Lungworm

So Ella has been kind of sick the past couple of days and seems a little worse today. After poking around on the internet I think she may have lungworm; the symptoms are similar to those she had when she had hookworm a couple of months ago (coughing, diarrhea or vomitting, lethargy). Apparently it's perpetuated by slugs and snails - 'lo and behold, I discovered that the slugs are popping up like daisies around here out front, so it's entirely possible she picked it up from nosing around outside and maybe eating dirt or grass. I feel like I need to make a structure and function flow chart and bring it to the vet, haha. The good news is that it's treatable and preventable, so let's hope it is lungworm and not something else.

Anyway, I'm debating whether or not I should bring her to the school clinic or to an actual vet clinic in town. I've heard good things for both, but I think I'd prefer to sit down and talk with the vet and take her home right after as opposed to leaving her there over the course of the day and getting updates. Just my preference. So I'm going to give the loca hospital a call tomorrow morning on the way in and hope they can get me a spot in the afternoon after class.

:)

The last of our midterms was Friday. Probably one of the tougher ones but I think I did alright. We also got a couple of midterm grades back and I've done well so far! So I've been pleasantly surprised on that aspect - although two of the three hardest - anatomy and histology - have yet to come back. So here's to hoping they fit the bill of pleasant surprises, too!

I have a good amount to do this weekend, actually. I did about half of the dishes last night, the other half left to do, sweeping/vacuuming the house, running a mop over the floors, cleaning the kitchen, table and bathroom more thoroughly, laundry, paying rent, visiting a dog show in town, watching football and reading! I'm really hopeful that my football game is on TV this week because they're playing a game in Toronto against the Bills! So they'd better be on, darnit. That would be the ultimate bonus to the weekend.

A couple of other good things include winning the pathology club's "Mystery Slide of the Month" contest; I correctly guessed the drawn out scientific name which equates to bladder polyp. So I won a $10 giftcard to Tim Horton's, which I will use to gorge myself on ham and cheese tea biscuits. The other good thing is that Danny and I decided to meet up on our long weekends on Memorial/Remembrance Day. So I'm planning our trip to Portland, ME. So excited to see him!

I swear I'm still alive...

I remember reading other vet student blogs and thinking, "But how hard is it really to post every couple of days?" And I was good at it for a while. And then midterms came along and I suddenly realized why vet students don't update every few days. Even days when I might've had the time to toss up a blog post, I didn't even feel like typing. The good news is that there are only two midterms left and I cannot wait for Friday!

Nothing much notable has occured since the last time I posted. I did go to my mentor's house with my other student mentor buddies - he invited us all for a fondue night! One of the two second year buddies was sick, but all of the others, including the fourth year, made it. The fourth year didn't get to come to our buddy potluck at the beginning of the year so it was nice to meet her. Turns out she's hunting for internships back where I came from, so it was nice to talk to someone who knew the area. The fondue was great, too, and my mentor has a gigantic Newfoundland who was the chillest thing ever. He could have been a big black furry rug. Definitely a good time.

I also skyped with my parents and sister last weekend, which was nice. I got to see the two new parakeets my mom picked up from the humane society and catch up on everything they've been up to. I really miss home, and they really miss me and it's sad, but only two more months til Christmas, so I'll see them soon! Danny and I are meeting up on Veteran's Day weekend (Remembrance Day up here) and I'm really looking forward to seeing him again. We were just going to wait until I came back for the holidays but when I realized I had that long weekend, I wanted to figure something out. So we're each driving half way. Yay.

Anyway, I have two last midterms to study for today. Fortunately we essentially have the day off because of no field trip this morning and only one class this afternoon. Some people are talking about skipping but I'm scheduled to play with the blood donor cats for enrichment this afternoon so I'm just going to go :)

I miss home.

Miscellaneous

The avian necropsy/bandaging wet lab yesterday was awesome. I was expecting to go in and crowd around an exam table while one professor did the necropsy and explained bits of bird anatomy on the way. I expected to then watch a bandaging demonstration and be along my way.

