Clincal Work

I've spent the last two days seeing clinical practice here in Edinburgh and I'm loving it as much as expected. There has been a variety of cases so far, but nothing too much out of the ordinary yet. I have mainly discovered I'm not used to standing for 11 hours a day. Sore feet!

There have been several discussions about chemotherapy for dogs with lymphosarcoma. I was told the life expectancy for a case of lymphosarcoma is approximately 3 months, and with treatment this increases to 6-9 months. Is it really worth it? Some of the medications have pretty nasty side effects, can be expensive, and are dangerous. I don't know the full story, there are lectures next year where I expect to learn more about complete remission rates and other important factors.

I'm back again next week and hoping to see more cases and learn even more. It's great revision for pharmacology and anaesthesiology, plus I find myself going over pathology. I'll use the weekend to read over what I have learned so far.

More Tiger News

When building an enclosure for your tiger, please ensure your walls are over 5m high or else they will possibly escape and eat you. There are also reports that aggravating a tiger in an enclosure with 3.81m walls may be bad for your health. You have been warned. Obviously when I grown up and become a tiger (as is the plan) there will be no walls because I'm great. Plus the interchangeable hands/paws will make it easy for me to escape any cage. I'm not crazy, just planning for the future.

Bad Tiger

Endangered animals in zoos is generally a good idea, especially with the breeding programs these days to help increase numbers. This isn't so useful if one of them escapes and starts attacking people, forcing it to be shot. I suppose we will discover later how a known aggressive big cat managed to escape and maul people, but clearly something was wrong.

Happy Holidays

I hope everyone is having a good holiday, I seem to be so far. Edinburgh is fairly quiet now without all the students about, although there is a slight possibility I'm missing some of my classmates. And of course a certain puppy.

Christmas dinner is all planned and sorted. This year I shall be devouring lamb which is different from the traditional turkey, but I don't care. There is a plan to run up the seat whilst the food is cooking as well, should be fun.

After Christmas its EMS time with 5 days of really interesting work at Braid Vets here in Edinburgh. I'm really looking forward to it! Last time I was at a practice there was still so much that I didn't know. There will still be lots I don't know, but hopefully slightly less this time around.

Time Off

So post-exams has been quite good fun so far with just the right amount of sleeping in, climbing and of course, partying. The staff party was on Sunday night and mixed in with a bit of work, but ended up rather drunken. I didn't dance though.

I've also been giving tours of Summerhall to new potential undergrads. They all look so young! Either that or I'm getting too old. Not too old to climb though. Despite being away for a while I managed to get up some 6a and 6a+ climbs and nearly got up the 7a flake without using the features. More practice!

All Done!

Another exam period is over and everyone survived. I think it's all a cunning ploy by the vet school to get us used to stress for life in practice. Either that or they are just plain nasty.

I was expecting this exam to be the worst, but in fact it was the fairest of the bunch. There was a weird knowledge kind of thing going on where not every question scared the life out of me. In fact none of them did. I may have been learning.

So now I am exam-less and puppy-less with a couple days of free time before the next engagement. Sleep is called for.

3 down

So three whole exams down, two to go. The first one was ok, the second went great, but the exam today was nasty. Enough said. I'm going to play with a puppy instead.

Still working

I may not be at work, but I'm still on their phone list. Despite having a weekend off I was called in today to do a bit of fixing.....at 1am! I have just got home again. The lesson behind this story is to always check the power cord, humans lie. It's always the power cord. I never ever ever have to crawl in the roof spaces.

Practical Exams

First a little complaint - I have practical exams on Monday and Tuesday out at Easter Bush that only last 5-10 minutes each. Why can't we just have both of them on the same day? My round trip time to get there will be about 1 hour, and I could just as easily spend that revising at home.

I spent the past 2 hours doing suture practice. I think I got through everything. Hand ties, simple interrupted ties, simple continuous, surgeons knots, square knots to name but a few. Then I ran out of suture material, so I came home to do more work. Systems pathology or the physics behind ultrasound? It's a hard choice.

Things to do

1)Revise

That's about it for the next week. I may also need to work and I have various personal commitments like meeting humans and exercising the great BD but apart from that I shall be at home revising. Or at Summerhall revising. Or at Easter Bush revising. You get the idea. Revising. Sorry if no updates for a while. Maybe post-exams.

Masters

I've been debating doing a masters for a while now, and this week I attended a conference for vet students who were thinking about taking a year to do a BSc, MSc, or even a PhD. I've pretty much decided I would like to study some more, but there are so many different topics ranging all the way from animal behaviour to molecular immunology. I still have several problems though, the main one being my parents. The masters will probably be funded, but what if the vet tuition fees increase (again) during my year out? I will also miss my classmates. I suppose I could finish this course, graduate, and then study the masters, but the call of clinical work is really strong at the moment. Many options.

At the moment I have no time to think about this. My shifts at work aren't getting covered at the moment, so on top of lectures and practicals (which thankfully finished today) as well as revision I have to work until at least 2am today. And tomorrow. I can't mess these exams up.

Busy few days

Sleep is for wimps, or so my body has apparently decided. I however didn't get the memo and have been heading to bed every night just to gradually notice the improvement of my night vision over time. I've also been at uni from 9-5ish every day, and done some revision in my down time. It's good to do a lot of work, although I may have overdone it this time.

Today was another suturing practical - continuous sutures this time around. Was great fun, but I need to practice my vertical mattress a bit more before it's ready to hit something alive. From this prac I went straight to work. Now I arrived home. Now I go to bed.

Intrahorse

I have spent most of my afternoon with horses looking at teeth. A proportion of this time was spent with my arm in the horses mouth investigating various conditions, feeling sharp edges on the teeth and similar fun things.

Combine this with a few pathology lectures and an anaesthesia tutorial on multiple trauma and my brain is fried. Can't stop yet though. Too much to do.

Good And The Bad

So today was full of good news and news. We shall start with the good, as always. A friend of mine may be spawning. Yay humans! Actually babies scare me in every way, unless they are puppies.

Unfortunately I also learned today that a class mate of mine from secondary school has passed away. Very odd for someone of my age I think. I hadn't seen her for a while, but it is still strange to hear.

Odd that I got these calls within a few minutes of each other. It's odd how life balances sometimes.

Long Day

It's been a very long day. My personal favourite was carrying 30+ kg of compressed gas across the city not once, not twice, but three whole times. I must be crazy. It did bad things to my arms and made me a little tired. Running up the Crags after work didn't really help either. Sleep now.

Fingers

I seem to be losing the skin from my finger tips. It's really odd. Not sure whether it is due to climbing or some dodgy chemicals either at uni or at work. The thing I notice the most is my temperature sensation has changed in the affected areas. Strange.

Home again

It has been quite a few hours since I was home last. Not quite a full day, but close enough. The morning was spent at uni doing all kinds of fun pathology based things, climbing in the afternoon, then work this evening.

Pathology was fun, a few cases of Johnes' disease, some lymphosarcoma, and quite a few cases of fluke this week. The gross pathology is getting better, but histopathology is rather scary as always. Too many cells!

Climbing was great fun. My first real time outside with Colin. He was placing the gear and lead climbing with me following up later, removing the gear from the route, and him up top belaying. We chose some difficult routes to play with including a wonderful slab that lead on to an overhang, then up to the top. The second route didn't have an overhang, but a more difficult slab path that required a few dodgy manoeuvres to stay safe.

Work was interesting as always. I hadn't been there 20 minutes before some idiot managed to damage himself crossing the road and wander in to the bar. A few small lacerations and cuts, he will be fine. My medical skills were not even slightly tested when cleaning the wound and applying a bandage to the head, but interacting with a patient was useful. It's been a while since I last engaged anyone in a first aid situation. Especially humans. Can't trust them.

The rest of work was uneventful, but lasted a while. Now I plan to sleep before more work tomorrow morning and indeed all day. Fun fun.

More Doggy Fun

The news seems to be littered with dog-based stories today. This naughty Basset hound managed to devour some tights which were only discovered when the dog in question had digestive problems. Reminds me of another dog I know although he has a love of IV catheters too...

Puppies

Dog in Nepal are having a good day. I'm not sure what my dog would think of this though.

Free Time

Well I thought there would be free time this week, but it turns out not to be happening. Today I have only just got home after leaving the flat at 0820 for 4 hours of lectures, then a few hours of climbing followed by a couple of hours at the gym, then pub with friends. I will be awake again in about 6 hours for another 3 hours of lectures, although I have tomorrow afternoon free to do more work. Woo! Thursday will be more lectures, more time spent in the gym, and hopefully some bouldering, then Friday I have a pathology morning, followed by an afternoon of climbing then work. So very busy. My biggest worry is to pick up an injury that doesn't have time to heal before my next expedition. And of course not having time to study and failing exams miserably.

Home

There is a way to get home form Easter Bush when classes finish, it just takes a very very long time. If I weren't so sure that death would be the outcome of an attempt to cycle I may attempt it, but I value my limbs too much. It's like being back in Wales. There are maybe 3 buses all day and none of them stop where I need to go.

