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Realized there are October & November test dates for MCATs this year... time to postpone the test and procrastinate my ass off woot

God damn ovc requiring mcats...
 
Ugh! They are so friggin cute! I just turned mine over to another foster parent today so I can move 🙁 so sad.

PS which one are you keeping?!
I'm keeping the ornery male (the one that is buff and white)!
 
I can rave about 30 sleeps until my beach vacation! Yay! I haven't taken a solid week's vacation since the summer before my senior year of high school... And I'm about to be a junior in college! I love the beach and the ocean, so much that when I was little I always told people I wanted to be mermaid when I grew up. Lol. When we pass through the Mobile tunnel I will turn 5 again, I'm sure.

Also my cockatiel is starting to sing and is becoming more vocal! She never used to talk. Maybe I can start training 🙂
 
Also my cockatiel is starting to sing and is becoming more vocal! She never used to talk. Maybe I can start training 🙂
Awww, that's exciting! Her picture was so cute, she's gorgeous!
If you are interested I really like Good Bird Inc (Barbara Heidenreich) and The Parrot Wizard for training 🙂
 
Just this week, I saved the lives of three very critical animals who would have died within hours if I hadn't intervened, while handling a full caseload of regular appointments, ER cases and inpatients. It's been the most stressful and exhausting week of my life, but it's nice to get self-affirmation that I was ready for practice. I was worried I'd regret not having done an internship, but I'm very glad I chose not to. I'm able to work very independently, get great mentorship, AND get paid like a normal person 🙂
 
I'm home! It's only for the weekend but it feels so awesome! My tortie did so well on the drive home with a leash and harness. There was at least 50% less meowing and it was quieter meows even. No more cat carriers for her.
 
Survived a walk in still tremoring post seizure dog towards the end of the day today. My oh crap reflex is getting better and better every time I have to deal with a new type of emergency.
And now I have a new project. Hunt down or make emergency flashcards with basic things like ER drug doses and quick things to start evaluating while you brain tries not to ooze out your ears in panic.
 
Survived a walk in still tremoring post seizure dog towards the end of the day today. My oh crap reflex is getting better and better every time I have to deal with a new type of emergency.
And now I have a new project. Hunt down or make emergency flashcards with basic things like ER drug doses and quick things to start evaluating while you brain tries not to ooze out your ears in panic.
I started going through the getting through the night series on VIN, and I write a step by step what I should do/think about for each type of emergency. It's helped so much in terms of just getting right to it and not running around going omg what am I doing!? The very last page of my notebook is emergency drugs. The second to the last page is anesthesia drugs.
 
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Thanks Minnerbelle, I'll check that one out. 🙂 I feel like emergencies are my biggest weakness right now.
 
Thanks Minnerbelle, I'll check that one out. 🙂 I feel like emergencies are my biggest weakness right now.
It changed my life, and I feel fairly comfortable with my notes now that I can tackle anything that walks in the door at least enough to stabilize it to the point where I have the time to look things up (unless the animal's pretty much dead to begin with). It's so nice because it goes through each type of common emergencies, and has parameters to watch, as well as drug dosages, etc...
 
I started going through the getting through the night series on VIN, and I write a step by step what I should do/think about for each type of emergency. It's helped so much in terms of just getting right to it and not running around going omg what am I doing!? The very last page of my notebook is emergency drugs. The second to the last page is anesthesia drugs.
If you don't mind sharing, I'd love to see those pages.
 
Minnerbelle, did you take the actual course or go through the material after the fact? I missed signing up for both of them, yay me!
 
I missed the first one (my state license didn't come through fast enough for the sign ups), am going through the second one. Not sure ill actually be able to do enough to get credit. The one I have notes on though is from past years! You can get to it through vin, or just go to vin foundation. And click on I am a veterinarian (or new grad, I don't remember). It'll have you sign in with your vin username and password. Then it'll take you to the archives. For each type of emergency, it even links to previous vin discussions that pertain to it. There's also a bunch of tutorials separate from the getting through the night, that goes over procedures you may not know how to do (like open chested CPR). There's also a getting through the day series too for gp stuff.
 
