OK, the 5 exams in 2 weeks is over and I survived. GPA-speaking there was nothing to brag about so I guess there won't be any easy finals this semester. This week was extremely busy too:
Monday - Cardio exam. No pressure but if you fail this class, just add another year to your current graduation date. I thought I knew the stuff, but the questions were different and harder than I expected. I also didn't use my time wisely and ran out of time when I was taking a second look at it. Barely passed, good except for the whole goal of preserving GPA. Later in the week, the professor gave us points back which made me much happier and feel like less of a loser.
Tuesday - Suturing lab that I didn't practice for and just relied on prior experience which paid off since I didn't get yelled at (always a success). Leave school, finish packing for presentation in Colorado, get on plane, get delayed 1.5 hours in Chicago, miss last shuttle of the night to Breckenridge. Continue to Wednesday ->
Wednesday - Day of presentation: Find a place to sleep in Denver airport until the first shuttle leaves at 8 am. FYI: there's a chapel that has fairly comfy carpet on the floor and is probably the best place to sleep - I use "sleep" loosely since I may have got 2 hours that night. Take shuttle to Breckenridge, look at mountains and everyone skiing and think how fun it would be to do that, go back to hotel room and practice presentation and study for clin path exam on friday, put on suit, register for meeting, notice everyone is wearing jeans, ski pants, and not at all dressed up - not even presenters, get rid of my suit jacket. Also, let me set this up with the fact that I am the only non-doctor presenting and that there were only 40 people in the room at 4 pm when the first presentation began. My presentation was at 5:45 and I noticed the room slowly filling as time went by. It also hit me that I was just before the key speaker of the night. It was my time so I started walking to the stage. Fortunately, I was too tired to panic as I looked at a full room with people standing in the back - estimate: 200-300 people. (Oh and sidenote: I'm not a public speaker at all. The night would be considered a success if I didn't pee my pants.) I made sure to mention that I was a 2nd year vet student in my intro in hopes that I wouldn't get any hard questions at the end. I finished the presentation and now for questions:
First guy: speaking really fast, "Words, words, words, concentration of BMP, words, words, words?"
Me: Stunned, trying to figure out what he said, "I don't know."
Audience laughs
Me: Dreading stating "I don't know" for a bunch of other questions.
Second guy: "It's ok to say you don't know." Tossing me an easy question, "What's your opinion on the importance of VEGF?"
Me: "It's super important." That was a summary. It was much more scientific.
Lady: Asks about COX1. Not sure what the question really was.
Me: Talking about one word from the question and hoping it somewhat answered the question.
Finished.
The rest of the night I had a lot of people congratulating me presumably because I'm a 2nd year and not so much that my presentation was any good. It was really cool and now I can put it on my CV. I must say that it's pretty cool seeing your own name on the schedule for a somewhat important meeting. Overall, I think it was a mission accomplished.
Thursday: Leave for Denver early in the morning, fly to Chicago to be delayed again, get home, finish studying for clin path.
Friday: Take exam, finish classes, go home and sleep
Now I just have to finish some homework, study for one more exam, and listen to missed lectures. One week till spring break (aka a time to relax for a couple days and catch up on studying).
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Hibernation Will Begin Soon
I'm only 3 weeks into this semester, but I'm so far behind in all of my classes. I thought I would get caught up this weekend because we didn't have classes friday due to the state veterinary conference going on. The plan was to review all of the material we have covered so far in all my classes. This would be my last chance to catch up before the exams begin on Tuesday. However, reality happens. I was invited to attend a wound reconstruction wet lab. This is a $500 lab that clinicians around the state pay to attend. There goes half of my Sunday. The catch: help set-up and clean-up. Then I find out I need to attend 5 hours of lectures on Saturday to prepare for it. Goodbye, Saturday.
Don't get me wrong, the lab was awesome. I was learning meshing patterns to extend existing skin to cover a defect, relieving tension in the skin and on sutures, and isolating vessels to be preserved in rotational flaps. Yeah, I don't know what that last sentence means either. Apparently, we'll learn this stuff later this semester so I have a little headstart. It was also good practice suturing which I will also officially learn this semester.