Week 8

Week 8 is about to start. I don't quite know how we got here, but the first 2 months of third year are over. It's nearly the end of term, and nearly exam time. Time seems to have gone quickly, but slowly at the same time - individual classes have sometimes seemed to take a while, yet the weeks are flying by. I still have loads of work to do, including the finishing touches to my group project section and a lot of revision. At least I have the afternoons off this week to do some work, providing I can actually get home from Easter Bush.

The Best Laid Plans

So I had a very exciting plan tonight to go home after uni work was over and do some work. My anatomy was a bit off over the past few weeks and I planned to revise more. But no. I was called away to a whisky meeting to allow someone else entry to the building. And I stayed for one drink. And I stayed for 2 drinks. You can see where this is going. Bad plan. Bed, sleep and hopefully unconscious soon.

Urgh

I should be in bed with this silly plague, but it is too warm. I can't sleep. Not going to lecture tomorrow as I don't want to infect everyone else, plus the time in bed will be nice. Sleep soon hopefully.

Too much

There were 4 hours of continuous lectures today and whilst my attention span isn't tiny, four whole hours are too much. My mind is fried. I need a nap then I may practice my suturing and research the anthelmintics a little. And go to work. And go to the gym. Oh yeah, and sleep...

Scary!

I was working tonight and managed to get away early in the hope of getting more than 4 hours of sleep this week. So far, so good. There were some strange people in tonight. They kept staring at me, and I don't know why. It seems like some film plot where they were staring for some reason which I will find out later. They didn't speak, just sat and stared. All the time. I didn't classify them as a threat and I don't know if this is good or bad.

On leaving work I had a bit of support from friends to make sure they didn't leave as I did, and followed counter-surveillance tactics on the way route home, so I'm pretty sure I wasn't followed. Even so it's odd. Humans are weird.

ECGs

Yesterday evening was the CPD lecture entitled "A Practical Guide To ECG" out at Bush. It was really interesting and I think I learned a lot. Not too sure how much I will remember, but I have the notes to look over. Some parts were more relevant to those in later years or clinicians, such as treatment options that we haven't been taught yet, but the main lecture and quiz was useful. Things we looked at included:

• How to tell a sinus rhythm
• If the rhythm is regular
• If the abnormality lies above or below the annulus on the heart
• How to determine heart rate from an ECG
• Common problems
• Common diagnoses
  

There is a load of more information in each of those section that I will forget, especially as my home practice doesn't have an ECG machine to practice with. I'm thinking about going along to more of these sessions although it is difficult to get there.

Antimicrobials

We have just finished our lecture series on antimicrobials. There were a total of 9 whole lectures telling us everything we need to know about the different classes and using them etc. I feel so very prepared now. Or possibly not.

Busy Busy

There are so many things I should be doing at the moment. Revision is the big thing, on top of the work we keep getting, but I'm finding it difficult to get motivated to work. Most of the course is really interesting except for the loads and loads of pharmacology we are getting. There are quite a few classes of antibiotics we are looking at currently, as well as all the other drugs that I haven't begun to remember. I'm also finding that after 4 hours of continuous lectures I have problems concentrating, and it's not just me feeling this way. I, like the puppy, needed a sleep today. Something wakes me up at 4am and it needs to stop.

Tomorrow is another long day with 3 hours of lectures in the morning. We do get a break tomorrow so I plan to head to the gym and think about not very much for a bit. In the evening I'm heading to an optional lecture on interpreting ECGs out at Bush. Should be fun! I must remember to look at the bus timetable though. It's a long way to walk home.

Poor swans

It seems someone may have been killing swans in Edinburgh by polluting the water. Humans are really annoying at times.

Lights

As the nights are getting longer and the amount of work increases I've taken to running around the park in the dark. Yesterday I planned my route after work along the path from the Pollock end all the way round, finishing at the Parliament. What I didn't think of was all the cars coming in the opposite direction. Too many! I couldn't see ahead of me, and even worse I couldn't see the path or obstacles. After nearly running straight in to a large rock I decided to head up the crags instead. Much better. Quieter and darker.

Today I went along to a climbing masterclass that was teaching technique. My usual technique involves relying on upper body strength to haul myself up the wall. It works most of the time, although I'm now struggling with harder climbs. We were taught basic techniques to help move on and around the wall. It was all great fun and I'm a little sore and tired now. Going to read and maybe have a nap.

Apologies

For those of you in Edinburgh, I am to blame for the recent cold weather. I cut my hair. All my fault, I just couldn't be doing with long hair any more. Sorry!

Lazy Days

Today I was really naughty and spent more time in bed than I planned due to an alarm clock error. The alarm thought it was to go off at 0930, when actually I wanted to be awake about two hours earlier. As a result I missed 3 lectures. I am a bad person. At least there were no practicals or I would be running to class.

Nothing much else exciting going on. The weekend was the same as ever - lots of work and some uni work. I started doing some reading around pharmacology, but it got me slightly confused. Pub quiz again tonight which should be good fun. It's usually quite full of humans and there are some really annoying freshers there who may have to be destroyed.

Broke It!

That isn't me, but it very nearly was me after I managed to destroy hours of hard work on Saturday. I have now worked out that my computer is happy with the operating system it has, and to leave it alone. Bad things happen when you try to mess with that. Mostly fixed now though, so all is good.

In more fun vet related stuff we have finally finished introductory pathology and are progressing to systems pathology. It mainly seems to be bad if any part of the anatomy gives up at the moment. We have also had another fun practical - this time bandaging puppies! I got a great photo of my Robert Jones bandage on a sleepy Labrador. I'll post it when I get that bit of software installed.

I haven't slept right for a few days now, and am liable to slay the human on a moped if he is around at 1am again. Early night is called for. Bed and pharmacology. That usually sends me to sleep.

It Alive!

New computer is up and running. Now all I have to do is spend many many many hours configuring it like the old one. There are so many little helpful bits and pieces of software that I don't really notice until they aren't there. It's taking hours to find them again.

More New Parts

I just ordered the rest of my computer, but in doing so I somehow managed to crash the card verification server. Not entirely what happened, neither did the people I phoned, but the device had all my details correct, I was entering them correctly and it just refused to work. Ooops.

Rebuilding

My poor computer has had enough. It has been going steadily downhill over the past few weeks with more and more problems like refusing to start, freezing and crashing in the middle of work. The usual things that are really annoying.

Today I ordered the first parts for my new device - 4gb ram from crucial. They seem to have a special offer on at the moment making it about £40 less than I expected. When I manage to raise the rest of the funds I will spend a fun day building, and then a not so fun week resetting my system to normality. The question is, do I upgrade to windows vista, or stay with XP?

Silly Things I've Done - Part 1

Just ran home with a dodgy leg, back and throat. Can't stop coughing, but the back and leg don't hurt much which is a bonus. I may feel this tomorrow.

Theatre Practice

My theatre practice session was yesterday afternoon, and I had a brilliant time. So many things made it great - small group size, interesting content, practical content we will use at EMS, and fun instructors.

There was a little confusion about scrubs and exactly how much clothing could be worn. I think we may have embarrassed our poor nurse asking what could and couldn't be worn. In the end we decided on underwear only! At least the changing room wasn't too cold. We were given a quick tour of the surgical ward, then split up. My group headed off to hand washing first.

For the first scrub of the day it should take 6-9 minutes to wash your hands. We were following the counting technique - 30 scrubs on the front and back of the hands and 20 on each side of the fingers, not forgetting the webbing. I found the most difficult parts were remembering to use the elbow to pump the hibiscrub and washing afterwards. My elbows didn't want to point downwards so soap was just sticking to my arm.

We were then shown the proper way to gown up and put on surgical gloves. I didn't have a problem with this and found it surprisingly easy considering I hadn't done it before. The rest of the group and the nurse were sure I'd been practising before or something.

The second section was naming instruments, and there were a lot of them. The regular stuff like Mayo scissors and haemostats were fairly easy to remember, but the various types of retractors threw me for a bit.

I only hope the rest of the practicals are as much fun. I fear the diagnostic imaging computer practical on the physics of imaging may be less thrilling.

Bluetongue

In my current useless state I took to surfing the net for the new and found this. Bad news!! The case has been confirmed by DEFRA, but it is not confirmed as an outbreak yet as there is only 1 case. Bluetongue plus FMDV is all we need at the moment. I really feel for any farmers down South.

Larygitis

Well I can't speak. Not any more. I of course blame the Freshers. Must heal quickly.

Survived

Work is over for another week and everyone survived intact, even the customers. Friday night was a bit of a bad time, but Saturday reminded me why I enjoy my job. Friday was a night with noone really in charge. I was senior at the bar, but not in charge. NL is a supervisor too, but he's only been there for about 3 weeks now. All very confusing. Today's shift was more like the good old days where everyone knew what they were doing and when. But then again team Saturday Day is amazing.

