On Call (again)

Looks like I am going to be on call on Christmas eve after all. We start work at midday and hopefully finish at 9am Christmas day.

Hope everyone has a nice day! Look after your pets.

Cat Castrate

Today marked my return to small animal surgery. It went poorly.

Thomas probably had no idea what his owners planned when they stuck him in a basket this morning. A young healthy male cat, he had no reason to be concerned.

He arrived at the vet surgery - probably not the best way to spend the day, but how bad could it get?

Little did he know he was about to be handed to....the vet student.

It all went well to begin with. He was examined (again) and weighed, then stuck with some magic sleepy drugs. Ketamine! Woo!

After a bit of preparation the nasty vet student dived in. He had performed this operation quite a few times and was fairly confident, except this time it wasn't to go quite a smoothly. Thomas wasn't built like other cats and the normal anatomy didn't quite appear as it should.

Some swearing later the nasty vet student gave up trying to figure out what was going on and asked for help. He placed a ligature on an offending blood vessel and snipped.

The ligature slipped.

The vet student's blood pressure spiked and the swearing returned. Luckily for Thomas so did the hero of this tale, our vet, who placed another, better ligature. This stopped the bleeding and made Thomas much more comfortable.

The nasty vet student has learned from this day. The most important thing is to never take anything for granted, even the anatomy we have learned from day 1.

But the most difficult lesson is that these things happen, and will probably happen again, even with the most simple of operations.

Thomas survived almost intact, with the lack of testicles as his only lasting mark.

Day 1

Day 1 of EMS and I'm already exhausted! Here are some highlights from the past 24 hours, bearing in mind I have had maybe 8 hours sleep in the past 5 days.

Thursday
1800 - Arrive back in Wales. Say hi to parents
1830 - Get call out to see a sick cat. Say goodbye to parents
2000 - Walk the puppy around the park in between cat watching

Friday
0100 - Visit sick cat again and give it lovely painkillers. And some food. Cat has had an ENORMOUS abscess under its chin that has burst. We debrided bits away ("What's that pulsing thing?" "Carotid artery" "Oh......shit") and thus cat is feeling very sorry for itself.
0200 - Dog still barking outside. I'm still awake.
0630 - Phone!

The rest of the day blurs in to one big mess, but I've done loads of consultations, vaccinated a whole flock of puppies, observed a caesar and cared for 8 puppies, killed a dog*, took blood from a cat, been pissed on twice, killed another dog*, nursed sick cat.

Lunch consisted of a bread roll between killing dog 2 and walking puppy at 3pm.

It's been a really long day week. And I still love it.
Except the killing things, they were quite sad!

---

* - These were euthanasia cases that came in to be put to sleep, I didn't screw up and accidently kill anything. Yet.

Panic

The panic phase has come early this year, mainly due to the sheer volume of work I'm trying to cram in to my small and feeble brain. Still haven't covered pigs or any of the state veterinary medicine stuff, and not long to go.

I suppose it could be worse though - the final years have a synoptic exam tomorrow morning and have been given no time to revise for it. Then they are back to rotations in the afternoon! It's a wonder we don't have more people go crazy.

Back to sheep lameness!

Procrastination

I'm procrastinating again. So far this week I've spent 3 hours climbing, gone for a run or three, a couple of pub quizzes and just generally not done as much work as I should have. And it's great!

In just under a week I will have finished with exams and should be packing to head back to see more clinical EMS in Wales. Can't wait!

Not Alone

Glad it's not just me having exam stress. A few of my friends are entering exam hibernation where they won't see the outside world for a few days at a time and mainly survive off caffeine and biscuits. It's not healthy! It may be an interesting study to monitor the cortisol levels of students around exam time to look at levels of stress, I'm betting they are fairly high.

Had a lovely chat with a friend from Wales about the scary prospect of having completed the farm animal and cat and dog courses. Apparently we learn loads more in final year, which can only be a good thing!

Sheep revision now. Good luck to everyone else revising.

Realisation

Today it became apparent the amount of work that I have to learn over the next week or so. There is a scary chunk! In a few days I will be examined on sheep, cattle, pigs, goats, birds and fish.

I'd just like to take this opportunity to say "AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Exam stress.

Even more scary is the thought that after that I'm apparently able to treat these species. Definitely worrying for all involved.

