Class of 2021 . . . how ya doin?

[cdo96]

Those are like... the most straight forward directions ever

oh absolutely. my side note was not about those directions, I just meant in general.

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[vetmedhead]

The sad thing is that I’ve already been to this testing center. But the hotel is very very close to the testing center. Will I still get lost? Absolutely, but at least this minimizes the general radius of area I can get lost in.

View attachment 312088

side note: I would not fare well in the times before GPS and this map technology. I would 100% be the person to roll down my window and politely ask directions. I know that I’d be this person, because I have had to do this before, when I got lost going to Tulsa... Tried to go to the airport, ended up in the middle of the arts district...

I always joke that I couldn't navigate my way out of a paper bag. My mom is the same way. I swear, I can perfectly visualize both the origin and the destination when I travel but no matter how many times I've done the trip, all of the parts in the middle are basically a black hole to me.

I've looked up directions to get to parts of the teaching hospital (5 mins from me, go there roughly 5-7x/week since last August), to the grocery store (once a week for two years), my therapist's office (twice a month for a year), the public library (honestly probably once a week for about a year and a half), I'll even occasionally look up how to get to the movie theater that I can literally walk to from my house.

I've heard anecdotally that people with a condition called face blindness (prosopagnosia) also often have a seriously impaired sense of direction, and I've always wondered if that's what's going on. My mom and I are both equally bad at recognizing people, including coworkers, classmates, friends, family members, actors, etc. (although I do find actors a little easier than she does because they tend to dress similarly throughout the movie/have very distinctive features/have their voice projected well so it's easy to recognize who is talking). If either of us runs into someone out of context (say a coworker at the grocery store) it's an immediate awkward interaction while we try to figure out who the hell they are while they come up excitedly to chat with us.

Once in high school I thought two people were the same person for over a year before I had a class with both of them and it blew my mind. Staring at them together made me realize that they didn't even look alike at all, they just both had curly brown hair and that's how I had been recognizing them both. They didn't even have the same name, I just thought he went by his middle name in some classes and his first name in others for some reason.

 

[battie]

I've heard anecdotally that people with a condition called face blindness (prosopagnosia) also often have a seriously impaired sense of direction

Interesting! I can be great with recognizing people and can identify cardinal directions pretty easily once I know where I am and where the destination is. I'm the person that says, "Go east," instead of, "Turn left." I never realized that there may be an association between the two

 

[SkiOtter]

Those are like... the most straight forward directions ever

for real

 

[genny]

I've heard anecdotally that people with a condition called face blindness (prosopagnosia) also often have a seriously impaired sense of direction, and I've always wondered if that's what's going on.

I can’t recognize people in unfamiliar situations if they’re standing still. Movement somehow makes it easier to recognize people. My husband knows to walk around the baggage claim area at the airport when picking me up so I can find him more easily. I have a decent sense of direction though, and can usually find alternate routes without maps if I have to.
My mother is the opposite: recognizes people she hasn’t seen in 30 years, but can’t navigate to save her life. When I was a kid and we would get lost, I’d just ask her which way she thought we should go, and then we’d go the other direction and find our destination. It was like an anti-sense of direction. A sense of misdirection?

 

[twelvetigers]

Part of the issue with Tulsa is there is more construction there than I’ve seen in a lot of places. Well, at least it was the last time I was there, which was like 4 years ago but still. Like you’ll be trucking along in the right hand lane waiting for your exit and all of a sudden it’s construction and your exit was changed to be off to the left and you can’t get over in time and now you’re lost.

The roads are so simple - it’s a grid and the numbers go in order - but the onramps are impossible. Is it on the right? The left? Do you have to go through a weird neighborhood to get to the highway? Who knows! It’s always different!

 

[twelvetigers]

The sad thing is that I’ve already been to this testing center. But the hotel is very very close to the testing center. Will I still get lost? Absolutely, but at least this minimizes the general radius of area I can get lost in.

View attachment 312088

side note: I would not fare well in the times before GPS and this map technology. I would 100% be the person to roll down my window and politely ask directions. I know that I’d be this person, because I have had to do this before, when I got lost going to Tulsa... Tried to go to the airport, ended up in the middle of the arts district...

I believe in you.

It’s better than wanting to go to arts district and ending up near the airport, because you are much better asking for directions near Blue Dome than you are near the airport... which is like, tire and pawn shops, smoke shops, loan advance places...

 

[cdo96]

I believe in you.

It’s better than wanting to go to arts district and ending up near the airport, because you are much better asking for directions near Blue Dome than you are near the airport... which is like, tire and pawn shops, smoke shops, loan advance places...

One time I was going to the airport at like 5 am, and I ended up at the cargo/ high security entrance to the airport and had to very nicely ask the very confused security guard where I was.

“ma’am, you can’t be here.” “oh sorry! I was just trying to get to the airport!”

