/not conserving water! What part of "discontinue all non-essential use of water so we can refill the water towers and flush out the system so the city can actually have drinkable water next week" don't these people understand??

Yeah, I've been seeing your flooding on the news, looks pretty awful. Makes me feel better about just dealing with suffocating heat and severe thunderstorms down here in KS. What's happening with classes? Seems like there's probably not much they can do except hand out water bottles.

 

[RunTheWorld]

You guys will appreciate this one. People never cease to amaze me.

We had a cat come in yesterday that was hit by a car. One of our regular clients found it. She was driving to work through a rather nasty part of town and saw a woman sweeping something on the street. The something moved. Of course this client pulled over. Apparently, the cat had been hit by a car the night before (!), and the woman didn't like cats and didn't want it in front of her house. So she was trying to finish it off. By sweeping it into the storm drain. A F***ING storm drain. The cat can't use its rear legs. Of course our client picked the cat up and drove straight over. I probably would have gotten arrested for slugging the woman in the face.

Said cat is young, neutered, and very nice. He's got some mild spinal displacement over his pelvis in two vertebrae, but he HAS feeling and reflexes in his rear legs and will most likely make a full recovery. He will happily eat wet food off my fingers and loves to have his ears scratched, although being poked with needles makes him Very Upset. Even when the needles contain large amounts of pain medicine. The client that found him thinks she has someone who will adopt him, so hopefully this one will have a happy ending.

People make me so angry some days. Thank goodness not everyone is as horrible as the woman trying to drown a half-paralyzed cat.

Oh that's so sad I just don't understand some people

 

[chris03333]

^^I went to Ames for a Ph.D. fellowship interview at the end of February and snow drifts were literally taller than me. Everyone said "No really this is not typical we promise!!!"

My rant:

See, here's the thing. I theoretically can write, and write pretty well for the most part. My introduction/lit review for my thesis took a little while but is great, and my results and discussion have come together quite nicely and easily. However, (and this is the second time I have had this issue with a thesis) I am beyond terrible at writing what is for most people the very easiest part: the Methods section. I just don't know how to be descriptive enough. Sure, I understand exactly what I did, but I have this terrible habit of relaying the bare minimum about it, which I think has to do with my psyche assuming other people are smarter than I am, so if I understand they obviously will and I don't need to explain it. It takes so much conscious effort for me to actually be detailed in one of those, and even when I think I've overexplained it, I get feedback from profs that says "No no, LEAD ME THROUGH IT" and I'm like aaaaack I did that!!!!

This is driving me insane.

I am the opposite. I can rock out M&M and results in no time, but I HATE writing the intro and conclusions. I can do it but IT SUCKS!

 

[Bearby]

So first of all, why can't people take a minute to call ahead and SCHEDULE an appointment? It's really not very hard and it saves everyone a lot of stress. I don't understand why people think it's ok to complain about the wait time and expect us to put them before the clients who were considerate enough to make an appointment.

Secondly, today we had a person come in with a dog who hadn't had a BM in like 3 days is what it said. The owner decided to give it an enema, maybe not too bad but we'll see, right? Well the 5 pound chihuahua had a perineal hernia that caused fecal material to become impacted and was about the size of an apple. It was ridiculous and the owner saw it 3 days ago and waited until today to bring the dog in.

 

[cuitlamiztli]

What's happening with classes? Seems like there's probably not much they can do except hand out water bottles.

Classes should still be starting on the 23rd. But, yeah, the city is dispensing gallons of water (1/person/day) and stores have prominent displays of bottled water. Well, at least HyVee did. And I forgot to mention that if people won't bother to conserve water, the city will just shut off the water supply so they can fix it. I think they should be fining people or something as well.

 

[breenie]

I've ranted about a similar topic in the past I believe but I've got a new one in relation:

We found some old German documents, two books and three letters, at my grandfather's house last weekend or so. I've been translating one of them (written in 1827) tonight with the help of Google (I don't read nor speak German), which has been a mental exercise in and of itself.