The good thing is that I did close the gap in clin path for being 150 pages behind in the reading. I reviewed for my virology exam everyday and reviewed musculoskeletal material. I feel like our class schedule gives us a lot of free time, but my extracurricular activities are eating up needed study/sleep time. I don't even feel like it's that much either. I tutor 2 nights a week for a total of 3 hours, try to prepare for a presentation later this month, try to look for literature about my possible research project this summer, (the last 2 are more on my to-do-list than my actual list of things I do) and then indoor soccer starts this week. It's frustrating at times thinking that I'm so far behind, but I had every opportunity to be caught up. Oh well, I guess that's living the vet school dream.
Anyways, exams will begin on tuesday which means I will enter hibernation mode where I study, sleep, and attend class. As usual, my goal is to do well on these first exams to give myself room for error/slacking off at the end of the semester. I'm a little scared that my test-taking skills have been subpar so far this semester exhibited by my misreading questions on a couple quizzes. I don't think my brain knows the semester has started and it's game time.
Don't get me wrong, the lab was awesome. I was learning meshing patterns to extend existing skin to cover a defect, relieving tension in the skin and on sutures, and isolating vessels to be preserved in rotational flaps. Yeah, I don't know what that last sentence means either. Apparently, we'll learn this stuff later this semester so I have a little headstart. It was also good practice suturing which I will also officially learn this semester.
The good thing is that I did close the gap in clin path for being 150 pages behind in the reading. I reviewed for my virology exam everyday and reviewed musculoskeletal material. I feel like our class schedule gives us a lot of free time, but my extracurricular activities are eating up needed study/sleep time. I don't even feel like it's that much either. I tutor 2 nights a week for a total of 3 hours, try to prepare for a presentation later this month, try to look for literature about my possible research project this summer, (the last 2 are more on my to-do-list than my actual list of things I do) and then indoor soccer starts this week. It's frustrating at times thinking that I'm so far behind, but I had every opportunity to be caught up. Oh well, I guess that's living the vet school dream.
Anyways, exams will begin on tuesday which means I will enter hibernation mode where I study, sleep, and attend class. As usual, my goal is to do well on these first exams to give myself room for error/slacking off at the end of the semester. I'm a little scared that my test-taking skills have been subpar so far this semester exhibited by my misreading questions on a couple quizzes. I don't think my brain knows the semester has started and it's game time.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
3 Days of Orthopedics
A couple weeks ago, I was assigned to the orthopedic department for 3 days. I imagined myself taking patient histories, helping with office calls, and being told to do a lot of stuff I haven't learned yet. Well, I was right about the last one. Monday morning I was finishing writing my first official SOAP when an intern told me I would be going to surgery soon. This is awesome!! Then I find out who the clinician is and they are very intimidating and have a reputation of being extremely strict. Not so awesome!!
I meet with the clinicians as they're reviewing the radiographs and find out that we will be repairing a tibial fracture. While prepping the dog, I received some very good advice from an anesthesiologist: "Make sure you pee before the surgery." The surgery lasted 5 or 6 hours and I was glad I followed the advice. I was extremely tired that night not only because of the marathon surgery but also because in ortho surgeries, we apparently have to wear lead vests under our gowns because we are taking radiographs throughout the surgery. That night I went to dinner with the scary surgeon, the resident, and another clinician. The surgeon ended up buying my dinner and offering me a summer job. It was a nice change of pace to talk to these doctors about life and get advice on what I should be doing now to get where I want to be. While this surgeon is still somewhat intimidating, I realize they are not mean, and they do just want to make students into the best doctors possible. This was so much more than I expected from this holiday job!!
The next 2 days I learned a lot about caring for these dogs that were hit-by-cars and assisting with 2 more femoral fracture repairs. I have become very proficient at suctioning blood, holding a leg for very long times (which reminds me of Turk on Scrubs when he scratches his nose with some guy's toe during surgery), cutting suture, and cleaning instruments. I did get to practice suturing and stapling during the closure on the last dog. My last hour working was spent discharging one of the dogs with the resident to the owners. This was a very rewarding time to see this dog walking again and the owners so happy to have him back!!
