Class of 2015... How ya doing?

[scb44f]

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Yeah I can remember one night that I got ~3 hours of sleep on IM, but that's because our IM service has us SOAP every single problem on the problem list every night for patients that stay overnight. My patient had like 8 problems and I hadn't written a SOAP to the level of their liking in over a year. So I stayed up, writing. Other than that, I've been able to keep a fairly regular sleep schedule.

Deb, by forgetting treatments, do you mean forgetting how to specifically treat x, y and z diseases/conditions? I think you will find that you will remember a lot more of it than you think. And if you forget, well, that's why we are on clinics. I have said some pretty dumb stuff, but everyone will. Just absorb the laughing (or funny looks...) from others, laugh at yourself, take it as a learning opportunity, and look it up in books, notes, VIN, etc.

 

[heylodeb]

Treatments as in things that need to be done on hospitalized patients. Just fear of being too exhausted to be competent. Enough complaining though. I've survived everything else scary - this too shall pass...

We start on April 7th! The first two weeks are technically class though because it is business and clin path review or something. I'm training for a 1/2 marathon that we are running on March 16th so I'll be fit and ready to make all those pharmacy and lab runs. 😛

 

[scb44f]

Treatments as in things that need to be done on hospitalized patients. Just fear of being too exhausted to be competent. Enough complaining though. I've survived everything else scary - this too shall pass...

We start on April 7th! The first two weeks are technically class though because it is business and clin path review or something. I'm training for a 1/2 marathon that we are running on March 16th so I'll be fit and ready to make all those pharmacy and lab runs. 😛

Ahh, well, I think you will be okay 🙂

We had 2 days of "orientation" which was basically, "Hey, don't get exposed to too much radiation," and "if you have something in radiation isolation and you suck at using PPE, you're going to have to strip down and we're going to throw away your clothes and you'll have to wear plastic over the exposed part of your body for however long." I don't even remember what else there was, but it was definitely 2 days of random stuff like that.

 

[that redhead]

We had 2 days of "orientation" which was basically, "Hey, don't get exposed to too much radiation," and "if you have something in radiation isolation and you suck at using PPE, you're going to have to strip down and we're going to throw away your clothes and you'll have to wear plastic over the exposed part of your body for however long." I don't even remember what else there was, but it was definitely 2 days of random stuff like that.

Well I made it back in one piece. Watching the playoff games and mourning my decision not to stop in town to get food. I have a little bit of stuff, so I won't starve, but it's tough making the abrupt transition from parents full kitchen to my random collection of food I left behind three weeks ago...

 

[LetItSnow]

Ahh, well, I think you will be okay 🙂

We had 2 days of "orientation" which was basically, "Hey, don't get exposed to too much radiation," and "if you have something in radiation isolation and you suck at using PPE, you're going to have to strip down and we're going to throw away your clothes and you'll have to wear plastic over the exposed part of your body for however long." I don't even remember what else there was, but it was definitely 2 days of random stuff like that.

Hahahaha. I love those sorts of whirlwind orientations where an organization throws 100 random bits of info at you, pats themselves on the back for 'orienting' you, and then somehow magically expects that you remember all of it. Not unique to vet schools and hospitals, unfortunately.

Free pro tip going into clinics: Don't be the fourth year that walks around whining about how tired you are because of how many hours you've been at the hospital. A) Many/Most of the residents are there longer and have more responsibility, and B) Some of the staff are tired, too. I had to roll my eyes when a fourth year walked into ICU and complained about having been there since 7am (it was mid-afternoon); I was working 20 out of 24 hours (scheduling error; my fault). Granted, I was getting paid. But still.

I get that rotations can be exhausting and tiring and staying at the hospital for 16 hours to write SOAPs and discharges isn't exactly exciting. Totally sucks. Just ........ don't be that person that tries to make sure everyone around you knows how tired you are. Nobody likes that person. Keep smilin'. 🙂

 

[Coquette22]

Well I made it back in one piece. Watching the playoff games and mourning my decision not to stop in town to get food. I have a little bit of stuff, so I won't starve, but it's tough making the abrupt transition from parents full kitchen to my random collection of food I left behind three weeks ago...

I probably would have been in the same boat except I had to go the grocery store to pick up a perscription so figured I might as well grab some stuff while I was there. Mondays are my longest day for the first module, so at least it's downhill after tomorrow. And NO SURGERY this semester.