The document is typed in a style called Fraktor, and it ****ing sucks. Some of the letters look NOTHING like the English equivalent. I realize it's a different language, but they do share common roots. And it's just ridiculous, really, because the 's' and the 'f' look identical, as does the 'I' and the 'J', for that matter the 'i' and 'j' are pretty much the same except the 'j' has a bit of peach fuzz on his chin. Same thing for the 'O' and 'Q'. Same shape, except the 'Q' has nothing more than just a little smidge about 1 micrometer in length on the bottom to distinguish it. The 'B' and the 'V' don't just look identical, they ARE identical! It's the exact same damn symbol for both letters! Who the hell came up with that idea?

Luckily the modern type faces are pretty much identical to English, so there's none of those shenannigans to contend with any more. But who ever 'Fraktor' is can go **** himself.



One of the other letters is so brittle I don't dare unfold it and the last letter is written fully in cursive, which I typically prefer, but from previous documents I've read there only seems to be one version of cursive that Germans of that time period wrote in: illegible.

I had to read a Nazi childrens' book in this script for my german lit class. It's blacktype or black script... forgot exactly what it was referenced as. But yes, it was impossible to read, and even though I understand German, it was like reading a language within a language. They dropped it after that whole WWII thing. Thank god.

 

[thedogisgreen]

I hate this. My roommate got a nine month old dog about a month ago. He was driving the rest of us insane and this was probably the one dog in the world that I absolutely could not stand - he whined constantly and stressed me out nonstop and my roommate wasn't doing much anything about it (now I feel completely guilty about not liking him). She took him home with her over the weekend, texted me last night saying he was lethargic, I asked some general questions but everything else seemed normal so I told her to take him to the vet in the am. She took him this morning, they got him in surgery, and he died - they don't know why yet. I don't know the full story, I've just texted her and don't want to bug her about it yet, but I constantly keep thinking I should have told her to go to the ER last night. I just didn't realize how serious it was. They have a biopsy out so I guess we'll find out what happened in a few days, but jhejkggskjdgkjsdjkgsdg!!!!!!! And of course this then gets into how intense it must be to be the vet handling the case... thumbdown

 

[MSUspartan]

grrr. so i finally got enough money in my bank account to cover my textbooks for this year, so i ordered them off of amazon. i have amazon prime and so i get complimentary 2-day shipping. i ordered the books sunday night. that means they should arrive today. the books are in my town as of 7:45 last night, but they still aren't "out for delivery" according to the UPS tracking website. i'm angry because that means they won't be delivered today (even though the estimated delivery date is listed as 8/18).
it wouldn't be a big deal except i'm moving back to school tomorrow and i'm going to need my books! i would have put my school address if i would have known it wouldn't actually be 2-day shipping! =[

 

[cuitlamiztli]

grrr. so i finally got enough money in my bank account to cover my textbooks for this year, so i ordered them off of amazon. i have amazon prime and so i get complimentary 2-day shipping. i ordered the books sunday night. that means they should arrive today. the books are in my town as of 7:45 last night, but they still aren't "out for delivery" according to the UPS tracking website. i'm angry because that means they won't be delivered today (even though the estimated delivery date is listed as 8/18).
it wouldn't be a big deal except i'm moving back to school tomorrow and i'm going to need my books! i would have put my school address if i would have known it wouldn't actually be 2-day shipping! =[

Well, according to the UPS packages can have an "in transit" status up until they are delivered and that they can be delivered around 7pm or later.... but I understand your frustration! I'm impatiently waiting for several (non-textbook) packages myself.

 

[BaliDoll]

Second day as a receptionist at this place, and two dogs died to their owners being idiots. I know this is part of the job, but it doesn't make it tick me off any less. First was a parvo positive puppy, woman KNEW there were 3 dogs in the neighborhood with parvo and claims that some vaccine clinic told her the dog was too young for shots- AT A YEAR OLD. The puppy was put down because she couldn't even pay for the TEST let alone treatment. Best part was she was letting her daughter let the puppy run lose in our reception area for 10 minutes before she told us "he may have parvo"... she came in wanting to get the vaccine, like that was going to help.