Organised

I'm all sorted for Christmas for a change! Trains are booked, EMS placement knows I'm coming and what time. I have somewhere to stay. I even have 2 Christmas dinners sorted :D

Even more worrying is that I'm also getting through the revision weeks before the actual exam. This is practically unheard of, although in 3 weeks I will have just finished the exam on all the farm animal species - cow, sheep, goat, llama, bird, fish, pig all in one lovely block. As with the cat and dog course I'm mildly terrified that my entire education for cattle has been and gone, now I just need to practice things I've learned in the field with someone very competent standing over my shoulder.

Oh and tomorrow I get to borrow BD for a bit, so there may be fun photos of our adventures if camera battery doesn't give up again.

Morphine Mk2

Well turns out I was mostly making it up. A quick email to a nice ambulance bloke informed me that it's used in humans with GI conditions, and apparently used in vet circles too. It does stop gut motility in case anyone was wondering. And may cause vomiting which raises intra-cranial pressure. And cow's don't have opioid receptors in the their spinal cords. But apart from that it's all fun and shiny!

Now I have to find something else to do. Possibly revise for the exams in 4 weeks. Bugger.

Morphine

I'm possibly going crazy, but I'm sure I've read somewhere that morphine is contra-indicated in cases of gastro-intestinal or abdominal trauma. The only problem is I can't remember which species! Any ideas are welcome before I lose the plot completely.

Bad Day

Yesterday was particularly poor. Everything I did seemed to go fairly wrong at uni, although I managed to actually do some work for a change.

First we had an anaesthesia tutorial when we work in groups to sort out a problem - in this case how to assess and fix a cat post-RTA. Some members of the group were being a little difficult (to be generous) and we weren't given enough information to formulate the best plan. Even so it wasn't the best work I've done and was a little demoralising after I was eventually starting to feel like I knew stuff.

In the afternoon there was a farm animal practical where again I basically knew nothing. I wasn't alone in feeling this. It wasn't helped by having a large group and again similar group members to the tutorial.

I'm getting less and less tolerant of people these days. It could be that I haven't done any decent exercise for over 2 weeks now. It could also be that we are getting closer to final year and I realise some people could have an attitude detrimental to the group. Especially when they argue with the clinicians who probably know better than we do.

First Aid

This term I started working with the uni Red Cross group for many different reasons. I'm hoping that some of the techniques and training will be relevant for vet work, giving me a different perspective on emergency medicine.

Last night I was out on duty on the Royal Mile for the Samhein parade. It was a simple case of following the parade being prepared for any injuries that might occur. The biggest risk was from hypothermia, it was freezing! It was an enjoyable evening despite the temperature, I'll definitely do it again. My foot isn't too impressed however and I'm having to spend today and tomorrow resting it before another busy week begins.

House (Ar)Rest

I'd been having pain in my foot whilst running and climbing recently, but just ignored it thinking I'd twisted or bruised something. After it didn't improve I was coerced in to visiting the doctor by my flatmates. I was told I have tendonitis and the possibility of a stress fracture in the foot and need to rest it for a month! And take lots of anti-inflammatories. I made the mistake of telling my flatmates this and now I'm a bit stuck resting up at home getting very very bored.

The plan is to not do any running, climbing, cycling for at least a month as well as limited walking and standing about. This plan makes practical classes a bit more than tricky, and could very well lead to me going completely insane.

2 days down. 28 to go.

New Project

I previously discovered that not many vets and vet students are very computer literate. As I fit in to both categories I've been asked to work on a project to develop some new software to help us keep better records. At the moment everything is in the completely basic prototype stage, but things are looking OK. It's been a productive day.

Why I Don't Eat Kebabs

Many many reasons, but this is the best I've heard for a while

Reflection

Part of the vet course now is to maintain a professional portfolio about our work and to reflect on feedback we obtain, how we cope with group work etc. This is compulsory, and it seems to be a rather large waste of time at the moment.

There are numerous bits of paper we have to sign and keep in the portfolio. Failure to do so results in us failing the year. I've spent the better part of a day trying to track down these bits of paper and reflection forms that I must get printed out and stuck in the file. It is something apparently a prospective employer will ask to see, although some it is a private that we don't have to show anyone. Maybe. The rules are unclear here. It seems to be a rush job with not many people knowing what's going on!

At the moment it seems like paperwork for the sake of it - I doubt any employer will care that I signed my health and safety document in 3rd year of university. Do they have a right to see my EMS reports and forms? What if I don't get on with the placement supervisor?

I can think of better things to be doing with my time.