I meet with the clinicians as they're reviewing the radiographs and find out that we will be repairing a tibial fracture. While prepping the dog, I received some very good advice from an anesthesiologist: "Make sure you pee before the surgery." The surgery lasted 5 or 6 hours and I was glad I followed the advice. I was extremely tired that night not only because of the marathon surgery but also because in ortho surgeries, we apparently have to wear lead vests under our gowns because we are taking radiographs throughout the surgery. That night I went to dinner with the scary surgeon, the resident, and another clinician. The surgeon ended up buying my dinner and offering me a summer job. It was a nice change of pace to talk to these doctors about life and get advice on what I should be doing now to get where I want to be. While this surgeon is still somewhat intimidating, I realize they are not mean, and they do just want to make students into the best doctors possible. This was so much more than I expected from this holiday job!!
The next 2 days I learned a lot about caring for these dogs that were hit-by-cars and assisting with 2 more femoral fracture repairs. I have become very proficient at suctioning blood, holding a leg for very long times (which reminds me of Turk on Scrubs when he scratches his nose with some guy's toe during surgery), cutting suture, and cleaning instruments. I did get to practice suturing and stapling during the closure on the last dog. My last hour working was spent discharging one of the dogs with the resident to the owners. This was a very rewarding time to see this dog walking again and the owners so happy to have him back!!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
It's Like Christmas
After classes ended, I wanted to start reading a book for fun and I had 2 to choose from that I bought back in August: "All My Patients have Tales" by Jeff Wells AND "Tell Me Where It Hurts" by Nick Trout. Yes, that's right I read about veterinarians for fun when I'm not studying. Talk about well-rounded. Anyways, Nick Trout is a surgeon so I started reading his book and was hooked. I highly recommend this book to any aspiring small animal vets and especially surgeons. He explains clinical diseases and techniques very clearly but not too simple since I was still learning more about procedures I was somewhat familiar with. He also has enough humor to keep it entertaining. In the first chapter, he talks about a dog with GDV (gastric dilatation and volvulus). Briefly, it usually occurs in deep-chested dogs after a big meal. During exercise, the stomach twists (volvulus) and the gas being produced during digestion? becomes trapped - dog is unable to burp - and results in a bloated stomach (gastric dilatation) with no way to release the pressure. Obviously, the dog does not feel good and time is important because the twisting can cut off blood supply to the stomach as well as the spleen.
Up until today, my job at the teaching hospital has been rather boring. We have 3-4 people giving treatments to 2 animals in the mornings. One day, I barely did anything because we have too many people doing too little work. Today, I got to take care of a German Shepherd with Myasthenia Gravis (animal's body makes antibodies to acetylcholine receptors ->dog gets stiff/tired after exercise) and possibly secondary megaesophagus. This dog looked terrible 3-4 days ago - not moving much, not eating much, salivating a ton. Today, the dog went for a walk outside, wasn't salivating much, and scarfed down a can of food. He may have even gone home today. It was fun talking to the doctor about myasthenia gravis and its treatment/prognosis. It's a good chance to see what I know and what I have to learn. There are a few drugs to treat myasthenia gravis, but the important thing to look for are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors.
I was also on-call for surgery today. My plan was to sit at home and watch movies all day until my phone rang and I was called into surgery for an emergency GDV. It was an answered prayer to scrub in on the surgery. I am still struggling with finding the arm holes for the gown, but the rest of the scrubbing and gloving went fine. I always find one arm hole and have no clue where the other is. I gowned up and was put in charge of suction. We immediately removed 1 liter of bloody fluid from the abdomen. At this point, I was thinking, "Oh great, my first real surgery I get to scrub in and it's going to bleed out." My thinking seemed to be confirmed when we could not find the source of the blood and 1 liter approached 2. Finally, we found a broken vessel and ligated it. The rest of the surgery went fairly smoothly and I can add retracting and cutting suture to my resume'. The surgery was a couple hours long due to all the complications.
In the middle of that last paragraph with 5 minutes left for being on call, I was called in again by the surgeon. He said he could get someone else, but I couldn't pass up another opportunity to scrub in. This one was a pyometra (pus in the uterus). I arrived to finish scrubbing the patient. Gowning went much smoother this time. Just before the surgery, I confirmed that the point of the surgery was to just remove the uterus which is what we did. The surgery only lasted 20-30 minutes. Tomorrow we meet to write the surgery report and discharge - things I was asked to do, but won't learn until next year.