Second was a guy who biked 3 miles with his dog in 105 degree heat, didn't give the dog any water, went inside and got drunk, told us his friends said that his dog was dead in the yard... dog died 10 minutes after getting the IV in after a massive seizure. um... wow.

Why don't people do easy things to keep their pets healthy? I mean seriously...

 

[Bearby]

Second day as a receptionist at this place, and two dogs died to their owners being idiots. I know this is part of the job, but it doesn't make it tick me off any less. First was a parvo positive puppy, woman KNEW there were 3 dogs in the neighborhood with parvo and claims that some vaccine clinic told her the dog was too young for shots- AT A YEAR OLD. The puppy was put down because she couldn't even pay for the TEST let alone treatment. Best part was she was letting her daughter let the puppy run lose in our reception area for 10 minutes before she told us "he may have parvo"... she came in wanting to get the vaccine, like that was going to help.

Second was a guy who biked 3 miles with his dog in 105 degree heat, didn't give the dog any water, went inside and got drunk, told us his friends said that his dog was dead in the yard... dog died 10 minutes after getting the IV in after a massive seizure. um... wow.

Why don't people do easy things to keep their pets healthy? I mean seriously...

we had a guy tell us his puppy fell off the porch and no longer could use its back legs...then told us it happened 3 days ago. the puppy wasn't home, there was nystagmus, paralysis of the back limbs, and seizures and the owner was asking me questions about his other dogs problems (completely unrelated) while he was signing the euthanasia consent form. i just wonder sometimes.

 

[LittleWiz]

I just took the GRE for the third time and got a lower score than the 2nd time.

The catch? I studied for this one.

 

[NStarz]

I have two computers (a laptop and a desktop) and they're both dead!!! My laptop died a week and a half ago and is now with the Geek Squad. And my desktop just crashed yesterday. I'm living in the technological dark ages. I've decided I'm going to become a hermit and live in a cave.

 

[Lab Rat83]

Steam is coming out of my ears right about now!!!!!

I've been working on my supplemental application for AVC for several days now. I opened up a file from their website and added all the information I wanted to share. I have been saving it along with way every half hour or so just in case my computer went all wonky. Well, just now my computer froze so I restarted it! I had that file open and it has been left open for 3 days now. So, it prompted me to save changes and then I closed the window.

I restart my computer only to realize that it was saved in a temporary file! I went back into Microsof Word and I can see the file name I saved it under, but when I click on it it says "File not found". It no longer exists on my computer!

Does anyone know how to recover temporary data? This would have been a word doc. that I opened from a web page.

 

[vkajko]

Aghhhh! I posted in the rave thread that I just started my first internship. Well I couldn't go this week because I got the flu on Tuesday!

I even went all the way down to the hospital, because I thought that by the time I got there I would feel better (meds would kick in). Well they didn't by the time I made it there I felt like throwing up and curling in a small ball. I felt so bad when I told the head doctor I wouldn't be in, but I found out the flu was going around there and I got sick on Tuesday. AGHHHH!!! I hate how this happened, I am glad though that it was before school started, which is on Monday. At least I feel a bit better today, I can sit up and don't feel like throwing up at all.

 

[NStarz]

Just started running with my 7 year old wheaten (my 13 year old declined ). We're just going around the block to start, but I feel so out of shape Day 3 and counting. Any runners out there? Please tell me it gets easier!

I'd like to make this a part of my daily routine, because I hear a lot of people love the endorphin rush and that it's a good way to clear your head. I hope I can get to that point!

 

[VeganSoprano]

Deleted cos I'm not so bright.

 

[Tco87]

My car broke down while I was driving home from work today. Fortunately, I have AAA. Unfortunately, I'm supposed to go back to work tomorrow. I've been looking at bus schedules, and if I want to take public transit I'll have to walk 30 minutes to the bus stop, take 2 buses for another 30 minutes, and then walk another 10 minutes. According to Google, if I wanted to just walk it would be 2 hours.

And I have to be at work by 8am so it's going to be hard finding someone willing to give me a ride at that time....

 

[chris03333]

A former boss randomly gave me a personal check that will cover half of my tuition this semester. No reason whatsoever, just "because". Amazing.