Stuck In

Edinburgh is beautiful today. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and the air is crisp. I'd love to be able to go for a run in the park, or climb up the seat, or even go for a long walk, but unfortunately I'm stuck inside being good and resting my foot. This is suboptimal on days like these!

I might go crazy in the next few weeks. Not that it'll stop me climbing on Friday because we've been planning this for ages.

Ooops!

Well I've gone and lost some notes. They aren't very important, but it would be nice to have them still to refresh my memory. I'm sure I put them somewhere safe!

One thing however is certain - I will find them the moment I've written up this case.

Exams And Rectal Palpation

Seems an odd way to start a new year doesn't it? I was somewhat surprised myself!

After a couple of busy days things are starting to become more settled with a couple of hours of free time to relax. Tuesday was especially long seeing me leave the flat at 8am and not getting back until 11pm. I had the rectal palpation class in the morning and then an equine clinic in the afternoon!

Exam today was testing our communication skills with clients in a veterinary environment. We were briefed on the situation and told the get the client. I think it all went well, but found it really hard to concentrate without the focus of an animal in the room. Instead there was a stuffed toy cat in a box. When I've been in practice I've taken a history before, but always with an animal present so I can ask about the body systems as I examine Fluffy. No such luck this time.

Off climbing this evening to see if my foot holds up. If not I may have to visit a medic. Urgh.

4th Year

Well it all starts again tomorrow with the usual mixture of lectures, practicals and tutorials. So far this year looks to be really fun and interesting. Whilst seeing practice I noticed that I knew things about cats and dogs (probably because I've done that course) but nothing about cattle or sheep just yet. This will hopefully all change soon!

Now all we need to do is get the timetable organised. I'm not a great fan of the 2am lecture or the one on a Sunday morning. Possibly a small mistake in the system somewhere.

Practice

Seeing more practice in Wales at the moment with many interesting things to see. There is an ill horse, some sick cattle and a 3-legged dog so far. I've also been doing some surgical practice, a couple of castrations and a lump removal. Hurray!

BD's Holiday

I recently had the great honour of looking after the one and only blogdog whilst his flatmate was away on business. Unfortunately I was working most of the time with the festival, but we didn't manage to schedule some time for fun during my time off. Also unfortunate is the state of my phone camera, but I'll let the photo quality do the speaking on that part.

Evening 1 saw us head up the the Crags for a lot of investigation in the long grass. There were hundreds of slugs, although BD didn't seem too interested.

BD observing Carlton hill

Later that evening we went for a quick pint. Well I did, BD wasn't allowed any, although he did manage to charm a lot of ham from the landlady! Well done that dog.

An early morning inspection of his territory. All was in order for the morning.

The next evening we went up the Crags again, but followed the path along the edge being careful for passing seagulls, crows etc which were very interesting.

BD wasn't too interested in the castle and got bored of the whole photo thing at this point. Unfortunately this means there were none of us visiting Pleasance and getting acquainted with the general public. He is very good at destroying flyers and may get a full time post next year!

That was our amazing adventure. After our wild party in the pub he may not be allowed to spend much time with me any more, but we can always hope!

Inbreeding

Anyone actually surprised by this? Surely it's been obvious for many years.

Sore

It's day... something of the festival and it's starting to hit me now properly. Due to having no days off the day means nothing. Weekends pass without notice. One of these years I'll tally up the tonnage I shift - today was in excess of 15 tons. I also nearly got flattened by a keg adding to the bruising over my body. Tendons are sore, although that probably isn't aided by climbing after work.

And now I'm going to bed.

Festival

Festival has started again, and I'm already exhausted. At the moment I work 11 hours a day, 7 days a week with no time off until the end, but I may take a day off in the middle to allow for some healing. Posting shall be light unless something fun happens!

Zacks' Story

Zack (not his name actually) is a young male Border Terrier. In the manner of dogs he was investigating the garden in the morning and came across some small blue pellets. Deciding they looked tasty he ate the lot, not knowing they were slug poison.

By midday Zack was not looking very well at all so his owners rushed him to the vets as he had started bringing up something blue in colour. It was a horrendous day so the only person spare to see him happened to be me and so after explaining who I was I started a quick clinical examination to get some idea of his status. Zack apparently didn't enjoy this and started convulsing on the table.

At this point there wasn't much time to worry about the niceties, something needed to be done right away. I ran off to grab a vet and some diazepam (Valium). In a short while Zack was not fitting and had a drip to keep him hydrated whilst we looked up what he had eaten from the description given by the owner.