 

[twelvetigers]

One time I was going to the airport at like 5 am, and I ended up at the cargo/ high security entrance to the airport and had to very nicely ask the very confused security guard where I was.

“ma’am, you can’t be here.” “oh sorry! I was just trying to get to the airport!”

Ohhh chile... even I haven't done that. They's so many signs... you know... that say things like TULSA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT THIS EXIT -->

 

[cdo96]

Ohhh chile... even I haven't done that. They's so many signs... you know... that say things like TULSA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT THIS EXIT -->

It was dark outside!!!!! It was 5 am in November!

 

[finnickthedog]

When you have a case assignment, 35 pages of reading, a quiz on those 35 pages that almost certainly won't be broad concepts, and 2 articles to read and respond to before tomorrow... and it's already 10 at night.

I miss in person clinics.

On the bright side I was able to get rid of my unwanted vacation and replace it with behavior. Still a little sad I won't get to do cardiology, but oh well.

 

[battie]

Scheduled my NAVLE for December 1!

 

[ResoluteMike]

November 28th here. Now that we are back in clinics, I am wondering how the heck we are supposed to find time to study for it?

 

[Doctor-S]

I always joke that I couldn't navigate my way out of a paper bag. My mom is the same way. I swear, I can perfectly visualize both the origin and the destination when I travel but no matter how many times I've done the trip, all of the parts in the middle are basically a black hole to me.

I've looked up directions to get to parts of the teaching hospital (5 mins from me, go there roughly 5-7x/week since last August), to the grocery store (once a week for two years), my therapist's office (twice a month for a year), the public library (honestly probably once a week for about a year and a half), I'll even occasionally look up how to get to the movie theater that I can literally walk to from my house.

I've heard anecdotally that people with a condition called face blindness (prosopagnosia) also often have a seriously impaired sense of direction, and I've always wondered if that's what's going on. My mom and I are both equally bad at recognizing people, including coworkers, classmates, friends, family members, actors, etc. (although I do find actors a little easier than she does because they tend to dress similarly throughout the movie/have very distinctive features/have their voice projected well so it's easy to recognize who is talking). If either of us runs into someone out of context (say a coworker at the grocery store) it's an immediate awkward interaction while we try to figure out who the hell they are while they come up excitedly to chat with us.

Once in high school I thought two people were the same person for over a year before I had a class with both of them and it blew my mind. Staring at them together made me realize that they didn't even look alike at all, they just both had curly brown hair and that's how I had been recognizing them both. They didn't even have the same name, I just thought he went by his middle name in some classes and his first name in others for some reason.

Very interesting!

I have experience with a patient who has prosopagnosia.

They cannot "recognize" faces at all, and they have no idea what their Mom's face looks like, or what their Dad's face look like. They are able to recognize the identities of close relatives, co-workers and close friends by hearing the distinct "sounds" of different people's voices. For instance, they are able to recognize me by the sound of my voice, but they have no idea what my face looks like. They cannot "see" emotional expressions in another person's face (because they cannot "see" someone's face in the first place) so they have often been accused of being aloof, detached or unfeeling. But they're not unfeeling at all - instead, they've never been able to see another person's face, so they cannot see the expressions of emotion in another person's face (e.g., tears or smiles).

Does any of this sound familiar to you @vetmedhead?

 

[Minnerbelle]

November 28th here. Now that we are back in clinics, I am wondering how the heck we are supposed to find time to study for it?

The same as every other class before you! You’ll find time as the time gets closer and you feel a sense of urgency.

 

[vetmedhead]

I signed up for September 22 I just want it over with!

 

[vetmedhead]

Very interesting!

I have experience with a patient who has prosopagnosia.

They cannot "recognize" faces at all, and they have no idea what their Mom's face looks like, or what their Dad's face look like. They are able to recognize the identities of close relatives, co-workers and close friends by hearing the distinct "sounds" of different people's voices. For instance, they are able to recognize me by the sound of my voice, but they have no idea what my face looks like. They cannot "see" emotional expressions in another person's face (because they cannot "see" someone's face in the first place) so they have often been accused of being aloof, detached or unfeeling. But they're not unfeeling at all - instead, they've never been able to see another person's face, so they cannot see the expressions of emotion in another person's face (e.g., tears or smiles).

Does any of this sound familiar to you @vetmedhead?

Some of it sounds familiar - I definitely couldn't describe to you off hand what any of my parents or family members look like without leaning heavily on other characteristics and recognize people much better/more immediately from the sound of their voices. I always joke that we'd better hope I never witness a crime because I could never give a sketch artist any level of description that would be useful.

However it's not that I can't see someone's face in the moment (I definitely can and can read emotional cues just fine), it's more like all of their facial features just leak out of my head as soon as I'm not looking at them directly. Sometimes I can recall specific pieces (their eyes for example) but can't put it together with any other features so my recollection of their face is more like a mosaic memory than a clear impression of them.