Well I'm meant to be doing something tonight, but I can't remember what. So I'll wait until people find me and ask where I am. Maybe a nap or a walk up the seat is in order. It's a nice night.

MRI Results

The hospital has written to me and said my head isn't going to explode any time soon. The MRI looked normal to the nice doctor type human. Rather happy. I'm still going to see if I can get my hands on a copy though.

First Day

Actually today was the second day, but yesterday was really not very exciting. Today we were introduced to pharmacology, pathology and the surgery section of the course, and I'm glad to say it all looks really interesting. Except for pharmacology which just looks scary. My timetable isn't too bad just yet - quite a few half days, or at least some form of a break in the morning. I'm not entirely sure what to do on my break apart from go for a walk. At Summerhall there is always somewhere I can find to hide from everyone else because its in the middle of the city. At Bush there are less places to hide, especially on a rainy day.

I'm also perplexed by the message I have just picked up - apparently we are required to wear steel toe-capped boots tomorrow, not steel-capped wellies. I thought the entire point of the wellies was to use them through the years. Plus I'm due in classes in less than 12 hours. When exactly am I meant to find, buy and break in new shoes? Confused. This practical course looks like great fun though, and really interesting. Can't wait!

Nearly Ready

Well it's back to Uni tomorrow, although an easy first day. We first have to register and see various people about being in 3rd year, then a quick lecture on diagnostic imaging, then lunch before the 3rd year photos. Personally I quite like my current photo and don't want it replaced. I can also think of better things to be doing all afternoon instead of sitting about for an hour waiting for a photo. Looking forward to the diagnostic imaging lecture though, that could be fun. Everything is packed and I'm ready to go.

First Shift

First bar shift of the term is over. There were quite a few people, and some of them were rather annoying. These included:

• The drunk person who decided to come and sit and chat with me on my only 10 minute break.
• The fresher who asked if it was ok to steal glasses and got upset when we said no.

I'm sure there were others, but at the moment I'm too tired to think straight. And I'm awake again in about 4 hours to await the arrival of builders. Then work starts at 0900 until 1800. After that I plan to sleep, but things never go according to plan.

Sports Fair

The annual torture of the sports fair has begun. It involves packing as many people as possible in to the gym and then closing most of the doors and windows making everyone hot and sweaty. I am usually to be found behind one of the desks or hiding away in the club room, but the freshers still manage to find me.

Today was less than fun - I have yet to eat a proper meal, it was really warm and standing up for hours hurt my back. Shouldn't whinge really as there were other people at the fair for a lot longer than me, and new members are important to the club. I'm tired and term hasn't even started yet!

Coat hangers

I just figured out that I own no coat hangers. This isn't a problem. There is nothing to hang a coat on. They aren't useful as a weapon. They can't be used to pick a lock. The TV has an aerial. I'm out of ideas on why I'd need one.

Freshers Week

Well it's started. They are officially here and there are a lot of them. They also seem to be getting very young these days, or that could just be me getting old. I plan to stay out of the way as much as possible over the next week. Pubs become uninhabitable, shops empty of bread. Evil creatures. On the plus side it does mean third year starts soon :-)

Silly plan

Looked at some climbing kit today online. I miss it! Debated going up on the crags for a bit of bouldering but my back is feeling a little dodgy today. It felt better after some ibuprofen, so hopefully there won't be a repeat of that Tuesday night. I think it was the heavy backpack that did it. Must remember for future running places.

Night walk

I just arrived home from a lovely walk at night up the crags. It was great to be alone behind the crags without too much light with a clear sky and the stars. Amazing how old habits resurfaced too: I had forgotten the incoming car trick, but automatically closed an eye to preserve some night vision.

I sat on top for a while just thinking about things. It was wonderful. There was possibly a lack of company, but that wasn't too much bother. I'm used to being alone up hills.

Cops

Not too sure about this post. May remove it at a later date. Just because.

Tonight I was watching Cops, a terrible TV show following American police around. They had their usual car chases and chasing people, but the last item was different. It was a murder-suicide type thing. The police entered the area to find a distressed male in one room and two people down in another. It appeared that a man had shot a woman and then himself. To me it really felt like the viewer was intruding on this first person. He was present when his sister/wife/daughter was shot and trying to relate the story to the police, but the camera got in the way. He was upset and needed to just be allowed to speak and do his own thing. It upset me. I wanted to leave him alone to find his way of coping without the hassle of people asking questions, without a camera following, without a microphone recording his last words to someone he loved. Why do that?

MRI Fun

Well that was fun. Lie in a small plastic tube and try not to move your eyes for 30minutes. It wasn't as easy as it sounds. There was no problem with claustrophobia or anything like that. In fact it was quite comfortable. I also enjoyed the music selection. No spice girls for me, I had Queen greatest hits 1. Overall I rather enjoyed it, I've had a lot worse before. There was no stabbing with needles, no poking sore bits, no removing of anything. It was a little sore on the back though.

My back is getting better slowly as I'm doing less silly work. It is sore when I lie down and if I walk for a while, but in regular life it doesn't slow me down at all until I've finished what I need to do. Went for a long walk yesterday without too much bother until the last hill when I was glad for the forward planning and lack of rucksack. I should try to do of the same just to get used to the motions again. Then running. Then climbing.

MRI time

Tomorrow is the big day where I get to stick my head in a large revolving magnet. This should be quite good fun, although I have been reliably informed that their music selection is at best bad, and at worst crap. Must remember to take my own. A few doctor types have told me they aren't too worried out the problem, but it will be nice to get an MRI and know for sure what is going on.

Broken Again

Just when I was getting slightly better I go do stupid things like moving 5 tons worth of container. Probably a rather idiotic plan, but it needed to be done and no-one else wanted to play. There was slight pain with lameness appreciated on the right and left hind limbs. Lunchtime was spent lying on the floor working on my back stretches so walking was less of an issue afterwards. Really, really must stop doing this kind of thing.

Oh and also managed to insert a large screw in to my hand. A interesting one as at least 1cm of screw was in my hand, but the hole sealed itself rather nicely. Yay!

More work

Back to work again today - it hardly seems like there was time off at all. We accomplished many tasks of various types, mostly involving lifting and moving stuff from place to place. This probably isn't good for the back, although it isn't too sore today. I'm finding my hips are actually more sore after I do the physio for some reason.

I also started some uni work today too, just some basic web design for a quiz. At the moment it pops up a picture of a sheep breed and you have to guess which breed it is. Not too exciting yet, but the coding is unlike anything I've ever done before so it's a bit of a challenge. Too bad I'm doing it in java. I may try to find something more useful at a later date. The real question is do I have enough time to learn a programming language as well as do a degree and work at the same time? My actual job working on the web design/computer-based learning doesn't begin until Freshers week and it will continue through the year on a case by case basis. Apparently there aren't too many techy vet students out there.

Party

It was the EUSA staff party last night at the Caves here in Edinburgh for all those people who had worked during the festival at the various venues. It had the potential to be a fairly entertaining night but didn't live up to it. There were too many people in a small space which is never good, combined with a bit of a wrestle to get to the bar and a lack of people I knew made for not too much fun. The final straw was when people tried to get me to dance. A quick distraction tactic later and I was on the way home. I must be getting old, I was in bed by 0130. Shocking!

The old enemy of the human female has reared its head again. I'm so bad at this kind of thing. The problem may stem from my unfortunate tendency to run away from people attempting to hug me, and so I think others may do the same. Probably shouldn't tar everyone with the same insane brush that got me, but who understands the evil ways of the female mind? Strange creatures.

Survived

Another festival down! Well, nearly down. There is still a little bit of work to be done tidying up and sorting things next week but there are no more customers and no more 6am starts.

Last night was quite fun, although it predictably ended in chaos. I arrived back in work at 2300 having not slept for some unknown stupid reason and started working straight away. It only took about 30 minutes to take the Grand Bar apart, although removing everything I'd just destroyed took a little longer. I was simply known to the night staff as "Man with drill".

We finished at about 0600 and the beer drinking started pretty much straight away with a bit of a party. This was followed by the Bank Hotel at 0900, then on to the Pear Tree at 1100. I gave up about 1230, came home and went straight to bed. I woke up again around 1900 with a hangover not surprisingly. I'm now trying to figure out my sleep patterns so I will be awake for the staff party tomorrow.

Caught

I was caught working today. Doing lifting work that I probably shouldn't have been doing, but needed to be done before I could eat. It was 1630ish and I was yet to have my break for lunch. Hadn't eaten all day due to being too busy.

I survived another shift and plan to work tomorrow. There is a crash-down shift from midnight tomorrow until 6am. It's usually fun and I get a load of work done but it is also a little tiring. I have my team sorted, I have my tools and I have my tasks. The work will be done as usual. We shall see what state I'm in Tuesday. It may not be pretty.