One of the more popular chemicals for killing slugs is called metaldehyde. Unfortunately it also kills other animals pretty quickly too depending on the amount they have eaten.

Time to get rid of any left in his stomach - gastric lavage. This isn't very pleasant and involves sticking a tube down the throat and in to the stomach whilst the animal is anaesthetised. The stomach is then filled with water or, as in this case, activated charcoal to try and dilute or soak up the poison. Zack also started passing blue diarrhoea - a bad sign as it shows he'd had time to absorb a lot of the drugs.

We left him alone with a lot of valium in a quiet dark room to prevent his nervous system becoming stimulated which may set off other fits. Throughout the rest of the day we took it in turns to keep an eye on him, monitoring for any changes or signs that the drugs we were giving were not working.

Around 5 he started to convulse again, although this time he did not respond to the diazepam meaning we had to re-anaesthetise him to stop the fits. By 6.30 this was beginning to fail too and we had to resort to more potent drugs to try and keep him stable.

All was well until 9.30 when he started to twitch once more. Again we gave him more drugs to control the fitting and organised a rota to keep him under surveillance all night.

It quickly became clear that Zack was not recovering as well as we would like. His heart rate started to drop to dangerous levels and his breathing rate also decreased. By 10.30 we were breathing for him trying to get him over the worst of the exposure, all the while his heart rate was falling.

At 11.30 he started agonal respiration. This was a bad sign. At the same time he started to shed his intestinal lining and we knew he would not make it through the night. Five minutes later Zack was dead.

We cleaned up in silence, exhausted by the efforts over the past few hours but knowing we had done the best we or anyone else could have. Home and sleep beckoned to start again in 7 hours time.

So far

This week I have:

• Operated on 3 animals
• Worked for 19 hours straight
• Looked after my own sick dog
• Taken consultations
• Discussed the pros and cons of treatments for numerous patients
• Saved lives
• Taken lives
• Been urinated and vomited on. And covered in faeces
• Worked with both small and large patients

Today though I was thanked by everyone at the practice where I've been doing my EMS for all the insane hard work. Great to know people enjoy working with me and trust me to do things. It gives me confidence I may survive this course after all! As my assessment put it:

"Extremely keen & very helpful, more than willing to put in extra hours. Contributes well to discussion of cases and has been invaluable this week for in-patient care. Basic surgical skills and confidence noticeably improved since last placement. Gets on well with all staff & clients. Can we keep him?"

I'd like to stay. Unfortunately I require money.

No Rest

I can't believe it's Thursday already, this week has flown by, yet I'm having problems remembering individual days. I remember castrating a dog on Tuesday and helping with X-rays on a collie with a broken leg. Yesterday however was chaos.

Collie dog needed her leg repaired paving the way for a long and complicated orthopaedic operation. First there was a small matter of an elderly dog with a tail pull injury - time to amputate his tail. After some x-rays and blood work his tail was dutifully removed, and this is where the fun started. One consultation - a sick collie - apparently she had been working for previous day and went downhill rapidly. She was very toxic and smelly, requiring urgent medical attention. I was pulled away from that case to look at another emergency that came in and assess for priority.

One of the few things that makes me swear in front of a client in a dog in full convulsions. History of eating slug pellets so the diagnosis wasn't challenging. Stopping only to grab diazepam I dragged a vet in to the consult room where we got to work.

A few minutes later another case came in. Somehow whilst on a walk a dog had tripped and cut her leg deeply. With one vet away on a call, another dealing with a dog with violent seizures and the last setting up to sort out collie2 I went to assess legdog. Another admit.

For a day that had started with a call at 0530, this was rapidly becoming very silly so I went for a walk to find food for the troops. We were all heading down a grumpy route and needed sugar and time to think.

At least two of these cases are worthy of separate posts. So that's what I'll do.

Post-op

It's been a strange week, culminating in me deciding to leave Scotland for a bit and head back to Wales for a short time. This decision was mainly due to boredom at having nothing to do; no current job and my climbing partner cancelled. More on what I've been up to later.

I'm unsure if the operation was a success just yet. My eye is still sore and I don't want to annoy it by trying to make it see single with normal glasses just yet. Last time it took a few days to adjust so I'll wait until the pain is no more. Might even post a pretty post-op pic if I can find it.

I don't really remember much about the day itself apart from a few strong memories. I remember being jabbed with the biggest syringe of propofol (an anaesthetic that's also used in vet med) I've ever seen. I recall waking up and moving beds. Some of the walk home is also in my head somewhere, although that was a little hazy.