 

[that redhead]

I probably would have been in the same boat except I had to go the grocery store to pick up a perscription so figured I might as well grab some stuff while I was there. Mondays are my longest day for the first module, so at least it's downhill after tomorrow. And NO SURGERY this semester.

No surgery...so happy 😀 I should probably look at the schedule for tomorrow...whoops.

 

[LetItSnow]

No surgery...so happy 😀 I should probably look at the schedule for tomorrow...whoops.

Ha. Yeah. We go back tomorrow (just one class!), and I finally checked out the syllabus. I'm kinda sitting on the fence about going. High of -15 or so tomorrow (low of -24). Having a hard time getting excited about going to school for one class with it that cold out.

 

[that redhead]

Ha. Yeah. We go back tomorrow (just one class!), and I finally checked out the syllabus. I'm kinda sitting on the fence about going. High of -15 or so tomorrow (low of -24). Having a hard time getting excited about going to school for one class with it that cold out.

Oh man. Is that for all Mondays or just tomorrow? I've just discovered I have one (830) class on Thursdays and it's rads lab...which I love, but not that hard to skip :\ It's not that cold here (right now/yet) but this winter has been a lot worse so far.

 

[LetItSnow]

Oh man. Is that for all Mondays or just tomorrow? I've just discovered I have one (830) class on Thursdays and it's rads lab...which I love, but not that hard to skip :\ It's not that cold here (right now/yet) but this winter has been a lot worse so far.

Just this Monday. But in general, this last semester before clinics is really light for us. I'm not sure if it's fewer credits than first semester first year, but it might be. Almost all electives (4 core courses, only, and none of them are 'big credit' courses). Many pass-fail courses. It's seems pretty well accepted that this is a 'low stress' semester. I don't have more than 4 hours of class per day until .. Thursday, I think?

 

[jmo1012]

how do ya'lls upcoming schedules look? we have 4h morning classes x5d, afternoon electives on mondays, and then rotations tues-fri in the afternoons that consist of necropsy, clin path, ER, IM, Sx, LA ambulatory, and probably a few others i've forgotten because we have 12 weeks of rotations. we have an ethics class the first week and then our only classes are equine IM, SA IM2, LA IM, and toxicology

 

[heylodeb]

We are all separated out into our streams now and still have the block class structure. I'm small animal so we have cardiology, renal, endocrine, oncology, exotics and finishing up our surgery labs.

 

[Coquette22]

We have a mix of core classes (companion animal and diagnostic radiology) and electives (large animal, aquatics, exotics and comparative medicine), so everyone in the class has essentially a different schedule. The cores run all semester, but the electives are done in 5 week blocks, so our schedule changes. Right now I've got:
Cores
- Renal/genitourinary/immune/hemolymphatic diseases of companion animals
- Gastrointestinal, hepatic and dental diseases of companion animals
- Endocrine & dermatologic diseases of companion animals
- Diagnostic radiology
- Medical exercises in companion animals
- Clinical pharmacology/toxicology
Electives
- Health of aquatic food animals and the ecosystem
- Food animal anesthesia and surgery
- Comparative medicine

Others later in the semester: Intro to exotics II; Equine anesthesia, surgery and lameness; Topics in advanced equine medicine; Advanced equine medicine techniques lab; Topics in small ruminants; Topics in poultry/swine

For the first module, I'm 8:30-3:30 on M/T, 9:30-4:30 on W, 9:30-10:30 on Th, and 10:30-3:20 on F.

 

[that redhead]

I feel exhausted just thinking about writing out my schedule. Mine's pretty close to Coquette's, but I have an extra elective this block (equine preventative med).

 

[scb44f]

This could probably go in the rave thread, but on our pathology rotation, we're supposed to present an interesting case we saw/helped with. The case I chose was really cool to me, but at one point I looked up and one of the pathologists who hadn't worked on it was nodding his head enthusiastically, with a smile on his face. Afterward, he emailed me, asking me for my presentation. Not that it was an exceptionally good presentation, but it's cool to get that kind of reaction from a clinician! (The case was a cat with Histoplasma in the adrenal glands that we think presented in Addisonian crisis.)

 

[twelvetigers]

Classes start again tomorrow... blah.