In reality, there was just about one to one bird-person ratio. There were smaller, songbird-types, a variety of ducks, a raven, a crow, a couple seagulls, and a handful of raptor species including two bald eagles! I paired myself up with a sharp-shinned hawk. When people think of raptors (or when I think of raptors...), larger birds are typically pictured. The hawk I had was female, juvenile and probably a foot in length. We knew she was juvenile because they're browner across the back versus the blue-brown color of the adults. Just a delicate little thing. So we all got to necropsy our own birds (except for those who paired up with the gigantor eagles), sex them, estimate age and do a thorough physical exam. A lot of the birds had been shot (mine probably had, as well) as cause of death.

We then were shown how to perform a variety of tasks like wing bangage (a figure eight design), a body bandage (to hold the splinted wing to the body), placement of an intraosseous catheter, finding common veins for blood draw, and SQ or IM injections. The demonstrator was the zoo/exotics vet who hosted a lunchtime lecture on zoo/exotics med that I went to, so I thought it was neat to see her in action.

I did all of my laundry yesterday, stuffed myself with junk food and did less than optimal amount of studying. I have a handful of flashcards to finish up and then I need to study for the lecture portion of the anatomy midterm. My football team plays a divisional game today, which my parents and sister got tickets to! I'm so jealous. I really hope they broadcast it on TV so I can look for them in the endzone.

Midterms.

It's finally that time: midterms are upon us at AVC. Our first one (structure and function) is already done, but I don't exactly count that as a midterm because there was no way to study for it. It was pretty much on-par for what I expected, and while I think I took a less conventional approach to the problem, I feel good about my performance.

Anatomy looms on the other side of the weekend. Of the seven midterms we have, anatomy is probably only second to physiology for midterms I'm most anxious about. I don't care what they say - anatomy is largely about memorization: names of muscles, landmarks on bones, origin/insertion/action/innervation of those muscles. Fortunately I've always been half-way decent about memorizing things, so it's just a matter of cramming everything into my brain in time for the test. I'm admittedly behind because I didn't do anything last weekend (and I wouldn't change it, since I got to spend the time with Danny) but I don't feel too overwhelmed just yet.

This weekend holds a lot of anatomy, a bit of immunology, an avian necropsy/bandaging lab, some house cleaning and more anatomy. Off I go.

"Thanksgiving" Weekend Recap

This past weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving weekend up here in the Great White North. It was a great weekend.

Friday - After classes let out, I went with my neighbors to the annual Standardbred yearling sale. It's called a colt sale around here, but the yearlings were divided pretty evenly colt and filly, so I'm assuming it's just a slang thing. There were about a hundred horses being auctioned off and we arrived to see the last thirty or so. We walked around the holding barns - which were in great condition, it was a nice auction - and peeked in at the sale horses, watched some of the auction proceedings and ate hot dogs and fries. The horses were all in good condition, if a little rank, and it was nice to go to an auction where meat buyers and horse traders weren't in the equation.

Saturday - Danny arrived (!!!) about 2am. After not seeing him for about six weeks I was so incredibly happy to get to hug him. I've actually found the distance to be surprisingly easy compared to what I expected, but it doesn't make being apart any happier. We slept in and exchanged surprises: he brought four enormous Cinnabuns for breakfast and I gave him the picture of us from my coating ceremony. Then, we headed to the PEI national park to hike on another trail (first trail experience outlined in a previous post, if you want to dig) and saw a bunch of chipmunks, squirrels and one snake. That night we went out to dinner with the neighbors and then went to see the movie Moneyball with Brat Pitt. It was pretty good.

Sunday - Ran a bunch of errands, made it home in time to leave for Thanksgiving dinner at my neighbor's parents' house about an hour away. They live at a gorgeous house that sits on a little cliff edge just on the beach. Unfortunately the storms of the past week had washed up a crapload of seaweed, but upon exploring the beach we found a lot of neat things, most notably a tuna head and a bunch of bones! The femur and scapula appeared to belong to a cow or a pony but the two broken ones and a piece of a jaw (complete with teeth!) were unidentified. We're going to give them to the anatomy professors at school and see if they have any ideas.