To put the cherry on the top of my GDV and pyometra filled cake, I got paid for all of this that I would have done for free. I love my job!!!
Up until today, my job at the teaching hospital has been rather boring. We have 3-4 people giving treatments to 2 animals in the mornings. One day, I barely did anything because we have too many people doing too little work. Today, I got to take care of a German Shepherd with Myasthenia Gravis (animal's body makes antibodies to acetylcholine receptors ->dog gets stiff/tired after exercise) and possibly secondary megaesophagus. This dog looked terrible 3-4 days ago - not moving much, not eating much, salivating a ton. Today, the dog went for a walk outside, wasn't salivating much, and scarfed down a can of food. He may have even gone home today. It was fun talking to the doctor about myasthenia gravis and its treatment/prognosis. It's a good chance to see what I know and what I have to learn. There are a few drugs to treat myasthenia gravis, but the important thing to look for are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors.
I was also on-call for surgery today. My plan was to sit at home and watch movies all day until my phone rang and I was called into surgery for an emergency GDV. It was an answered prayer to scrub in on the surgery. I am still struggling with finding the arm holes for the gown, but the rest of the scrubbing and gloving went fine. I always find one arm hole and have no clue where the other is. I gowned up and was put in charge of suction. We immediately removed 1 liter of bloody fluid from the abdomen. At this point, I was thinking, "Oh great, my first real surgery I get to scrub in and it's going to bleed out." My thinking seemed to be confirmed when we could not find the source of the blood and 1 liter approached 2. Finally, we found a broken vessel and ligated it. The rest of the surgery went fairly smoothly and I can add retracting and cutting suture to my resume'. The surgery was a couple hours long due to all the complications.
In the middle of that last paragraph with 5 minutes left for being on call, I was called in again by the surgeon. He said he could get someone else, but I couldn't pass up another opportunity to scrub in. This one was a pyometra (pus in the uterus). I arrived to finish scrubbing the patient. Gowning went much smoother this time. Just before the surgery, I confirmed that the point of the surgery was to just remove the uterus which is what we did. The surgery only lasted 20-30 minutes. Tomorrow we meet to write the surgery report and discharge - things I was asked to do, but won't learn until next year.
To put the cherry on the top of my GDV and pyometra filled cake, I got paid for all of this that I would have done for free. I love my job!!!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
3/8ths a vet
I just finished my 3rd semester of vet school, and I am very excited for it to be over. Finals were ridiculous - I was only getting 3-5 hours of sleep each night. In the middle of the week, our public health exam was extremely difficult. I thought I could have easily missed 20-30 questions out of 110. I did slightly better than I expected, but then Christmas came early this week when I received a higher grade in the class than I expected. Overall, the gpa dropped, but not as much as I anticipated. I need to get my act together for next semester since I will be busier with work and other extracurriculars than this last semester.
Over break, I am working in the teaching hospital. My "interview" occurred when I was unlocking my bike and the surgery tech asked if I wanted a job, and I was officially hired during final week. Yesterday was orientation and it looks like I should learn a lot doing the treatments over the holidays. I've already learned where more things are and some of the paperwork to fill out. The most difficult part of orientation was the emergency part. The tech kept asking clinical questions that we should technically know, but my brain was turned off after finals. Hopefully, I'll learn a lot this next week and be more prepared for clinics next year. I'm also on-call somedays and will get to scrub in if an emergency comes in. SOOOO, I hate to say it, but I hope some emergencies happen.