 

[LetItSnow]

We have a mix of core classes (companion animal and diagnostic radiology) and electives (large animal, aquatics, exotics and comparative medicine), so everyone in the class has essentially a different schedule. The cores run all semester, but the electives are done in 5 week blocks, so our schedule changes. Right now I've got:
Cores
- Renal/genitourinary/immune/hemolymphatic diseases of companion animals
- Gastrointestinal, hepatic and dental diseases of companion animals
- Endocrine & dermatologic diseases of companion animals
- Diagnostic radiology
- Medical exercises in companion animals
- Clinical pharmacology/toxicology
Electives
- Health of aquatic food animals and the ecosystem
- Food animal anesthesia and surgery
- Comparative medicine

Others later in the semester: Intro to exotics II; Equine anesthesia, surgery and lameness; Topics in advanced equine medicine; Advanced equine medicine techniques lab; Topics in small ruminants; Topics in poultry/swine

For the first module, I'm 8:30-3:30 on M/T, 9:30-4:30 on W, 9:30-10:30 on Th, and 10:30-3:20 on F.

I feel like I should know something about most of those topics, since I've had urinary, immune/heme, GI, metabolic, derm, three semesters of imaging, pharm, tox ..... but really, none of it looks familiar.

 

[that redhead]

I feel like I should know something about most of those topics, since I've had urinary, immune/heme, GI, metabolic, derm, three semesters of imaging, pharm, tox ..... but really, none of it looks familiar.

It's weird because the systems have been incorporated into other classes quite well...I guess we just need to keep seeing it for it to stick for clinics?

 

[LetItSnow]

It's weird because the systems have been incorporated into other classes quite well...I guess we just need to keep seeing it for it to stick for clinics?

I hope it starts sticking at <some> point. I used to consider myself a pretty quick learner. Given how many times I've learned and forgotten some things in vet school, I no longer say that. 🙂 Now I'm like "Hey. I'm the dim one in class."

 

[twelvetigers]

I hope it starts sticking at <some> point. I used to consider myself a pretty quick learner. Given how many times I've learned and forgotten some things in vet school, I no longer say that. 🙂 Now I'm like "Hey. I'm the dim one in class."

We were going over epulides today in alimentary and I was like... some vague memories from... somewhere...

And talking about paCO2 in cardiopulm and the carotid bodies or whatever, and I'm like sheeeit, that's from phys II I think. Huh.

I don't know how many times I can learn and then forget how to localize a neuro lesion. My guess is at least one more time.

 

[Coquette22]

We were going over epulides today in alimentary and I was like... some vague memories from... somewhere...

We've talked about epulides at least 4 times in various courses. And it's taken me four times to remember what they are. Still though, if someone asked me what an epulis was, I could tell them. But I still forget the word itself sometimes. Which means I've done this on a couple of tests: "Ohh, that thing, that... that... damnit what is that called?!"

 

[that redhead]

Things I need to be doing: studying for a very important pharm quiz, working on my comparative med paper, studying for the comparative med quiz, working on my fish health assignment.

Things I would like to be doing: watching Bones, reading.

Things I have done: eat chicken wings, light candles and post on SDN. Oops.

 

[LetItSnow]

Having a nice romantic evening with yourself, TRH? 🙂

 

[Coquette22]

Things I need to be doing: studying for a very important pharm quiz, working on my comparative med paper, studying for the comparative med quiz, working on my fish health assignment.

All of the above. I am trying to get a start on the comp med paper. For some reason the human disease part is stupidly hard right now. Ugh.

 

[Bearby]

So, we have a parasitology final next Thursday and a micro final next Wednesday, plus I have a club meeting that I have to go to Wednesday night next week. This would be fine if NAVC and a huge football game weren't this weekend. Parasitology is already so difficult to learn. This is going to be difficult.