Back to work again

First day back at work post-exams etc. went fairly well. Doesn't really feel like I've been away long at all. Most people were glad to have me back. Others were constant in their reminders that I had time off and if I couldn't work then I shouldn't be there. My ability to work has not changed, just the type of work I can do has changed. I refuse to lift kegs and heavy kit. It isn't worth getting injured again.

Talking of that, I was fixing things on a roof and whilst coming down managed to damage my back slightly. It's fairly safe to say I fell off the roof. My back and legs were sore for a while after that one. Not quite agony, but enough to take notice. Maybe I'll stick to computer work, it is easier and possibly less painful.

Was debating a walk post work. It now appears there is a birthday party for a friend that I haven't been invited to. Debating turning up, debating just going to sleep with toast and a book. I think I'll stick with the book. Less humans that way.

2100...

...is a good time to relax and do not much

...is a great time to enjoy a beer with flatmate & friends

...is a bad time to discover you have no clean underwear for work tomorrow

The situation is currently being resolved with the aid of washing machine and the drying machine of doom.

Recheck

I actually went back to the vet school today to check the hard copy exam results to make sure I hadn't failed after all. Still don't completely believe it. I've been looking over the syllabus and it looks like fun, more clinical-based stuff that should be really interesting. Can't wait!

Passed!

Yay!! I passed all my resits, so I'm now officially a 3rd year. Very happy about it. Quite a few people didn't pass, and I was a borderline with the special circumstances form allowing me to pass. Not an ideal situation, and it shows I must do a load more work over the coming few years.

Other fun news, I have been invited to go for an MRI early next month. In less that two weeks in fact. This should be quite fun and hopefully we will get an idea if my head is planning to explode or not.

My leg also started hurting again last night. I may have overdone it yesterday in terms of long walks and sitting in odd positions at the gym. With the aid of painkillers and my determination to be as lazy as possible I shall do very little today and see how it goes. Back to work tomorrow where I plan to do very little again. Should be fun!

Walkies!

Not the fun puppy-based type of walkies, but just me doing some physio-type exercise. Todays' mileage is around 5 miles with only a wee bit of pain in my hips and foot. This is fairly good. It turns out it didn't take the doctor 7 days to write a letter about my bad leg/back. In fact it only took 1 day and the letter has been sitting there for 6 days. Bloody doctors. At least it is with the vets now and they should be discussing it as I type. Only 1 exam result to go...

I went for a wander to Bruntsfield to investigate prices of bits of computer. I may be upgrading my current PC as it has recently developed a bad habit of dying and eating CDs. It just doesn't give them back unless threatened with a paper-clip. Naughty PC. It's also useful to have a rough guide for when I'm fixing things at home.

There was also a walk last night with a fellow student. She didn't have any resits and passed everything first time. We were discussing the various results we know about and how many people we may be losing. I will be very happy if I get in to 3rd year, but also sad to be missing some great friends.

Yay!

I seem to be having a good couple of days at the moment. Quite a few things seem to have fallen in to place or got sorted that I've been meaning to sort out for a while.

So firstly and most importantly I have received a couple of my exam results and I've passed the resits in Introductory Pathology and Infectious Disease as well as Animal Husbandry. Not great passes, but I reserve the right to be really pleased anyway. Only one more exam result to go - the one with neuro, repro and large animal anatomy. I think that exam went ok, but you can never be too sure. That one is out Friday I think.

I also got the mostly all clear from physio so I am able to return to work as well as start running in a few days. There are a load of exercises to do to maintain the back, and I'm not allowed to lift heavy things or go climbing just yet, but the pain is definitely less. I haven't even taken any painkillers today. More walkies are required to keep things stretched. I've been working up my exercise level over the past few days. Nothing too vigorous so far, but I may head to the other side of the meadows tomorrow. Getting back will be the fun part...

Back Online

The internet has arrived and it is finally all working. The evil sky people who supplied us with a wireless router were rather cunning in hiding the password for the damn thing. I like to play around with settings, allow various programs access to the net and generally mess around to make it harder to break in to. I think we may have succeeded. My enforced rest will not be quite as dull any longer. There are also plans to go swimming. I haven't been swimming for years!

All done

Exams are all over, but instead of being out and about enjoying it, I'm mainly stuck inside due to a bit of back, leg, neck and everything else pain. I'm not allowed to run or climb. And there is no internet. At least there be films to keep me entertained.

Managed to scare my eye doctor today. He looked at my blood work and was slightly worried. Only problem is the bloods were from 11/06. I don't remember having a blood test last year. All is well. Dr. Human is chasing up the MRI now and should give me a call.

Very little else exciting going on. Off to hunt down some food and then go home.

Only 1 to go

Another exam down. Leg sore. Off home.

Broken Again

It's been a strange night, as well as really really painful. The pain started at about 2100 and was located on the inside of my thigh, but only on the left hand side. It was a strange pain, it would build up then release, radiating down my leg. It was bloody sore. The first lot only took about 30 mins to go away so I just assumed I'd been sitting wrong. No such luck.

The pain was back later on in short bursts, but the worst has to be at about midnight when I was woken with it - a very sore area that just built up until I felt like screaming. And repeat every 7 seconds. No sleep is not what I need before an exam. At 0200 there were no signs of relief and so with the advice of someone I called NHS24. And then it stopped. Bloody typical.

Then it started again. I phoned NHS24 again, they told me to take painkillers and go see the doctor in the morning. I think I eventually got 3 hours sleep last night if I was lucky. Went to see my doctor. He thinks I've trapped something and so I need to rest and take many many drugs. Many. Oh and if it happens in an exam I'm to hop around a bit in pain and leave if I need to. And then take drugs.

So here I am at uni trying to hunt down my DoS to inform her of this incident which may affect my exam performance. But she isn't here. So I'm going home to revise.

It Begins

Exams have started again. Just escaped form one, and whilst I think it went OK, I guess I have to wait until the results are released in a few weeks. For now I'm heading home for tea and revision.

Revising

I won't say revision is going well, but it isn't going that badly. It is going which is better than the last time it was meant to happen. Thus I'm inside again. Today it is the turn of sheep husbandry which should be fairly simple given that I've done quite a bit of sheep work over the years.

Yesterday I went for a great run up the seat only to be greeted by hundred of flying ants! Not what you expect to find up there, but it was warm and there was no wind. I can think of worse places to be a flying ant. Only took me 4 minutes to get to the bottom with the flying threat. I may have to pretend they are after me more often.

Today's exercise is walkies with the excellent blogdog who, although not allowed to play stick, enjoys looking at swans and generally being a happy puppy. For now however, it's back to the sheep for me.

Inside

Still no internet at home, so I'm in the uni computer lab at Summerhall. It's a really lovely day outside, the kind that makes me want to go for a run and climb up the seat, instead I'm looking at the husbandry of the domestic bovine. Woo.

I've also heard rumours that the next batch of victims students are here for the GEP course, but I haven't seen them around yet. There is a high probability they will be around Summerhall at least once over the next week.

Quick Post

I'm at work using the internet waiting for people to phone me back, so I have time for a quick post.

First thing, I'm quitting my job for the next couple of weeks. I've found that 11 hour shifts aren't any good for revision and my career is more important. I feel like I'm letting people down, but sometimes you just have to do what you need to.

Second there is still no internet at home thus the lack of posting. Not sure when this will be fixed, but more posts likely in the coming days when I'm in a computer lab revising. Must...do...work....

Third, I'm tired. I've lost count of my tons of stock moved so far. It was around 30 tons by midday on the 2nd day and there's been a lot of moving since. I'm not really that sore, but too tired to go climbing.

Oh and I'm plagued. Stupid cold.

Bored now

And again I'm at work blogging in the wee hours of the day. The main reason for this is that I'm really really bored. There are no intruders and I really doubt there will be after 4am. I may go for a wander but it takes too long to put the various bits of kit on - I may be lazy as well as bored.

So, todays well supplied night bar watcher is dressed in black trousers and an old festival tshirt. On his person he has various bits of kit related (or not) to the general job including a radio (for contacting others around the place), a mobile phone (for contacting everyone else), a leatherman (for fixing or breaking things), a torch (for temporarily blinding the intruders), electrical tape (for the dodgy fan cover), various pens, paper and a whole load of keys. He is highly trained in the art of following intruders from a safe distance and asking them to leave as well as the having ability to call the police without moving the phone.

My mind is wandering again. I blame thinking about butterfat percentages.

Back Again

Well I'm at work again and for a little longer this time. I was at work for 19 hours yesterday (think of the money, think of the money) and something stupid like 20 hours planned today with the joy of keg moving at 7am. Not really the ideal way to spend my morning, but never mind.

Tonight I do have a friend around keeping me company. He is off guarding another section of the building but we are in radio contact and maintaing the perimeter. I could actually do with some company in here because the ice machine is doing its best to scare me to death. First its the rattling of ice that sounds like footsteps. Then the coughing noise as the chiller turns off. Then the random clunking noises it makes for the hell of it. It may be the only thing keeping me awake for the next 3 hours before other people arrive, but I wish it wouldn't. I'm sure it doesn't make these noises during the day.