This is a "rant"

 

[VeganSoprano]

LOL! Not so much. I am an idiot and posted in the wrong thread.

 

[deleted266066]

.

 

[168135]

Know what sucks?
Going to Costa Rica and Nicaragua and having fever, stomach cramps, aches and pains for the last four days of the trip. I feel like I missed out on sooooo much.

Speaking of cramps, I'm having a bad one right now.

 

[Lissarae06]

My mom's blackberry broke the other day so she gave it to me to try to salvage her phone numbers on her sim card using my blackberry. That would have worked except my blackberry decided to stop working out of no where yesterday! The really sucky part is that now I have no phone, and I can't afford a new phone because the only cheap phones they have are either go phones or you have to sign a 2 year contract. ATT sucks so that isn't going to happen. My hubby has t-mobile and he had to buy a new phone without signing a contract and it cost him $50. ATT has the exact same phone and their no contract price is $150! I don't understand how they can get away with that. My contract is almost up so I'm switching carriers ASAP!

 

[deleted266066]

.

 

[Lissarae06]

Not until his contract with T-Mobile is up in November We have different carriers and neither of us like our current carriers.

 

[deleted266066]

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[Lissarae06]

I just went to Wal-mart and got a go phone and put my blackberry sim card in it. No smartphone capabilities but I can at least use it to talk and text. It will probably be a good thing: one less distraction during class.

 

[GellaBella]

We are smack dab in the middle of orientation.

So far its been pretty cool. Today was booooooring. Since we just had to sit and be lectured to all day long. And someone stole my bingo card out of my mailbox. So I didn't get to play.

I'm really enjoying meeting classmates though. Especially the after-orientation hanging out (read: tasty beverages/bar hopping).

BUT! Today I went to the library to set up some IT stuff. THey have these fancy computers that are like in the table, so you push on the back and they swing up for you to work with them. Pretty neat.

Unfortunately, I thought that when I went to close the computer it would swing down gently and not slam...cause I mean, come on, why would you want your computer to slam down into the table.

Well, apparently my logic was wrong and the thing was designed to crushed fingers. So now I've got a huge ass blood blister , I'm sure my nail is gonna turn black cause it got me right at the nail bed. and its throbbing. ugh. nasty

 

[DVMDream]

I felt like the grim reeper today at work. I saw 4 patients, 3 of which ended up deceased in the end, 2 were scheduled euthanasias. But, what really has me ranting today is the client with the parvo puppy.