One of the main things I remember is the feeling of relief knowing someone was coming to find me to take me home. Not someone who would drop me in Leith and leave me. Not someone who would pretend it was 2010 and I'd been in a coma. Someone kind and sensible who didn't take one look at my blood filled eye and run away screaming. Thanks :-)

Inpatient

Tomorrow is the big day of eye surgery and I'd just like it over with now I think. There are really clear instructions about not eating or drinking so all I have to do is turn up tomorrow at 8. It'll be interesting to see it from the other side of the anaesthetic as it were. If it all goes well and I don't have to be back for a recheck for a few weeks I plan to head back for more EMS, but at the moment we'll just see how things turn out tomorrow.

Dog vs Computer Surgery

I was fixing my computer recently and noticed quite a few similarities between that and a splenectomy I assisted on when seeing practice. First I'll go through the splenectomy, then the diagnosis and removal of a dodgy hard drive.

Splenectomy
As with all patients a thorough clinical exam and history was taken before the operation and the dog, Ben, was deemed well enough to undergo the operation. He was given fluids and taken through to the operating theatre.

Here we knocked him out, intubated him so he could breathe, and he was prepared for the surgery whilst we scrubbed up and put on sterile gloves to reduce the risk of infection. The vet made the incision through the skin, muscles and peritoneum in to the abdomen, exposing the enlarged spleen. Now came the fiddly bit - tying off all the blood vessels to the organ so when it was removed a lot of blood wouldn't follow. I was clamping and helping with the exposure whilst the vet tied off the vessels and cut. It wasn't long before the spleen was ready to be removed and was taken away in a kidney dish.

After a check to make sure there were no bleeding vessels we arrived at the longest part of the operation, closing the animal. Here you have to be very careful to make sure the wound closes properly or you may produce a herniation site post-op. Worst case is the sutures don't hold and the animal is found with its intestines hanging out. Not very pleasant, thus you take your time.

Hard Drive Removal
With very little pre-op care necessary for my computer (called Tigers) except backing up my important files I started quickly with the anaesthesia. The last thing I wanted was it to wake up when I was in the middle of the operation, so I removed the power cord and discharged the power supply.

Being all on my own I had to prepare the patient as well as myself. I vacuumed all the dust off the cover and went to work getting rid of my static by earthing myself on the nearest radiator. A quick bit of action with the screwdriver and I was in to the case, exposing the hard drive as I worked my way down. Now for the fiddly bit - extracting the power supply to the drive. Cutting any wires here is bad, as is pulling the wrong thing, but the power socket was hidden deep inside behind the graphics card. After safely isolating the drive from both power and data connections I made sure the wires weren't going to hit anything important when turned back on and removed the drive.

Finally the longest part of this operation - closing the case. I'm not sure why, but this always takes ages. I checked for wires in fans, stuck behind RAM chips and various other places they go to cause chaos and managed to screw the case back together.



I'm happy to report both patients are still functional and survived the ordeal. Anyone else see the similarities or am I just crazy?

Options

I have a load of free time at the moment, although no money which prevents the magical escape to a different country where I could climb/run/dive to keep me entertained. Instead I have various plans to earn money or just keep myself entertained.

1) Mull. I could visit a friend over in Mull and run up some hills. It sorts out the boredom, but not the money issue.
2) Festival. Working the festival is always an option which earns money but also means working a lot. Such as 12 hour days, 7 days a week for a month.
3) Random Job. Such as office temp work or random work in various places. It would solve the need for work and the need for money.

None of these options seem to be winning at the moment. More research required. At least that's my excuse. In the mean time I had some amazing climbing today, even if I did nearly die due to a small bit of the hill falling off whilst I was holding on to it. Ooops.

Pre-Op

I had yet another pre-op check today with the lovely doctors at the eye hospital. The downside is I need the operation and my vision may be compromised for a few days/weeks. The upside is that there is a 80% chance of it working first time and all being well. There was an offer of adjustable sutures which I turned down for a number of reasons mainly:

a) No poking me in the eyes when awake
b) I like my sutures to be tight thanks
c) NO poking in the eyes when AWAKE

All said and done it went OK. The op is in a couple of weeks. I have no idea what I will do between now and then. Not used to having free time!

Early Mornings

*BEEP*
My brain turns on and becomes semi-aware.
*BEEP*
Should probably see what that is.
*BEEP*
At least it's light outside.
*BEEP*
"Hiya! Cattle caesar. See you in 20 minutes."
"Right. See you soon."