It really doesn't help that I've taken my glasses off to read and I keep seeing things out of the corner of my eyes. Not actual hallucinations just yet. Maybe soon. The flickering is in single vision, that's how I know it's not real.

Part 6 - Sunny

Its getting light outside. Still a little chilly though, and guess who forgot a coat...

Part 5 - TV

Television is crap at 3am. Even with many many sky channels I couldn't find a channel with sick animals or anything like that. I'm stuck with Star Trek or some nonsense about forensic science. Or football.

Part 4 - Revision

To be honest it isn't going well at all. I expected it to go a little better than this, but I think the past day or so has really taken it out of me and I'm a little tired. And being at work for over 13 hours doesn't really help with the concentration. If I do this again tomorrow I will a) bring more music b) not be in work at midday and c) not forget my pen drive with all my ems forms to type up.

Not long to go I suppose. Might go for another wander around the grounds.

Part 3 - Only 6 hours to go

Still awake, and with my first rounds completed, all is well. Very little going on. Everyone else has left so it's just me and the TV at the moment. Oh and the revision of course.

Part 2 - still here

I'm still here and rather bored. At least I'm still not alone, there are other people about, but I don't know any of them and they are working in a different area. My most exciting duty so far has been giving brooms out and bringing them back in again. Thrilling!

Special report - part 1

Due to a lack of anything else better to do I'm going to blog my evening/night at work. I arrived in today sometime before midday and I don't finish until about 6am. So far I've been sticking toilet roll holders to the wall, climbing the side of building to paint and screwing various bits of metal on to other, less fun buildings.

Now I'm sitting in work alone with nothing but revision and this laptop to keep me company. One of my few tasks throughout the night is to lock some gates and wander around from time to time looking for intruders. Oh and I need to eat apparently.

Why?!

This piece of news caught my eye today, and I'm wondering why I need to know that a 15 year old child may have rabies after being bitten by a bat. He felt dizzy after being bitten - that's called shock. He brother died - quite sad, not relevant. He has had the vaccinations, he has been to hospital. The risk of him catching rabies is so low that I really don't think I care. If he does develop the disease, that's obviously more of a worry. Rant over.

Back to work

It is festival time again, and so it's time for me to get back to work. There is loads to do over the next week before we will be ready for the customers, but I think we will manage. As head stock guy I'm having to find room for all the kegs and bottled beer etc as well as organise all the wine and spirits. Oh and I'm also sent around with the drill to fix many broken things. It's sometimes tough being wanted.

Yesterday the main delivery of stock arrived. In total we moved around 25 tons through the day, with over 15 tons (including 100 kegs) arriving before breakfast. The worst suprise of the day was an order of 5 tons of coke products that was meant to arrive on Thursday, by which time I would have had somewhere to put it. At least it's here now and mostly out of the way and organised.

Now I'm at the vet school trying to do some work and failing somewhat. So much to do and so little time. Back to work.

New Flat

I miss having the internet at home! This will hopefully be fixed by the middle of next week, but I don't know if I will be able to make use of it until I move the rest of my stuff around.

So far there is very little in the way of furniture in the flat. I have no bed so am sleeping on the floor. There is no sofa, although we do have a couple of chairs. Again, everything should be arriving next week. I'm really looking forward to it! Now all that really needs to be done is inform everyone of my new address, particularly as stuff can't be sent home any more. I've done the bank, but I need to sort the phone humans, doctor, dentist, blood-taking people and various other people that I will no doubt forget.

I'm now bored of being underground in a computer lab. I did plan to be in the vet school, but that's closed over the weekend. No fair, it smells better in there.

Head Fixing

Yesterday was the appointment of doom with the lovely people who were going to fix my eyes and head. It started off badly as no one seemed to know where I was meant to be going. Was I an emergency appointment or a referral? Or a regular patient? Turns out I'm an emergency. Nice to be classified like that to my face. Didn't really help the feeling of "Oh shit!". I don't intend to tell my patients they are emergencies unless I know what is wrong with them and are helping them.

Anyway, I was first seen by a nurse who handed me off to a lovely lady to got me to look various ways, asked about the double vision and stuck a prism on my glasses. Only a temp fix and it really makes my eyes sore when I first use it, but better than nothing, at least I can maybe see straight.

Doctor time next, more poking, prodding and shoving. No muscle weakness here! There were a few hundred questions about headaches, eyes, family, etc etc, then a quick look at my retina. This involved stimulating the sympathetic bit of the eye whilst blocking the parasympathetic with eye drops and watching my pupils go HUGE. There were really bright lights shone at me which I really didn't enjoy. Couldn't see straight for ages and my eyes were watering and wanting to close. Then a quick poke of the old eyes to make sure they have feeling, and yes they do. Lots of it.

All this took about 3 hours, and the final verdict is my abductor muscles on my left eye are basically being slow. It could be an old thing decompensating, but no one knows why, so time for more tests. They took 6000 pints* of my blood to look for anything and everything which, considering some of my virus work could be fun. And I have an MRI planned for sometime in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime I'm to go back if my head explodes.

All very exciting, but I feel like I'm no further in guessing why I can't see very well. Still, loads of revision to do, EMS to write up and things to climb.

-------
* This may be a slight exaggeration

Run Away!

The escape begins. Everything is packed and ready, tickets purchased and lift to the station sorted. Yay! Edinburgh here I come.

Good Day

It's all be fairly doom and gloom recently, and I'm bored of that. Today was great though it didn't start off too well. I went to visit old friends.

I was doing some computer work for a friend so was late leaving and had to run for the train. Good to know it takes 6 minutes to run to the station still, even with a big bag and boots. Not great as my time for a mile, but I'll get better. The train was dead on time for a change, I was shocked!

It was 1030 when I arrived at my destination - the vet practice where I've been seeing some practice for about 10 years now. Lots has changed, but there are a few people I know, including the guys who went up the 3 peaks. I had a chat with a few people, then got invited to stay for a bit. There was a plan to get the 1230 train home, but some of the vets were away on calls, so I decided to stick around. A good choice as everyone I wanted to see arrived after lunch, including some surprise guests who I really hadn't expected to see.

We messed around for most of the day doing very little work apart from putting up some shelves in the kennels and looking at an old Labrador. Most of the time was spent drinking tea and catching up. There is one vet who went to Edinburgh as well a few years ago, so we spent a while talking about different lecturers and places in Edinburgh.

I got a lift home afterwards, so no running for me. The weather cleared up too so I could take puppy for a walk. It was great to catch up and reinforce my ties with the practice. I hope to do most of my clinical EMS there, but I'll need to find somewhere to stay.

Leaving Home

When I leave here on Tuesday it will be the last time I am at this house, there will be no more home for me. There hasn't really been home for a few years now, ever since I arrived home to find my bed gone from my rom and having to sleep in the spare room, but now the house itself will be gone. It struck me today as I was walking back from the pub, wandering down a dark lane, not really paying much attention, but knowing where I was going. Usually I am able to wander home from the pub in the village and watch the stars. This will be no more. Can't really go in to any more detail, it's hard to write it down. I'm just sad.

Eyes

On Friday I got a call from the GP in Edinburgh. Apparently the consultant at the eye fixing place has had a look at the letter my GP sent over a month ago and would like to see me rather urgently. At the same time as I was talking to these people I had a call from the eye humans saying exactly the same thing.

They were wondering when I was going back to Edinburgh. I replied I would be back Tuesday and am now the proud owner of an appointment early on Wednesday morning. I'm still getting the same symptoms - double vision, few headaches - but nothing new. The lady on the phone sounded worried though. I may be screwed. On the plus side I won't have to take my resits!

EMS Is No More

My time with the horses has come to an end, and I was suprisingly sad to leave. It was like saying goodbye to a bunch of new friends I had grown to know over the past few weeks, each with their different traits and personalities. I'm probably not meant to pick a favourite, but it would be a close call between Holly and Merlin.

Merlin would be nearly the ideal horse to learn to ride on, and he was the best to practice various bits and pieces on as he was very laid back. I honestly think I could have started operating on him and he wouldn't have cared. He'd just look on with his big brown eyes and droopy lip, then go back to munching his bed.

Holly was more of a character than Merlin - if she didn't like what you were doing she would misbehave. Not badly i.e. kicking, rearing, but she would move around, lift her head to stop you putting the bridle on, that kind of thing. She has a devious streak which I found out when I was sent to worm her.

All of the horses were great, the puppies at the place were great and the people I was working with were great. They spent a lot of time explaining things to me that would have been very useful for the horse practical exam. Ah well.

Puppies!

These little puppies are very very cute. I wonder if I can lie about my age and enter the competition to play with them for a day...

Wasp

I just got chomped by an evil bastard wasp. I'm not entirely sure how it managed to infiltrate my trousers without detection, but somehow it got up there and had time to sting before it was hit. I then dropped a phone book on it as it lay on the floor. Revenge is sweet.