This client brings in a 17 week old, 2 pound, yorkshire terrier. The puppy is laying on its side barely able to hold its head up, has pale gums, a very fast heart rate (with a murmur), has bloody diarrhea coming out of its back end, and is very dehydrated. The client (who is not the owner, but the pet sitter) tells me that the puppy is not current on vaccines. So after I talk with her I go get the vet right away so we can get the puppy euthanized because at this point I am not sure if they puppy will even survive the time it takes for me to get the vet. The vet goes in, comes back out and says that we need to get the actual owner's information and put it in the computer because all we have is the pet sitter's info. She also put the puppy back in our isolation ward. So I go back and talk to the pet sitter who has the owner on the phone. While I am doing this I am also told to find out if they would like us to try treating the puppy or if they want to euthanize. So, I very bluntly tell the pet sitter her two options and the chance the puppy will have of surviving even with treatment. I also tell her that it will cost a $500 down payment to start treatment and treatment can end up costing around $1500 and that there are no guarantees that the puppy will live. So, the pet sitter explains this to the owner, the owner starts bawling over the phone. So, the lady hangs up with her and calls someone else and tells me to give them a few minutes. The pet sitter then decides to step outside to call people. I kept talking to the pet sitter and she kept asking if we can test and make sure this is parvo because, "what if it isn't". I told her we can test the puppy and start treatment but at this point the test is a waste of money. The puppy has all the symptoms of parvo, has no vaccines, and is on death's door so it does not matter what the test shows (which we are 99.99% certain it is parvo and the only reason that is not 100% is because we haven't spent the $60 something to run the test to prove it), the treatment and prognosis is still going to be the same. After going back and forth with the pet sitter, her calling the owner (and whoever the hell else she called), etc, etc. The pet sitter finally gets the owner back on the phone, the doctor goes in and gets authorization to euthanize the puppy (which at this point is a courtesy because they don't have any money). The doctor then comes back and tells me that the pet sitter gets all upset and goes, "What! You guys are going to put her down! I didn't know that was going to happen!" At this point I am just done with the pet sitter, and the owner, and everything else. I have been telling this lady (pet sitter) for the past hour that she needs to get the owner to decide if they want to try to treat or euthanize. She had an estimate IN FRONT OF HER FACE with the word euthanasia on it and we had talked about CREMATION!! What did she think we were going to do with the puppy? Put magical cure cream on it? The pet sitter now wants to say bye to the puppy before we put it to sleep. So I carry the puppy (who is now not lifting its head and is barely breathing) back to the room with the pet sitter. She is crying and crying and crying. The whole time I am watching the puppy breathe in and breathe out. Breathe in and............... breathe out................................breathe in..............................breathe out..........start slowly twitching legs/make legs stiff (thought in my head: do not start a seizure now, please do not seize now!)...........................puppy breathe in..........................................................puppy breathe out.....................puppy breathe in....................nothing. nothing. and nothing. I can still feel a heart beat (barely) but no breathing. Pet sitter notices and asks if that is normal (no, puppies always hold their breath for over 50 seconds that is normal) I tell her I still feel a heart beat but let me take the puppy back with me and have the vet make sure. Pet sitter won't let me take the puppy and wants to be with her, so I go get the vet and tell her I believe the puppy just passed away and asked if she will go confirm it since I did not have a stethoscope with me. Vet comes back and confirms it. Then the pet sitter wants to get out of their immediately. I ask her to please stay in that room, I will go check her out and come back with the receipt and then she can leave. Pet sitter tells me she doesn't want to be in that room anymore and has to get out. I tell her that she needs to stay in that room so we do not contaminate the lobby and possibly spread the virus to other patients. Pet sitter finally agrees. I get her checked out go back in the room, she is a lot more pleasant now and does not seem to be rushed to get out of there. I explain to her that she needs to bleach everything she can at home and whatever can't be bleached needs to be washed in hot, hot water with detergent at least once, twice is better and that still won't guarantee the virus is killed. I also tell her that the owner of the puppy needs to do this too. The pet sitter then tells me, "I don't understand how this could happen so quickly, she just wasn't eating for a few days and seemed tired. I also just had her at PetsMart about 45 minutes before I came here and she was walking around just fine." :FACEPALM:

And people wonder whey they need to get all those puppy vaccines? There is a REASON we recommend them and a REASON why we tell people it is best to avoid public places with their puppy until it is fully vaccinated and is around 2 weeks past receiving its FINAL vaccine at around 16 weeks.

Sorry this is so long...but that is my rant of the day.

 

[GellaBella]

I felt like the grim reeper today at work. I saw 4 patients, 3 of which ended up deceased in the end, 2 were scheduled euthanasias. But, what really has me ranting today is the client with the parvo puppy.