 

[that redhead]

Having a nice romantic evening with yourself, TRH? 🙂

I know how to treat a lady right 😀

 

[eventualeventer]

I know I've been lame and haven't been on SDN in forever, but I thought I'd stick my head in the door and wave. I continue to stalk Deb on a regular basis <waves and flashes evil grin>, I am training and wetlab coordinator for our school's disaster preparedness and large animal rescue club, and I obsess weekly over my choices for clinics next year. I also have the vet student curse dog, who has had THREE elbow surgeries since turning 1 last April due to MCP fragmentation with end-stage OA on the left and then a failed CUE procedure, is starting to itch like a true Golden mix, and is seeing our DACVB next week for fear aggression. Unlike the smallies, who recently went through cardio hell, LA track and equine sub-track (underpass?) have been positively clinical and unstressful compared to 2nd year. I think that has to do with the neuroticism quotient of the LA faculty. We just finished castration labs, in which some local horse breeding farms brought in enough yearlings that everyone got to castrate one, rotating each lab like we do for spays and neuters, so that was fun, except for a couple times when I nearly got killed (alpha-2 aggression reaction, people not paying attention to safety).

 

[heylodeb]

I know I've been lame and haven't been on SDN in forever, but I thought I'd stick my head in the door and wave. I continue to stalk Deb on a regular basis <waves and flashes evil grin>,

 

[that redhead]

I know I've been lame and haven't been on SDN in forever, but I thought I'd stick my head in the door and wave. I continue to stalk Deb on a regular basis <waves and flashes evil grin>, I am training and wetlab coordinator for our school's disaster preparedness and large animal rescue club, and I obsess weekly over my choices for clinics next year. I also have the vet student curse dog, who has had THREE elbow surgeries since turning 1 last April due to MCP fragmentation with end-stage OA on the left and then a failed CUE procedure, is starting to itch like a true Golden mix, and is seeing our DACVB next week for fear aggression. Unlike the smallies, who recently went through cardio hell, LA track and equine sub-track (underpass?) have been positively clinical and unstressful compared to 2nd year. I think that has to do with the neuroticism quotient of the LA faculty. We just finished castration labs, in which some local horse breeding farms brought in enough yearlings that everyone got to castrate one, rotating each lab like we do for spays and neuters, so that was fun, except for a couple times when I nearly got killed (alpha-2 aggression reaction, people not paying attention to safety).

Oh man, tough times with your dog! Hope it all works out.

Can't believe we keep inching closer to the finish line of classes. Our semester is in blocks for the first time (and last time, haha) and it's strange having only two weeks of certain classes left and finals coming up!

 

[Coquette22]

Rotation lottery on Friday. Ugh.

Also, I don't know if I can call it senioritis or not since we're technically not seniors, but I have zero motivation to get through the next few months. May seems so close yet so very far away and I'm having a really hard time mustering up any get-up-and-go about any of my school work.

 

[eventualeventer]

Don't give me that, young lady. I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE.

 

[nyanko]

is seeing our DACVB next week for fear aggression.

I'm on behavior next week, I get a June Bug date?

 

[jmo1012]

sitting in orientation for our clinical rotations for this semester - massively overwhelmed!!! i need at least an extra 3 hours in every day to study for this!

 

[jmo1012]

1st day of ER clinics, already massively overwhelmed. ugh. i want my passion and excitement for vet med back. i'm tired of hating school and wishing i was doing something else with my life more meaningful and instead feeling trapped. sigh

 

[dyachei]

1st day of ER clinics, already massively overwhelmed. ugh. i want my passion and excitement for vet med back. i'm tired of hating school and wishing i was doing something else with my life more meaningful and instead feeling trapped. sigh

well...I can't guarantee the passion back, but it does get better

 

[scb44f]

Pathology is over and I'm happy to not have emergency or ICU duty anymore! My best friend is back in town and we have plans to go see Frozen next week, so that's awesome.

In the meantime, I'm on a research elective, and have been helping review data collected from cats on ventilators. Tomorrow, I'm meeting with a radiologist to learn more about the CTs that were taken while the cats were under anesthesia. I'm really happy with this rotation though, because it went from helping on a random study and doing a retrospective study to jumping in and being given my own little project that piggy-backed the original study. The PI is amazing, and the resident and I immediately got along. I'm definitely lucky to be working with such great people! The best part about this elective is there are no set time frames or work days. I have been able to make my own schedule, which is excellent because my birthday is later this week and my husband and I are heading to visit a friend who recently had a stroke. I don't know how things fall in place so perfectly, but they always seem to.

I'm really on the fence about going for an internship/residency... Every time I talk to someone who did an internship, I get so pumped about it and really want to go for it. The cardiology intern and resident, and one of the cardiologists, really like to give me crap when they see me (in a good way), which makes me want to pursue it. Then I think about how that could mean being away from my husband for 5 years and I think "hell no, I just want to have babies and get a part time job". So here I am, doing research and doing a cardio rotation at NCSU and a second cardio elective here just in case I decide to go for cardiology. I'm just hoping this is one of those things that just falls into place.