Weekend

First week of evil horses done, and so far they don't seem to be that bad. I think I must just be lucky and be dealing with decent example of the species. I'm learning lots about their husbandry though, which is the point of the exercise. I just wish I'd been there before the practical handling exam. May have been useful.

Today I managed to get away for a couple of hours climbing at the local leisure centre. Well, I say climbing, but really I was only bouldering due to a lack of other people who could belay for me. The walls look fairly simple, but I'm getting bored being stuck around ground level all the time. Maybe I shall stand outside with a sign tomorrow. Today was nice and sunny as well, so I decided to walk back home. Only about 3 miles, but it took me an hour with the diversion for ice cream. I hadn't had a cornetto in years!

Stage 4 - Man Down!

During the trip back to Wales it became pretty clear that I was in no fit state to carry on with the challenge. Between us we guessed that I was suffering from dehydration, exhaustion and a pinch of hypothermia added in just for fun. Luckily there were 3 vets to look after me. The decision was made to leave me behind.

In retrospect its pretty obvious that this was a good plan. The weather up Snowdon was terrible with poor visability and the aches and pains of two others mountains dragging the group down, although they made it in the end.

For my part, I arrived home at 0500 Sunday morning, said hello to the dog, and then went straight to bed. There was the sensation of being dehydrated for a couple of days with my body not being happy with lots of liquids at once. I started the horse EMS on Monday, staggering in to the place, hardly able to walk due to general bad legs and hips. Everything seems to be fixed, except for a few huge bruises on my legs where I fell in the river.

All over now. I'm upset that I didn't make it up the last peak, but it was the most sensible option. Maybe next year.

Photos!

Managed to retrieve some pics from the trip, but only Ben Nevis so far. Other people are sending me photos but I don't really expect them to look at all decent after the bad weather. I shall upload soon. They are on facebook anyway.

Stage 3 - Scafell Pike

The trip to Scafell took a little longer than we expected, although I'm pretty sure I was asleep for at least a small portion of the journey. It's really difficult to sleep with your neck at a 90 degree angle.

When we arrived at 2000 there were a few other people around that we recognised from Ben Nevis so we all set off together in the rain. The first major problem we encountered was a river crossing. The rain had been torrential all week, so this river was pretty fast and swollen. We all crossed without much trouble, but it wouldn't be fun in the dark on the way back.

Climbing the next section I was having real problems with my legs and hips which even the stupid amounts of ibuprofen couldn't hold away. The ground wasn't too rough or particularly steep compared to Ben Nevis, but I was in trouble. The rest of the team had also slowed down somewhat so I was able to keep up and make it to the next rest station. By this time we had climbing 800 meters and the weather was closing in, as was the night. We followed the lights of people coming back down to guide us to the summit, all the while telling really really bad jokes to keep us entertained. For example:

"There are 10 cows in a field, which is closest to Iraq?"
"Coo eight" *works better with a Scottish accent*
OR
"Two cows in a field, which one has foot-and-mouth disease?"
"The one that's on fire"

We got to the top in basically darkness with a visability level of around 3 meters. A couple of quick photos of the GPS and it was time to get off the hill. We had to follow each other off the hill following the really bad track with torches and the GPS to guide us down. I honestly believe that without the GPS it wouldn't have been possible to descend as quickly and safely as we did.

By the end of the climb we had the river corssing left, and I was a mess. Basically I had overexerted myself by not eating much all day, combined with the hassle of getting off the hill and dodgy hips. Consequently I fell in the river and got soaked. Luckily I had a good grip on a rock and didn't fly off downstream.

Arriving back at the car we couldn't help but notice the arrival of mountain rescue and an ambulance, probably for the people who we had passed still making the ascent in the night as we were heading down. If they didn't have GPS they could have easily got in trouble. We packed up and got ready for the trip to Wales. I felt really ill, but couldn't figure out why. The options were numerous! Half a mile in to the trip I was quite sick at the roadside. That over and done with, back off to Wales, and more sleep.

Final bit tomorrow!

Stage 2 - Ben Nevis

We arrived at Fort William around 0915, touched the water, then quickly drove to the base of Ben Nevis. I say quickly, but that doesn't include the roundabout near Morrisons that was so fun we had to go around three times. The car park at Ben Nevis is about 36m above sea level. The summit is 1344m above sea level. We were in for a big climb.

We started off fairly fast, passing all the other people on the track, but after 15 minutes of walking up rocky steps I was wishing I'd packed less. That said we were moving quickly and got up the first 500m of elevation in about 30 minutes. A couple of brief rests and 90 minutes later we were nearing the top. The summit itself looks like something from the moon - there is no greenery to be seen, just rocks. And snow. And more rocks. It was bloody windy up there too! A few photos followed to prove we got to the top, then the descent.

After flagging on the final section of the ascent I was determined not to slow everyone down on the decent so took the lead and basically ran down the scree slope. The weather continued to hold all the way down to the base, with our grand total from touching the water being 4.45, time for peak 1 - 4.30. Not bad. I went in search of ice cream in the Ben Nevis cafe thingy but couldn't find any. I was less than impressed, but by this time I couldn't feel my right foot, so decided running in to town wasn't the best plan for a cornetto. We piled in to the car and started off for Scafell Pike. According to the GPS, our ETA was 2000. Climbing in the dark isn't fun, descending is less fun.

Annnnnnnd more tomorrow!

Stage 1

The 3 peaks challenge is over for this year. After a busy day of moving everything to the new flat and tidying, I was collected by the rest of the team (Al, Barbera and JP) with all my kit and we headed off to the hotel somewhere near Loch Lomond. The hotel was ok, except they had lost our booking (apparently the website doesn't work or some other nonsense) so after a bit of complaining we headed to the bar. First we sat outside, then near the door, then inside, gradually moving further and further away from the damn midges. With breakfast planned for 0700 we retired to bed.

We awoke at 0645 for a quick wash with no illusions about staying clean over the next day, then headed off to find breakfast. 0700, no sign of life. 0715, no sign of life. At 0730 we finally got some food, already 30 minutes late in leaving. Then it was back in the car for another few hours to Fort William.

More later....

Nearly Away

This is my last post from my current flat as tomorrow we move. I need to pack up my computer along with a few more clothes for the trip. There are still bits and pieces, but for the most part it's done. All that's left is the cleaning. Anyone free tomorrow is more than welcome to help out! :D

Oh I also finished my chicken EMS today. I've learned a lot as the farm is organic and things are rather complicated. The people were great which always makes things easier. Horses next week in Wales. Evil creatures.

Chickens and Packing

This week I'm working with chickens in Peebles as part of my EMS. I'm not entirely sure why we have to work with poultry as there seems to be very little need for veterinary intervention. If an animal is ill it is culled, but more usually they are found dead. Most of my time is spent sorting eggs. That said we are at a lovely farm with great people. The chickens are free range and seem to be rather happy.

The evening are spent packing and revising, or they should be anyway. So far there has been very little of either, except for tonight where some packing has occured. I am moving on Friday around midday, so that's the cut-off time for everything to be sorted. After that I just(!) have to clean my room. So far I have mess everywhere, loosely arranged in piles that want to come home with me and piles that are staying here but need to move house. Very complicated, and it really gets in the way of climbing.

Organisation

It's time to get organised for the trip up the 3 peaks as well as moving house. I'm having to make lists of various things including what to pack and when. So far I've got most of the kit I need, first aid kit, emergency bothy, water bottle and, most importantly, a LOT of Kendal Mint Cake. I need to sort out what goes in to which bag now. Busy busy. I may make more sense later. Possibly.

Walkies Mk2

This time I was puppy-less though. Just went for a walk in the rain to find beer minus any waterproofs. Its a warm evening so tshirt suited me just fine. Getting wet is the least of my worries right now and it brings back fun memories. Walking under trees in a forest, listening to the rain on the leaves. Sitting with 4 friends in a tent up a mountain in Wales in the middle of a rain storm. Walking the dog late on a rainy night, noone else around. Sitting in a car as a child watching the patterns on the windscreen.

And as Tsunetomo Yamamoto once said "As long as you accept that you will get wet, you will not suffer from being wet".

Still Here

Well it turns out that the evil providers of the broadband of joy, Tiscali, have decided not to cut us off this week after all. I am most pleased. It saves a lot of walking to uni computer labs.

Date tonight didn't go well. It's now pretty clear human female isn't interested, but I'm not giving up on the entire human race just yet. There will be others hopefully.

I'm meant to be climbing in 8 hours, but I really don't think I can be bothered, I need a lie in. For some strange reason I've been waking up at random early times, usually based around 5am, all week. This means that sometimes I've had just 3 hours sleep. Other times, 5 hours. Maybe tonight.

Or not...

Turns out I haven't lost the ability to internet at home just yet. Which is good. I think I rely on this device too much. Might have to read a newspaper instead for the next few weeks.