I missed the first one (my state license didn't come through fast enough for the sign ups), am going through the second one. Not sure ill actually be able to do enough to get credit. The one I have notes on though is from past years! You can get to it through vin, or just go to vin foundation. And click on I am a veterinarian (or new grad, I don't remember). It'll have you sign in with your vin username and password. Then it'll take you to the archives. For each type of emergency, it even links to previous vin discussions that pertain to it. There's also a bunch of tutorials separate from the getting through the night, that goes over procedures you may not know how to do (like open chested CPR). There's also a getting through the day series too for gp stuff.
Can vet students look through the archives as well or is this only for veterinarians? This sounds like a pretty good resource! I'd like to go through it while I'm doing my internship this summer.
 
Can vet students look through the archives as well or is this only for veterinarians? This sounds like a pretty good resource! I'd like to go through it while I'm doing my internship this summer.
Yes absolutely, I started going through it before I graduated during my ER electives. It may be too much focus on practical information (not much pathophys or drug mechanisms) until you're actually in clinics, but it's open for anyone with a vin account.
 
Thanks Minnerbelle, I will check them all out. The "day" one may be more relevant as I don't think open chest CPR etc. would ever happen at my practice!
 
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Yes absolutely, I started going through it before I graduated during my ER electives. It may be too much focus on practical information (not much pathophys or drug mechanisms) until you're actually in clinics, but it's open for anyone with a vin account.

I got on VIN tonight after work and started reading through the "through the night" version!! Im so glad you shared this gem with us!! Im off all day tomorrow so I will probably spend some time going through it!
 
I am loving being in the middle of no where. My aunt has gone to Europe for 3.5 weeks and I'm looking after her farm for the time being. It's so quiet! I have a couple dogs, a barn cat and a few cow/calf pairs for company. It's wonderful. 😍
 
I had such an amazing day today. We only had one case come through anesthesia so only one student on that and the rest of us all sat around the student lounge and BSed the day away. We started out self-studying but it quickly devolved into joking, hilarious story telling, ridiculous buzzfeed quiz taking and cake from Coquette 🙂 I haven't laughed so hard and so much in a while and I'm so thankful to have such awesome rotation mates this block. Perfect end to the week.
 
I just cranked out a personal statement for residency apps. I just wrote. Will probably end up writing another one completely different, like my VMCAS PS but it felt good to write.

This is probably the biggest stumbling block for me for Match apps. I've never written one, I have no idea where to start.
 
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This is probably the biggest stumbling block for me for Match apps. I've never written one, I have no idea where to start.

Some people like to plan and outline and stuff, but I literally just start writing something and try and circle around to the actual prompt. Then I usually end up writing seven other ones that are relatively different. The end product is usually a patchwork of all of them, but sometimes it's just a tweaked original 😛
 
This is probably the biggest stumbling block for me for Match apps. I've never written one, I have no idea where to start.
I asked around and got a couple people to let me read theirs. My experiences and motivations were obviously different than theirs, but seeing what people who were successful at getting residencies wrote and how they went about selling themselves helped me be able to get started, because I didn't write a PS for vet school admissions either. It gave me a frame of reference of sorts. Before that, I spent way too many hours staring at a blank word document waiting for inspiration to strike.
 
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I've googled "Personal Statement" because I literally didn't even know what should be in one. 😳 I'll ask around for help. I really don't want this to sink my app. And here applying to the US programs was starting to look like such a good idea... :boom:(Kidding about the head exploding, I'm a little freaked out about writing a PS but not that bad).
 
If you guys are interested, I can share my essay from my application. It was the UAP then, not the match, so I'm not sure if the prompt is the same. Also, I reread it and it sounds cheesy, but I got accepted to 3 LAM residencies, so it has to be at least decent. Shoot me a PM if you want to see it.
 