Monday - More errands, lunch in town, steaks on the grill and a bonfire at the house made up the day. It was really cold out last night (after an absolutely beautiful weekend) but the fire was nice. Danny packed and we switched the stuff around in the trucks so that he could drive mine back home and I could take his truck, which is far better off for winter travel than my own. Went to bed early and he was off while it was still dark this morning.

Overall a good weekend. I didn't touch my notes - literally - so I need to do a good amount tonight and each night this week. My first midterm is tomorrow, but it isn't really something you can study for so I'm not going to sweat it. Midterms begin in earnest next Monday (starting with anatomy, eek) and last for about two weeks. I've lasted forty-three days up here so far; sixty-six days until I'm home on Christmas break and get to see Danny again.

Where's an ark when you need one?

I won't lie: I love the rain. My parent's house has a big skylight in the living room and I remember spending time as a kid reading on the couch in there just so that I could listen to the rain on it. My house up here in Canada has a skylight in the bathroom, which is right next to my bedroom, so as I was sleeping last night and as I sit here right now I can listen to the rain coming down. Bliss I tell you. Fortunately I didn't have to roll out of bed early this morning (every other Wednesday morning off from field trips, remember?) or I might have been less enthusiastic about the current weather. Times like this are also when I regret being stingy and buying the general parking pass a couple minutes walk away from class instead of the closer parking. I think I'll pack an extra pair of socks today.

Also, the coziness of being inside and listening to the rain is not good for productivity. I finished my histology notes from last night and am moving on to adding shellfish (mussels in particular. Mmm.) to my production notes. After that I'm not quite sure what I'll do next, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

Football.

I wrote out a post talking about how much of a difference one hour can really make in one's life - Eastern to Atlantic time zones, yadda yadda yadda. And then I realized: it was basically me just griping about how MNF (Monday Night Football) comes on an hour later here and I only get to watch for 30mins before I need to go to bed or else be groggy the next day. So I deleted that, even though it's an extremely valid point!, because who wants to read that? Probably no one.

Which segues (seg-ways?) me into another valid but potentially boring point: no one up here that I'm acquainted with cares about football. Sure, they play NFL games on TV (not my team's, but hey, better than nothing) but from those I've talked with up here, no one cares about football. And as a die-hard fan of my team as well as the sport in general, it's frustrating not to be able to talk about it with people. I wouldn't care if they were Dallas fans for heaven's sake - just give me someone to talk to!

Superstar

Made it to another weekend. Midterms start October 12th and span about two weeks worth of time. It's nice that they're spread out but it also means that we're in drawn out stress period for two weeks - boo. My plan is to study extra hard this weekend and all next week in preparation of almost no studying next weekend because Danny will be here! We'll probably be at my neighbor's parents' house for Canadian Thanksgiving, which will be fun. But really, I don't care if I have to eat McDonald's for Thanksgiving as long as he's up here with me :)

Anyway, you're probably wondering what the heck is up with my subject line. Well, I went to my first lab aniaml club meeting on Thursday after class. It was a ferret wet lab, and since I worked with ferrets a ton during undergrad I felt right at home. We went over physical exams, special concerns with intact females, ultrasound and blood collection. So after we discussed everything, the campus vet said we could try a blood draw. He told the first years to pair up with some older students so I found a second and third year. We were going for the lateral saphenous - the vein on the outside of the back leg, which is approximately the width of a pin in a ferret. So the second year was looking for the vein and finally said he couldn't see it. (Meanwhile, I'd seen it while he was looking, hehe) so he passed the syringe to me. I hit that sucker on the first shot, no digging or anything. Ha! So the lab animal vet was impressed and said I was a "superstar first year" - totally made my week.