Tomorrow evening there may be date mk2. Ceilidh dancing here in Edinburgh, but this time I'm taking backup in order to prevent awkward lapses in conversation. I do plan to be dancing most of the time though. I will have to remember to take notes and blog about it at the next chance I get. Sleep time now though.

Piggy!

As you may have guessed this week I'm working with pigs here in Edinburgh and, as with most of my EMS, I'm really enjoying it. The people I'm working with have had students before and are really helpful, as well as being grateful for the assistance we offer. I'm learning loads!

The only downside is that I smell. After a day on the farm I really stink, even though I mainly can't smell it by now. Time for a shower methinks.

Oh a more sad note I'll be without internet until the start of July unless I can be bothered to walk to the uni labs, which is highly unlikely. In that time I will hopefully be doing a week of poultry EMS and getting my eyes fixed, as well as the 3 peaks challenge. Busy busy!

Rainy Day

It's been a little soggy today, so I haven't really been out too much. We went climbing for a few hours at Alien Rock, but apart from that it has been a lazy inside book-reading day. I don't really mind days like this - it isn't too wet to go out, nor too cold and the wind is refreshing.

In other news Human Female is still replying to my text messages although I may need to phone her and/or go visit her at work. Maybe arrange a pub trip. I'm unsure of the protocol to follow. Eyes are still semi-functional. I visited my doctor and said I hadn't had my appointment through the post yet, but it turns out she only sent the letter 4 days after I went to see her!

In more fun news I have a flat for next year now. All I need to do is pass my resit exams.

More Work

I have been to work today here in Edinburgh at the bar where I work term time and during the festival helping out with the plans for festival-ness. So far I've destroyed:

• 1 fire escape
• 6 desks
• 3 chairs
• 1 theatre (only the seating)
• various doors, fittings and filing cabinets

This isn't too bad, although it has ruined my nails. There goes my hopes of becoming a hand model. Oh well.

Swinging a sledgehammer is fun, especially if you are never quite sure if you are going to hit what you are aiming for. I managed to miss a big upright post of 6x4 today. Now for some reason everyone runs when I'm wandering about with a hammer. Can't think why.

Training

I've had all sorts of training in my life. I've been trained to work with animals. I've been trained to handle casualties, both human and animal. I've been trained how to handle firearms. I've been trained how to care for viruses. I've been trained how to move heavy stuff. I've been trained how to run. I've been trained how to throw. I've been trained how to dive. I've been trained to do bar work. I've even had some communication skills training

What my training so far lacks is how to deal with human females. I'm sorry to those of you that are them, but to be honest, you are weird. I have endured a date. It did not go well. I couldn't speak my mind for I had no mind. I couldn't express my feelings in any way, shape or form. I was reduced to a fact spurting mess. And not even fun stuff like it is possible to exanguinate a human in 5.6 seconds, but it takes longer in a cow (I blame the internal carotids). Nooooo. That would have been far too sensible. Instead questions on family, work, travel etc. I could not say "I'm sorry I have no intelligent conversation, but I find you attractive. If you would consider dating me you will find I'm not a gibbering wreck. Honest!*". I couldn't even express my "fun" insanity. It probably didn't help that I saw two of her.

I hate my brain. And my lack of training. Now how am I meant to know if she hates me or not? Bloody humans.

* I wouldn't really say this. I hope.

Walkies!

I've had a great day! It was great to be outside on a day like this. I was in work, but I had time off to walk a friend's dog. We only went for a short walk, but I had missed the whole walkies thing. Meeting other people, stopping to investigate a bit of grass, bit of a run. It was slightly spoiled by having my work kit on and a lack of shorts - I have to say I got a little sweaty from the heavy rucksac, but overall it was great to be in the sun, especially with a puppy.

Unfortunatly it was all over too quickly and then back to work. I was however outside in the sun. I may have got a little sunburnt :-(

Depth Perception

It's a strange thing to be lacking. I've mainly noticed my eyes acting up with double vision these days, but today at climbing my main issue was with depth perception. I couldn't really see where the floor was, so landing after a climb was difficult. I was dropped a couple of times when I thought I was 10cm off the ground and was actually only 1. There were also problems making footholds. For some reason the handholds were mainly ok though. Most odd.

Vision

Last week I visited the optician for the first time in a few years. OK, it was 4 years since my last checkup. There were plans to get this done when I was back home, but that never really works.

During the testing I happened to mention I was getting some double vision and at times I have no depth perception. I mainly noticed this at work when trying to take money off people, or when attempting to thread a needle. The lovely optician lady figured out there is something wrong with my eyes. Apparently I don't use my left eye as much as I should and when I do it has the nasty habit of displacing in a medial and ventral direction, and this isn't good. The optician then asked if I was having any headaches, blurred vision, muscle weakness or any other sensory defecits. The answer to all these: no.

Next step was the head to my GP to get an appointment with an opthalmologist in the near future. I'm always scared when the university health service does anything efficiently, and this time I was seen in about an hour. After more questions about headaches etc I was sent on my way and told to expect an appointment for the opthalmologist in 2-4 weeks. And to come back if I have any headaches. Straight away.

As part of my neuro course we worked at localising lesions, and were told that the eye is a great place to notice something is wrong. Not that I'm too concerned yet. We shall see what the hospital type humans have to say. If they don't have a clue I'll go bother my neuro lecturer.

Results

Some of my results are out - turns out I have failed Introductory Pathology and Infectious Disease :( It's rather embarrasing considering my previous degree was in microbiology and infection. It's also rather annoying as I have to resit over the summer. There's only 1 thing for it, I'll have to start revising now. I guess it means the practical exam didn't go too well after all.

Cows go....

moo! I like cows. They are peacful beasts, and more importantly they have never tried to kill me on purpose, just accidently.

EMS

So exams are finally over, and with nothing left bust 7 weeks of EMS to complete before I am finished for the year I am having a lazy day. On the go again next week.

EMS stands for extra-mural studies. It is a course requirement for animal husbandry that we visit various places and gain experience in handling all sorts of animals. I think the current requirement at Edinburgh is 12 weeks including:

• 2 weeks sheep (including 1 week lambing)
• 2 weeks cattle
• 2 weeks horses
• 1 week pigs
• 1 week poultry
• 1 week dog and cat
• 1 week small mammal
• 2 weeks free choice

So far I've spent time with sheep, dogs and cats and small mammals with the rest planned for the next few weeks. The idea is that we are on farms or similar places learning how to care for the animals, what they eat, any routines they have during the year etc etc. My best experience so far was working with small mammals at Edinburgh Zoo, as well as getting some experience in with more exotic species. It's a great idea, and I really look forward to my next few weeks.

Climbing

Climbing was great, although I may have pushed it a little too hard. My wrist still isn't fixed from bowling, but it'll be better soon. I also managed to over-exert my digital flexors if there is such a thing in the human body. On the plus side I got up a few 6a graded climbs with no trouble as well as a difficult overhang and some blob style climbs. There isn't a lot of time to train in the next few weeks, but I'll be there when I can.

So for the rest of the night I'm going to a friend's house party for a couple of hours, and then I may go to another pub, but the DVD and a beer at home is looking so much nicer right now.

Oh and I also just tried to put the kettle in a kitchen cupboard when making tea. Silly. Very silly.

Finished!

All done! I'm very happy it's over and now I plan to relax by climbing and visiting friends tonight. For the next 30 minutes however I'm going to sit and vegitate.

Running

I just signed up to do the Great North Run in September for the Guide Dogs. I must be mad.

Bowling

I just went bowling as a bit of a break from revision and managed to screw up my wrist. It now hurts when I move it and makes some lovely crunching sounds. Bugger. Come to me tubigrip!

More Revision

Nearly there! Only 1 exam to go then it's summer time. Woo! Now I just have to concentrate on reproduction, neurology and large animal anatomy.

The last exam on Friday was evil. It was the spot exam from the course Introductory Pathology and Infectious Disease - kind of a practical exam where there are various stations with things relevant to the course. We were told there would mainly be parasitology questions, for example there would be a station with a microscope and a parasite such as:

An Ixodes tick

With questions like "What is this?" and "What is it a vector for" expected. We were also told there would be a few bacteriology and virology questions, but no more than a couple of each. Turns out most of the exam was bacteriology, which I hadn't revised too much. Many people, including myself, were put off our step by this. Not impressed. It was difficult enough without losing the memory of all those bacteria names. Staphylococcus equi was on the tip of my frontal lobes so many times.

At least it's over now. Until the resit. Hopefully there will be exam results soon and I can find out exactly how badly it went

Happy Birthday

Yes I have survived another year. Strange to think this time last year I had finished my exams and my degree and was basking in the rain. Or I think I was building a garage.

This year is less fun. I have managed to pick up a cold and have exams. Not amused.

3 Peaks

During my last visit to Wales I was asked by the vets I was working with if I would like to join them on the 3 peaks challenge this year. I decided this sounded like fun and I've always wanted to try it. I got a call last week asking if I was still up for it.