I've actually been struggling a lot since the whole mask thing got put into place, because now I have even less face to work with for context clues and people's voices are kind of muffled so I can't tell who's who basically at all anymore unless they have very defining physical features elsewhere.

For example, this entire week I thought the head of our orthopedic medicine service was an IT guy I had never seen before until I heard him speak, because he's got a German accent.

Incidentally, I've also never dreamed of people as having faces. I know who they are and the rest of the dream is normal (as far as dreams go), but their faces are just blank.

 

[WildZoo]

November 28th here. Now that we are back in clinics, I am wondering how the heck we are supposed to find time to study for it?

In a way, every rotation has a bit of NAVLE studying built in.

And for the rest, there's the cram session the week before your exam date

 

[battie]

I signed up for September 22 I just want it over with!

Our campus testing center only had Dec 1, 2, and 3. The next closest center's are 1+ hour away from what I heard last year. That's a hard pass tbh. I would have picked a different week cause I'll already be missing out on neuro the week before due to Thanksgiving. But it is what it is at this point

 

[vetmedhead]

Our campus testing center only had Dec 1, 2, and 3. The next closest center's are 1+ hour away from what I heard last year. That's a hard pass tbh. I would have picked a different week cause I'll already be missing out on neuro the week before due to Thanksgiving. But it is what it is at this point

I actually ended up signing up for it in my parent's town because they didn't have any dates available until late November and I refuse to wait that long just to get to a place that's an hour away and at a date that I never wanted to do. At least the place in my parent's town is fifteen minutes from where they live and I'll have the chance to spend a week with them after I finish

 

[vetmedhead]

I actually ended up signing up for it in my parent's town because they didn't have any dates available until late November and I refuse to wait that long just to get to a place that's an hour away and at a date that I never wanted to do. At least the place in my parent's town is fifteen minutes from where they live and I'll have the chance to spend a week with them after I finish

Also... Nearby several amazing Mexican restaurants! Margaritas and chiles rellenos are hopefully going to support me after this thing is done

 

[battie]

This is Sadie. Mr. Bats and I are taking her since my aunt had multiple pets and no single person in the family could take all of them, and her current husband cannot. Its bittersweet, but we're excited for her to join our lives <3

 

[SkiOtter]

View attachment 313284

This is Sadie. Mr. Bats and I are taking her since my aunt had multiple pets and no single person in the family could take all of them, and her current husband cannot. Its bittersweet, but we're excited for her to join our lives <3

I love her and would like to know if she’s coming to school or staying with mr bats

 

[battie]

I love her and would like to know if she’s coming to school or staying with mr bats

Staying with Mr. Bats, but she will be in the wedding to show off her necessary weight loss. So you will get to meet her.

 

[Jess Monster]

I get to start my first official non-quarantine-lockdown rotation tomorrow....... but it’s online.

It should be interesting, though it would have been nice to do the USDA CEAH rotation I had spent nearly a year planning. I’ve never been to Colorado and I was looking forward to a trip. Technically, I‘ve been on vacation these last two weeks. It didn’t feel like it, though I did get a lot of housework done. I really hope my other rotations go as planned. I have two more interest area focused rotations that have not been cancelled like the others, one is 4 weeks and the other is 8 weeks. That’s a lot of time to reschedule if things don’t work out.

 

[ResoluteMike]

Check off my first in-person clinical rotation. On to the next one.

 

[Coopah]

Had my first day of ER today. So much hands on, I loved it! Basically the opposite of ophthalmology and it was soooo nice. Hope all of you get to get your hands dirty soon!

 

[cdo96]

Yay! Glad everyone’s been enjoying their in person stuff! I’ve had in person anesthesia, shelter med, and small animal surgery! My first externship starts in a week!!! Two weeks in DFW and then two weeks in Wisconsin! Super excited!

 

[mmmdreamerz]

Had my first day of ER today. So much hands on, I loved it! Basically the opposite of ophthalmology and it was soooo nice. Hope all of you get to get your hands dirty soon!

Im on equine emergency starting tonight...so probably literal hand dirt #NotAnEquineVet #Help

 

[Lupin21]

Keep rockin’ it, “21!! You guys are in the thick of the crazy, so all I can say is, this is a great time to start learning how to balance your passion for the profession with self worth. Ours is an uphill battle to find the value of our part in this world versus the way we are treated at times combined with self doubt.

Things will never be perfect, take pride in just trying to do your best every day and keeping your compassion. It is not an infinite well, and to find even an ounce of happiness, you must keep some in reserve for self love. Take that beat to ground yourself in all you do, and know that we are all here for each other.

Cheers on your Monday, all, and may you find a new thing about yourself to be proud of.