Over break, I am working in the teaching hospital. My "interview" occurred when I was unlocking my bike and the surgery tech asked if I wanted a job, and I was officially hired during final week. Yesterday was orientation and it looks like I should learn a lot doing the treatments over the holidays. I've already learned where more things are and some of the paperwork to fill out. The most difficult part of orientation was the emergency part. The tech kept asking clinical questions that we should technically know, but my brain was turned off after finals. Hopefully, I'll learn a lot this next week and be more prepared for clinics next year. I'm also on-call somedays and will get to scrub in if an emergency comes in. SOOOO, I hate to say it, but I hope some emergencies happen.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
10 More Days
Last week, we had a lab that was really cool. I learned how to fix a pneumothorax (not that hard), place a chest tube, intubate a dog, and how to theoretically do transtracheal washes and tracheostomies. I was excited because I thought I was going to learn how take a pen and stab a choking dog in the throat (tracheostomy) and open an airway like the heroes do in the movies with people all the time. However, the emergency vet said he's seen 1 or 2 in the past 7 years which means I'll never do it and doing a blunt dissection to place the tracheostomy tube is much more likely, though less exciting. It was easily the best part of this semester.
I also had my Pathology final today. It feels so good to have another class done. I have no more tutoring for the semester. Everything is coming to an end.... not fast enough though. Now, I have classes the rest of this week and then finals all next week. The pain is about to begin. Oh, how I missed the taking a final, having 22 hours to prepare for the next one, and then repeat 4 times - all the while getting less sleep as the week progresses. Welcome back Finals Week!!
I'm trying to start studying hardcore, but the motivation is hard to find. I was talking to a 3rd year the other day who had some encouraging words: he was saying how I didn't pay attention this semester because there wasn't much worth listening to (I totally agree). Then next semester, he said the classes will be interesting, but it will just be too hard to pay attention in class. Next semester's final schedule is supposed to be the worst too. At least, I have something to look forward to.
Time to get back to respiratory diseases with a little bacteriology sprinkled on top.
I also had my Pathology final today. It feels so good to have another class done. I have no more tutoring for the semester. Everything is coming to an end.... not fast enough though. Now, I have classes the rest of this week and then finals all next week. The pain is about to begin. Oh, how I missed the taking a final, having 22 hours to prepare for the next one, and then repeat 4 times - all the while getting less sleep as the week progresses. Welcome back Finals Week!!
I'm trying to start studying hardcore, but the motivation is hard to find. I was talking to a 3rd year the other day who had some encouraging words: he was saying how I didn't pay attention this semester because there wasn't much worth listening to (I totally agree). Then next semester, he said the classes will be interesting, but it will just be too hard to pay attention in class. Next semester's final schedule is supposed to be the worst too. At least, I have something to look forward to.
Time to get back to respiratory diseases with a little bacteriology sprinkled on top.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Thanksgiving Break
Apparently, a month has flown by and I didn't realize it. I've just been focusing on surviving the semester and it sounds like next semester is going to be even worse. I was very happy when the Thanksgiving break finally arrived. It's a much needed break from classes and a time to reflect. I know I complain a lot, but I have so much to be thankful for and I need to remember these things occasionally:
1. Even though vet school is hard and I hate it at times, I was given a chance to experience it when many are denied each year. Hundreds of people would do anything for my seat in the class.
2. Gradewise, I have caught a lot of breaks over the last year and a half to maintain my current gpa.
3. I have met a lot of great people in my class that I wouldn't have had the chance to see these people everyday if I was accepted one of the 2 previous times I applied.
4. I have not had any major illness or injury. Many people in my class have been hit by cars, had the swine flu, or major family problems. I can't even imagine trying to study through that and keep up with the material. I am very thankful that I haven't experienced any of those so far.
5. I have a lot of family and friends that are extremely supportive. These people keep me sane and remind me that there is more to life than vet school and that it will all be over someday.
1. Even though vet school is hard and I hate it at times, I was given a chance to experience it when many are denied each year. Hundreds of people would do anything for my seat in the class.
2. Gradewise, I have caught a lot of breaks over the last year and a half to maintain my current gpa.
3. I have met a lot of great people in my class that I wouldn't have had the chance to see these people everyday if I was accepted one of the 2 previous times I applied.
4. I have not had any major illness or injury. Many people in my class have been hit by cars, had the swine flu, or major family problems. I can't even imagine trying to study through that and keep up with the material. I am very thankful that I haven't experienced any of those so far.
5. I have a lot of family and friends that are extremely supportive. These people keep me sane and remind me that there is more to life than vet school and that it will all be over someday.
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