It's not going to be easy, especially given my week of work previously and the travel involved, but it does mean I get free transport home! We are planning to do this on June 30th. I'm working on a chicken farm until June 29th. And I need to move house.

The plan so far:

• Monday 25th - Start chicken work. Also start to tidy flat and get ready to move out.
• Thursday 28th - Finish moving things out of the flat. This could be an issue as I don't have anywhere else to live yet. Or anywhere to store stuff. I shall sleep in a sleeping bag tonight.
• Friday 29th - Go to work. Get back home around 1800. Eat. Finish cleaning. Change kit load from smelly boiler suit to many thin layers. Load up with mars bars. The Welsh team are possibly coming to find me around midnight.
• Saturday 30th - 0400. Start climbing Ben Nevis.
• Saturday 30th - 0900. Get off Ben Nevis and drive south. Sleep in the car.
  
• Saturday 30th - Unknown. Climb Scarfell Pike. Drive south and west. Sleep in the car.
• Saturday 30th - Late. Climb Snowdon.
• Saturday 30th - No later than 2300. Get off Snowdon. Get in to pub. Sleep in the car.
• Sunday 1st - Die.
• Monday 2nd - Start 3 weeks work with horses.

We shall see. Updates as and when I get more organised. The big thing is finding somewhere to store my stuff and somewhere to live. If all else fails I can store bits of kit in various locations around Edinburgh. Going to be a pain to get it back though.

Resit

Had the horse husbandry resit today, and I think it went rather well. I had to deal with the external examiner and an annoyed horse in the rain, but I'm getting a good feeling. If I had failed I will not be happy. The resit was much harder than the first time around, there were many questions on horses and bits of horse, as well as diets, bedding etc. We shall see.

Shambo

I've been reading over the past few days about a bull in South Wales which has tested positive for TB. Usually these animals are slaughtered in order to prevent the spread of disease. The animal in this case, Shambo, belongs to a a Hindu group who believe he is sacred and refuse to let him be put down. To me this is rather a silly idea. This bull is a resevoir for disease and could potentially infect others. Animal welfare is extremely important, but some people just take it too far.

Parasites

My next challenge, apart from evil equids, is parasitology. It's been a while since I last looked over this stuff, but most of it seems to be in my brain somewhere. Revision seems to be working in this case, now I just need to get on with it. Today was mites, fleas and ticks. Fairly easy stuff to remember, these parasites are pretty boring apart from the diseases they can transmit. Lyme's disease, Yersinia pestis, tapeworms etc etc. All great fun.

After parasites comes viruses and bacteria. I may have the upper hand in these exams though. More about that at a later date. Then finally on May 31st comes "Body System 2" with the joy and excitement that is reproduction, large animal anatomy, neurology and something else I've possibly forgotten. This is possibly not the best of starts.

Work

I have escaped work, yay! I am a member of the bar staff (some say senior bar staff) here in Edinburgh. It's a really fun job. We pride ourselves on being the best of the chain of pubs in the area. Where other bars have 4 bar staff on, we have 2. We do not only work bar, we cook food, tend to the building, be security for the building and other things besides. To put it blunty we are great. We do however finish earlier than the other pubs so we do get a chance at going out for a pint. For 2 years now we have been saying we would visit other pubs post-shift. Tonight it happened. It was fun but tiring. I'm due back in a few hours and am mildly inebriated. Whoops!

Horses

Today was the horse revision session before the practical exam next week. There is so much stuff to remember! We spent over an hour going through various bits and pieces ranging from breeds to aging by teeth to bedding and feeding. I'm feeling more confident about this resit and I'm beginning to feel more comfortable around horses in general, although they are still evil evil creatures, unlike turtles. We like turtles.

Climbing!

I finally got to go climbing today and really really enjoyed it. Managed a few 6a's and even a 6b which is bloody amazing considering how sore I was from my run last night. I got slightly bored and ran up the Crags here in Edinburgh, then around various other bits before struggling up a big bloody hill into a pub. It was great fun!

It's not all fun though. I spend some hours today looking over some neuro stuff. I also need to revise reproduction. And arrange EMS for horses and check on the chicken EMS I have planned. So much to do and almost no time.

Work

I just finished work for the night. I'm back again in a few hours too. Yay! It was fairly busy, but not too bad. My crazy colleagues made it all fine for me. I'm now watching Eddie Izzard and slowing down post-work and pre-bed. It may only leave me with 4 hours sleep, but thats all I need. Although I do hope to climb tomorrow after work. We shall see.

Results

Results from the practical exams from last week are out already. I managed to pass everything (sheep, cattle, cat & dog, and exotics) except for horses. I pretty much knew I had failed horses due to some very silly mistakes. This next week we are learning neurology so not much time to practice before the resit. I may have to hunt horses to play with over the weekend.

All done

Finished for now. Today was my large animal anatomy oral exam, and it went suprisingly ok. I was shocked to realise that I do actually know some anatomy, especially concerning the abdomen. I'm not so hot on my cranial nerves, but we have neurology lectures starting next week.

I'm not too sure what to do with myself now. I was fairly near the start of the orals, so most people I know haven't finished yet. It's too early to have a celebratory pint, and I can't go climbing as no partner. I'm just going to sit in and watch All Creatures Great And Small I think.

Weekend

I'm wondering where the time goes. Last thing I knew I'd finished an exam and was looking forward to a few hours of being lazy before work. Now it's Sunday night and I'm no closer to knowing anything for the exam on Tuesday than I was previously.

Friday night was busy. Saturday day was empty until the last hour. Saturday night was mainly spent at work drinking, although I did accomplish some odd jobs that had been needing to be done. And now its Sunday. I have worked for 4 hours, done some revision, but nothing that really defines a day. I did spend about an hour on the phone to my Mum trying to explain how to fit a new power supply in to her PC. I also found out my Dad is engaged. Not too sure what's going on there.

Strange weekend. Dare I say I look forward to the week? I think this exam will be OK, it just depends on the examiner. Some seem to take delight in tripping people up and have warned us they will "take us apart" if we don't know our stuff. Others are much nicer and will offer useful advice. Either way it's only 15 minutes. I can do this. Then maybe some climbing to relax. Alien Rock here I come!

Its over

Finished! For this week anyway. Written exam wasn't too bad, I could answer some of the questions and I didn't have to resort to the backup plans of writing in a foreign language or running out screaming and not stop til I reached the borders or the batteries on my iPod died.

Now I am going to enjoy the rest of my day. When I say the rest of the day, I mean up until 1800 when I have to deal with idiots wishing to drink themselves stupid. Which doesn't take long. On the plus side it gives me time to plan my assault on the seagulls. Evil creatures were barking at 6 this morning. This must stop. They are now gathering in a herd around the bins. Maybe some form of net and an angry ferret. Hmmm...

Revising

Revision is over for tonight. I should probably do more, but I can't see anything else going in to my brain tonight. I'm just wondering why I'm finding this so difficult. I can remember loads of other irrelevent stuff like the train timetable at home from 3 years ago, or my last 5 postcodes, but nutrition doesn't like me. Or I don't like it. I think it's possibly due to having 5 practical exams in 4 days, a written exam and the added bonus of another oral exam next week. So many different species, so little time.

Practicals Done

Part one of the tortue is over, now for part 2 - the written exam. Today went ok for the most part. The horse exam was predictably evil with stupid horses doing stupid things and me also doing stupid things like forgetting how to age a stupid horse by its teeth. Follow? Good.

Exotics was slightly better. Loads of different animals to play with, but I had a total mind blank when asked what an iguana was. I managed to recover and figure out what a rabbit was, hold it, sex it etc. I even managed to hold a ferret properly and discuss their silly hormonal system which tries to kill them when they don't have sex.

Tomorrow is the written exam. I know nothing for the written exam. I've tried to learn, but it's really not going in. Looked over a past paper and nothing! Doomed. Doesn't help that I'm rather tired - apparently I can no longer cope without proper sleep for 2 days. Ah well. Back to the joys of animal nutrition. It'll all be over by 1200 tomorrow, then I only have to revise for the exam next week. Oh and work all weekend. Yay!

Soggy

Today was some practical exams out at Easter Bush. Some of them were running late so there was a lot of standing around. In the rain. For 20 minutes. I got soggy. Made handling sheeps all the more fun though.

On the down side I think I may have failed. I had a complete brain fart when it came to breeds and pretty much couldn't remember anything. I got a few of the sheep right, but not many of the cattle. On the plus side my handling was ok, and I got most of the feed rights. We shall see.

Tomorrow more exams. Exotics and horses. I hate horses.

1st post!

An exciting first post! Or perhaps not. A little about me first. I'm a vet student at Edinburgh as the name suggests. I won't be posting my name on here for various reasons. I also won't be posting my year as there aren't that many of us, but I'm sure you can guess. I'm actually still debating whether this is a good idea or not. We shall see.

More info as the days go on. It may be a little slow at first as it is exam time. The usual disclaimers apply. These are my ramblings and in no way represent the views of The University of Edinburgh or the Royal (Dick) Vet School.