 

[scb44f]

1st day of ER clinics, already massively overwhelmed. ugh. i want my passion and excitement for vet med back. i'm tired of hating school and wishing i was doing something else with my life more meaningful and instead feeling trapped. sigh

I hope it gets better soon :-/

 

[eventualeventer]

I'm on behavior next week, I get a June Bug date?

Date with Derp, tomorrow afternoon.

 

[jmo1012]

well...I can't guarantee the passion back, but it does get better

admittedly today was better. i had more time off this afternoon to get some studying done both for classes and for clinics and then it was much less disorganized and crazy tonight. i'm used to the craziness of ER, but its the rotation structure and just being on day 1 of any clinical rotation that was so overwhelming. and we got to leave on time 😀 [staying late is one thing, but it is really hard to do that on top of 4 hours of class and studying for both those classes and the current rotation!]

 

[Coquette22]

Still waiting on a letter of rec from one of my profs before I can send in my app for one of my external rotations. And I have another external sort-of lined up, but I can't confirm anything with them until after the lottery on Friday (semi-hijack - yay for rotation lottery potluck!) so I know when I'm doing other stuff. Still can't find anywhere nearby with zebrafish and a vet on staff, which is really frustrating and I really can't afford to travel anywhere. If I want a fish rotation, I may have to settle for the aquaculture one at school.

 

[scb44f]

Still waiting on a letter of rec from one of my profs before I can send in my app for one of my external rotations. And I have another external sort-of lined up, but I can't confirm anything with them until after the lottery on Friday (semi-hijack - yay for rotation lottery potluck!) so I know when I'm doing other stuff. Still can't find anywhere nearby with zebrafish and a vet on staff, which is really frustrating and I really can't afford to travel anywhere. If I want a fish rotation, I may have to settle for the aquaculture one at school.

So you find out tomorrow what your rotation schedule will be? How exciting!!

 

[twelvetigers]

I got my rotations schedule. I'm fine with it, except that I have all my LA stuff in the spring, AFTER the NAVLE. So it won't help me learn or study for that.

Also my vacation is timed perfectly to study for NAVLE, which is nice but does mean I won't really have a lazy vacation. I get TG off though...

 

[Bearby]

I got my rotations schedule. I'm fine with it, except that I have all my LA stuff in the spring, AFTER the NAVLE. So it won't help me learn or study for that.

Also my vacation is timed perfectly to study for NAVLE, which is nice but does mean I won't really have a lazy vacation. I get TG off though...

If it makes you feel any better, the large animal rotations that I've had so far didn't actually teach me anything that will be helpful for the NAVLE.

 

[twelvetigers]

If it makes you feel any better, the large animal rotations that I've had so far didn't actually teach me anything that will be helpful for the NAVLE.

Lol. Well, maybe a little. Sorta.

I will probably be okay, but yanno. Gotta worry about something.

I need to figure out some damn preceptors...

 

[dyachei]

Lol. Well, maybe a little. Sorta.

I will probably be okay, but yanno. Gotta worry about something.

I need to figure out some damn preceptors...

opening a clinic this summer 😉

 

[twelvetigers]

opening a clinic this summer 😉

Oooooh... in FL too, I presume...

 

[dyachei]

Oooooh... in FL too, I presume...

sure is!

 

[Coquette22]

Well, rotation lottery over. I ate too many cheesecake balls. And too many chocolate covered pretzels. Oh, and I mostly got all the rotations I wanted; 'cept cardiology but that's not a huge loss. Still have to sort out some externals.

 

[twelvetigers]

Well, rotation lottery over. I ate too many cheesecake balls. And too many chocolate covered pretzels. Oh, and I mostly got all the rotations I wanted; 'cept cardiology but that's not a huge loss. Still have to sort out some externals.

My two on-campus electives are clin path and shelter med. Clin path is 'easy' - at least the hours are - and I have it last. Shelter med is over Xmas and I'll get like 30 spays/neuters under my belt in there. That's gotta be helpful.

 

[jmo1012]

i want a rotation schedule! patience patience! guess i'm lucky i at least know where i'm going for 4th year 🙂