 

[ResoluteMike]

Im on equine emergency starting tonight...so probably literal hand dirt #NotAnEquineVet #Help

Equine surgery wasn't that bad. I am a small animal only guy and kind of understand why people would want to keep horses because of the rotation.

 

[finnickthedog]

Me, a couple weeks ago: "I'm going to take a practice NAVLE in a couple weeks"
Me, now: "I really don't want to take a practice NAVLE"

 

[battie]

Me, a couple weeks ago: "I'm going to take a practice NAVLE in a couple weeks"
Me, now: "I really don't want to take a practice NAVLE"

Me: bought Zuku in April. Havent touched it in 4.5 weeks.

 

[genny]

Me: bought Zuku in April. Havent touched it in 4.5 weeks.

This is so common. I think I did a dozen or so questions when I first got vet prep.... then nothing until September, about 3 months before my NAVLE date.

 

[finnickthedog]

This is so common. I think I did a dozen or so questions when I first got vet prep.... then nothing until September, about 3 months before my NAVLE date.

I just want to feel like I got my money's worth

 

[battie]

This is so common. I think I did a dozen or so questions when I first got vet prep.... then nothing until September, about 3 months before my NAVLE date.

I was doing good from May to June. Then I started an externship and gave up all NAVLE pretenses

 

[Coopah]

My excuse is I don't want to forget the questions I get right by my NAVLE date

 

[finnickthedog]

My excuse is I don't want to forget the questions I get right by my NAVLE date

Yeah, on that note... when I first got vetprep I was completely off. So not even online clinics, and I had literally nothing to do. So for the first few days to maybe a week I was chugging through it at an impressive speed and I was concerned I was going to finish it too fast and forget everything by the time I took the NAVLE.

No worries though, because I settled into completely forgetting about it most days.

Trying to actually get into gear on it again now though since my test date is now 3 months out.

 

[cdo96]

Yesterday, I officially passed the 20% done with my Zuku checkmark!

17 weeks until my NAVLE so I gotta pick it up a notch. I have to get at least 60% more done so I get the Zuku guarantee

 

[cdo96]

When you get home at 4 am from an emergency GDV you got called in for, and your alarm is set to go off in 2 hours:

 

[finnickthedog]

Trying to decide whether to torture myself with a practice NAVLE tomorrow or on Sunday.

 

[PippyPony]

Trying to decide whether to torture myself with a practice NAVLE tomorrow or on Sunday.

I would get it over with, personally. It's a lot more fun to decompress on a Saturday night than a Sunday night leading into a rotation or something.

 

[twelvetigers]

I would get it over with, personally. It's a lot more fun to decompress on a Saturday night than a Sunday night leading into a rotation or something.

Agree - blast it out in the AM with some caffeine and then have a relaxing evening and a good sleeping in.

 

[battie]

My flight was supposed to take off at 2:45. 2 hours later, it still hasnt. My connecting flight took off ten minutes ago. So I'm going to miss my first day in the teaching hospital.

 

[finnickthedog]

When your dumb self shows up to the zoom meeting a day early... better early than late?

 

[battie]

Well. My case for tomorrow cancelled after I spent 2 hours looking into 42 pages of history and figuring out a possible protocol. So what did I do with what could have been a productive evening? I went pokemon hunting. Cause why be productive when I could waste my time instead.

 

[Coopah]

Just had a town hall with the administration. They claim 30 weeks in person is not a thing as long as we complete the competencies??? But they did allows rotations to choose to be P/NP of they wanted which is nice because a few just straight up needed that (and jumped on that as soon as possible).

 

[battie]

They claim 30 weeks in person is not a thing as long as we complete the competencies???

If it's not a thing, then why has the AVMA made it a thing?!

 

[Coopah]

If it's not a thing, then why has the AVMA made it a thing?!

They said it didn't specify in person? Which it did so I don't know wtf they're on about

 

[cohen2000]

They said it didn't specify in person? Which it did so I don't know wtf they're on about

Yeah, that struck me as odd. The COE chair clearly said 30 weeks "hands-on".

However, I received a reply to my inquiry to the AVMA. I had asked 1) is there a true minimum number of weeks, now that colleges are able to utilize alternative modes of instruction? 2) if there is no actual minimum, is there a standard for what is deemed acceptable "compensation" for lost hands-on instruction? 3) what counts as a "week" of instruction? 4) do externships count towards the 30-week minimum?

The reply I received, from a COE staff consultant: "The specifics of the questions you asked are best initially directed to the college. Standards 3, Physical Facilities and Equipment, Standard 9 Curriculum, and Standard 11, Outcomes, are relevant to your questions. The specifics of the curriculum are within the purview of the college, and as long as the college can demonstrate to the Council they are meeting the Standards of Accreditation, the Council tries to avoid being prescriptive."

So ... colleges can do whatever they want.