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I've googled "Personal Statement" because I literally didn't even know what should be in one. 😳 I'll ask around for help. I really don't want this to sink my app. And here applying to the US programs was starting to look like such a good idea... :boom:(Kidding about the head exploding, I'm a little freaked out about writing a PS but not that bad).

You'll get it done and it will be great! 🙂

I was glad that we didn't require it here for undergrad so I didn't have to do it (kinda like the ACT/SAT), but now the experience would certainly be handy...much like standardized tests would have been nice prior to the GRE...
 
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I visited the least visited national park in the contiguous 48 states today, and in the process, visited Michigan for the first time, so I now only have 13 states left to see! Sadly, though, while I was hiking along on a somewhat rugged trail hoping I might see a moose (which is a fairly common occurrence in this park), the people who were lazily sitting on the dock spotted a moose on the shoreline across the harbor, only minutes before I got back there. I mean, come on! And I smelled lots of fox pee, but saw no foxes. But I did get some cute pictures of red squirrels. And, I saw the tallest waterfall in Minnesota, which was actually pretty darn impressive. And the other day I stood in the middle of the Mississippi River. Vacation is so much fun.
 
So the Galapagos is kind of awesome. Wish i had more than one free weekend so I could explore more. And buying a new, not quite full SLR, camera was totally worth it. I've only taken like one day of pictures and couldn't be more pleased with how they're turning out.

Now I just need to learn more than 5 words in Spanish.
 
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Just got out of work and now only puppy class plus one night of sleep stands between me and my trip for San Diego for my second year at Comic-con! I cannot wait to be back out there... it has been the only thing keeping me going this summer...!
 
Just got out of work and now only puppy class plus one night of sleep stands between me and my trip for San Diego for my second year at Comic-con! I cannot wait to be back out there... it has been the only thing keeping me going this summer...!

Hey, I'm heading out to San Diego tomorrow and will be at Comic-Con as well! 🙂

We've been many years because my talented husband gets a free 4-day pass and a free guest pass every year. Also, my in-laws live there so we get free room and board!
 
I had a client give me a card and gift card today as a thank you for taking care of her pet and treating them well. I don't think she truly knows how touched I am by her kind words (I could care less about the gift card because words of kindness and thanks mean so much more!). Makes my day so much more smiley to know that someone appreciates the hard work I put into caring for my patients, both in hospital and as appointments.
 
We've been many years because my talented husband gets a free 4-day pass and a free guest pass every year. Also, my in-laws live there so we get free room and board!
You're in lab animal medicine and you go to Comic Con? Can you adopt me please?
 
Hey, I'm heading out to San Diego tomorrow and will be at Comic-Con as well! 🙂

We've been many years because my talented husband gets a free 4-day pass and a free guest pass every year. Also, my in-laws live there so we get free room and board!

Ahh!! No way!! There will be 130k+ people down there, it's going to be AMAZING!!
 
Referred a patient to the teaching hospital today, and the owner was worried that the doctors there would not be as smart or awesome as I was. Then I got a big hug 🙂 leaving 6 hrs after my shift yet again but it does feel good to have people happy with what I've been able to do for their pets.
 
My bf has 10 vacation days next year, so he's planning a trip to St Kitts for my spring semester 🙂 unfortunately that is the semester with like 15 exams not including finals so it was darn near impossible to find a good time for him to come but the exam gods will apparently have mercy on me the week after my one day mid-semester break so he will be here literally the only week of the semester without an exam. I can't wait to show him the island 😍Also can't believe it will have taken him almost 2 years to come visit...ah well, such is life.
 
1) Semi-finished my manuscript! Needs lots of editing, but I have a first draft done 🙂

2) My grandfather was released from the hospital and is back at home. Still not sure what's going on with him, but he's hanging in there for the moment.
 
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