This client brings in a 17 week old, 2 pound, yorkshire terrier. The puppy is laying on its side barely able to hold its head up, has pale gums, a very fast heart rate (with a murmur), has bloody diarrhea coming out of its back end, and is very dehydrated. The client (who is not the owner, but the pet sitter) tells me that the puppy is not current on vaccines. So after I talk with her I go get the vet right away so we can get the puppy euthanized because at this point I am not sure if they puppy will even survive the time it takes for me to get the vet. The vet goes in, comes back out and says that we need to get the actual owner's information and put it in the computer because all we have is the pet sitter's info. She also put the puppy back in our isolation ward. So I go back and talk to the pet sitter who has the owner on the phone. While I am doing this I am also told to find out if they would like us to try treating the puppy or if they want to euthanize. So, I very bluntly tell the pet sitter her two options and the chance the puppy will have of surviving even with treatment. I also tell her that it will cost a $500 down payment to start treatment and treatment can end up costing around $1500 and that there are no guarantees that the puppy will live. So, the pet sitter explains this to the owner, the owner starts bawling over the phone. So, the lady hangs up with her and calls someone else and tells me to give them a few minutes. The pet sitter then decides to step outside to call people. I kept talking to the pet sitter and she kept asking if we can test and make sure this is parvo because, "what if it isn't". I told her we can test the puppy and start treatment but at this point the test is a waste of money. The puppy has all the symptoms of parvo, has no vaccines, and is on death's door so it does not matter what the test shows (which we are 99.99% certain it is parvo and the only reason that is not 100% is because we haven't spent the $60 something to run the test to prove it), the treatment and prognosis is still going to be the same. After going back and forth with the pet sitter, her calling the owner (and whoever the hell else she called), etc, etc. The pet sitter finally gets the owner back on the phone, the doctor goes in and gets authorization to euthanize the puppy (which at this point is a courtesy because they don't have any money). The doctor then comes back and tells me that the pet sitter gets all upset and goes, "What! You guys are going to put her down! I didn't know that was going to happen!" At this point I am just done with the pet sitter, and the owner, and everything else. I have been telling this lady (pet sitter) for the past hour that she needs to get the owner to decide if they want to try to treat or euthanize. She had an estimate IN FRONT OF HER FACE with the word euthanasia on it and we had talked about CREMATION!! What did she think we were going to do with the puppy? Put magical cure cream on it? The pet sitter now wants to say bye to the puppy before we put it to sleep. So I carry the puppy (who is now not lifting its head and is barely breathing) back to the room with the pet sitter. She is crying and crying and crying. The whole time I am watching the puppy breathe in and breathe out. Breathe in and............... breathe out................................breathe in..............................breathe out..........start slowly twitching legs/make legs stiff (thought in my head: do not start a seizure now, please do not seize now!)...........................puppy breathe in..........................................................puppy breathe out.....................puppy breathe in....................nothing. nothing. and nothing. I can still feel a heart beat (barely) but no breathing. Pet sitter notices and asks if that is normal (no, puppies always hold their breath for over 50 seconds that is normal) I tell her I still feel a heart beat but let me take the puppy back with me and have the vet make sure. Pet sitter won't let me take the puppy and wants to be with her, so I go get the vet and tell her I believe the puppy just passed away and asked if she will go confirm it since I did not have a stethoscope with me. Vet comes back and confirms it. Then the pet sitter wants to get out of their immediately. I ask her to please stay in that room, I will go check her out and come back with the receipt and then she can leave. Pet sitter tells me she doesn't want to be in that room anymore and has to get out. I tell her that she needs to stay in that room so we do not contaminate the lobby and possibly spread the virus to other patients. Pet sitter finally agrees. I get her checked out go back in the room, she is a lot more pleasant now and does not seem to be rushed to get out of there. I explain to her that she needs to bleach everything she can at home and whatever can't be bleached needs to be washed in hot, hot water with detergent at least once, twice is better and that still won't guarantee the virus is killed. I also tell her that the owner of the puppy needs to do this too. The pet sitter then tells me, "I don't understand how this could happen so quickly, she just wasn't eating for a few days and seemed tired. I also just had her at PetsMart about 45 minutes before I came here and she was walking around just fine." :FACEPALM:

And people wonder whey they need to get all those puppy vaccines? There is a REASON we recommend them and a REASON why we tell people it is best to avoid public places with their puppy until it is fully vaccinated and is around 2 weeks past receiving its FINAL vaccine at around 16 weeks.

Sorry this is so long...but that is my rant of the day.

Ok your day was definitely worse than my smashed finger. I'm sorry. that really sucks

 

[nyanko]

I lost my thumb drive with all my thesis data on it.

Luckily, the machine that I ran the latest analyses on, despite all the huge signs in the grad student computer room that FILES AND FOLDERS LEFT ON THESE COMPUTERS MAY BE DELETED WITHOUT WARNING, still had the data on it and all I lost was the spreadsheet where I compiled it all, and a couple of the runs that I hadn't saved.

But uhh, yeah. Not so smart.