A.C. and Lola: January 2010

1.29.2010

Oh Happy Day!

So it's Friday. Eh. I love Fridays, but what I love even more...

Sleeping past 5 AM. WOOOOOOOO!

YAY for weekends!

I hope everyone has a great one! xoxoxAC

1.27.2010

I am currently on an adrenaline-high. I was at school laaaate last night...until about 12:30 actually. I woke up this morning at 5 AM a little tired, but then remembered what I got to do last night and literally popped out of bed. Last night I placed an IV catheter and endogastric tube in a dog. It. Was. AWESOME. It really isn't that big of deal, I suppose, but it was thrilling and exciting for me. It's a procedure that we learn as a group so we're not placing unnecessary tube after tube into healthy dogs. But...after my professor demoed it, she said she'd let one student do it... Another guy and I pretty much jumped straight up and shot our hands into the air. My teacher said she wouldn't choose, so we battled it out old school style: Rock-Paper-Scissors. LOL! Yes, I played R.P.S. in a full-on surgical suite last night, complete with scrub gear and latex gloves in front of the attending doctor. I won. I rule. :) It was a little scary. I was lucky in that we had already placed an endotracheal tube so I didn't have as big of risk of going into the lungs, but it was still nerve-racking! It was definitely a little harder than I thought it would be, but I managed to get the tube into the stomach on the first try. Go me!

Aside from that excitement, I'm also busy learning about parasites. It's a lot of microscope work which I'm sure is prematurely aging my eyes (hello, wrinkles!), but what are you gonna do? Scanning for the cause of a disease is kind of cool. Finding the cause of a disease is definitely cool! As much as I dislike staring through a microscope, it turns out I'm pretty good at scanning slides and finding tiny eggs to help diagnose problems.

Lastly, Production Animals class. Awww...large animals. :) I'm learning more behavioral characteristics and general medicine on different large animals in that class. It may not be the exciting new procedures of the other classes, but I still love it. I find large animals insanely fascinating. So much so that I have a hard time wanting to do homework and concentrate on my other classes sometimes! The equine teacher gave me one of his old text books this week, and I don't want to put the thing down! I can't wait to graduate and pretty much focus solely on horses!

Aside from school, I had jury duty last week. Wah-waaah. I was herded into a room of 35 people and told only 4 would be picked. Good odds on not having to do it, right? Wrong! I got picked and had to sit in on a day-long case involving an undercover prostitution bust. Good times, good times.

Lola is lovely. Up to her normal ways. She got a new camouflage sweatshirt to wear when we go out walking. I found a $3 toddler sweatshirt, made a few cuts, sewed a few lines and Lola got a cheap, new sweatshirt. YUSSS! Besides that, she pretty much rules the household right now. My guilt of not being home a lot translates into MORE: more treats, more walks, and more sleeping in the big bed. :}

So that is life as of late. My schedule is crazy and I'm tired a lot. I'm never home because even in my "free time", I'm going to the gym and trying to maintain a social life. It's stressful and hard sometimes, but...I wouldn't change it for anything. Even when I'm wrestling a big dog that flings snot and has stinky breath, I laugh at how much fun I'm having. I absolutely love what I'm doing. It makes everything else worth it. :) If there is one thought about my current situation that rings true and crosses my mind often, it is this: "It's never too late to change your life."

xoxoxAC

1.26.2010

WHOA! Snow!

I haven't posted in a bit. I have a lot of stuff to write about, but right now...

I just really want to go see all of the snow in Monticello. :)

1.15.2010

You know...horse stuff!

Waiting to graduate is dumb. Dumb I tell you!

We lectured on equine medicine this morning - four hours worth - not enough in my book! Thank goodness there's a WHOLE other class devoted just to horses. I'm fired up and ready to do stuff! You know...horse stuff! GEH! I'm ready to graduate! XD

1.14.2010

Wrestling Dogs

I've commented on this before, but I'm just going to bring it up again: I live a crazy life. I spend my days in an office wearing nice clothes and using big words. I'm professional and gracious. At night? Ehhh...not so much. I spent Monday night looking at poo under a microscope...and was utterly fascinated. In fact, I seem to remember uttering such eloquent words as, "Whoa!" or "RAD!" or "Dude! Come look at this!" Tuesday night I wrestled dogs. Big dogs. We moved from placing IV catheters in lifeless Care Bears to 100-pound Pit Bulls and Hound dogs. I had the pleasure of restraining said Hound Dog. I spent fifteen minutes crouched in an unnatural position and holding him down while my classmate did her first IV catheter. He writhed and wiggled while my legs burned and my back ached. At the end I was rewarded with a tackle and chin-to-forehead lick, complete with drool and hair. :} Tomorrow morning we'll be lecturing on horse breeds and characteristics in Production Animals. If you've followed this blog for more than two minutes, there's no need to tell you how I’m feeling about that lecture. Okay, I’ll tell you: EEEEE! HAHA!

Oh how I love this lovely life... :)

1.08.2010

Beeeeeeef.

I started my Production Animals class this morning...

...and it was AWESOME. :)

1.06.2010

YES! My Care Bear is NOT dehydrated!

Well I'm already back in school again. A new, fresh quarter...only one week after the last one ended. I was feeling a little bummed about it until class started. My schedule is crazy and I definitely get a little wiped out sometimes, but what I do each night in class totally makes up for it. On Monday nights, I have Parasitology this quarter. Our first class was spent lecturing about and learning how to do different fecal collections, and then what we'll do with them. Who knew there were so many things to do with poop?! LOL! Yes, it's the smelly, un-pretty side of the job, but definitely important...and interesting. :} Last night I had Small Animal Nutrition & Nursing which is already shaping up to be one of my all-time favorite classes. We lectured on and learned how to place intravenous (IV) catheters. I didn't think it would be too difficult, but yeah...I was wrong. When my professor first pulled out stuffed animals rigged up to fake blood and rubber veins, I thought it was boring. After my first attempt at placing a catheter and subsequently mopping up the pool of "blood" all over my table, let's just say I loooooved the stuffed animals. LOL! I learned that doing this takes speed and precision - oh and a little strength since you CAN NOT let go of the animal no matter what. Unlike humans, you can't just tell an animal to sit still...mostly because they don't speak English. My professor demonstrated this (on me first, of course) by coming over and shaking and pulling my animal's leg. I held on, but I made a mess of the vein and had issues getting my adaptor on so yeah...I had a pool of Kool-Aid blood to clean up afterwards. I did improve, though. I am now a speedy IV catheter-placing-and-taping-freak...on my writhing Care Bear. :) Friday morning, I start Production Animals. YUSSSSSS! I am sooo excited for that class. I love dogs and cats (well, some cats), but large animals are where it's at for me. This quarter is shaping up to ROCK!