We go to the surgery to pick up some gear, check on the inpatients, and then it's a long 45 minute drive to the farm. I'm navigating by the directions from the farmer and a map reference we managed to get from the computer. The drive goes quickly, over the hills and in to the sun.

Once on the farm we kit up and head in to the barn to find the cow. There is a bit of a muzzle and half a hoof poking from her back end making our diagnosis a bit easier than normal. A physical exam shows there is no way this is going to work out naturally, so we must perform a caesarean.

After we secure the cow everything starts to fit in to place. A hay bale becomes the instrument table. A bucket of cold water with povidine becomes our scrubing up area. A dodgy extension cord provides power to run the clippers. Various torches provide lighting. It's all a little different to the photos in the textbooks, but I love it.

Cow is now clipped, scrubbed and we have performed a nerve block on her side. A quick inscision through the skin, abdominal muscles and finally peritoneum reveals the abdominal contents with plenty of fluid showing the calf needs to come out right now with no messing about. I located the uterus and drag it (and the calf) to our hole while the vet is changing her scalpel blade. More cutting, some heavy lifting and the calf is out in the big wide world.

My task is to now keep the calf alive using what few tools I have on hand. Between myself and the farmer we lift him and swing him upside-down to get rid of the fluid in his lungs. A quick cough, shake of the head, and his eyes open. He is breathing normally. Success!

Scrubbing back in to the sterile portion of the operation we then close the side of the cow and start to clean up. Only now do I notice the tightening of my skin where all the blood has dried up my arms and the small spot on my glasses suggesting it's on my face too. We walk back out in to the sun and get washed up with the help of some tea.

We get back in the car and I check out the clock - it's 11am. We were operating for 3 hours, and a quick check of the phone reveals the fun isn't over yet, more work is coming in. No time to enjoy the sun yet. Back to work.

Results

Exam results are out for the summer set of exams - I passed! I'm now officially a 4th year. Only 2 more years to go until we are released in to the big wide world, and from how things are going when seeing practice that is quite a scary thought.

I see myself improving at most techniques I have practiced during my time here, except in a couple of areas. My major stumbling block is an inability to place I.V. catheters. I've tried in cats, dogs and cows so far with only 1 success which came today after a lot of poking around in the general vein area. Luckily the cat didn't seem to mind too much. How is it that I can hit a tiny wee cat cephalic vein yet miss a HUUUUUGE calf jugular. It makes no sense.

Waaaaa!

I've given up trying to make interesting titles. So there.

It has been a long month since I last wrote. Revision is over, exams are over, holiday (all of 2 days off) is over and I am once more in Wales doing EMS. The exam went OK, it was actually fair for a change, and we are expecting results in a week or two. I'm hoping to have passed and there is no excuse apart from my own stupidity if I haven't.

EMS goes well with lots of interesting things happening. In fact I may save them and write about them seperately so it appears more interesting and so there is something interesting for the long periods when I have nothing else.

Needless to say EMS involves long days, as well as some long nights this time, so I spend my spare time being rather tired. I have yet to accomplish any climbing at all and only managed a few runs when I seem to run in to (literally) the local ned population. Now food and rest though.

No Luck

Just received a letter from the Centre for Sports and Exercise regretting to inform me that I won't be invited to interview for the climbing wall job. I guess it makes sense, they are probably looking for someone more permanent. This does mean I'm now looking for a job so if anyone knows of something suitable....

There was also a hospital trip yesterday where they did invite me back at a later date to stab me in the face, remove some muscle, then re-attach it further forwards. Obviously this will require a GA and some fun drugs but the consultant guy was in such a hurry I didn't have chance to ask awkward questions. I have a pre-op consult on Friday so I shall ask searching questions then. I really hope they don't want to stab me any time before exams. It would be suboptimal.

Work work work

Lectures are still continuing, work still goes on and so does revision. There is so much to do that I have very little free time to call my own, but then again no-one said this would be easy.

I've booked more EMS down in Wales for June, but still no news on the job front. Apart from that everything is fairly boring!

I Want To Break Free

No I'm not dressing up to clean the flat, not yet anyway. And definitely no singing! I'm calculating my escape from work. With the exam season upon most of the university once more I find myself covering shifts midweek which is really bad for my sleep pattern.

One good example would be Monday where I was up just after 7 to go to a full day of lectures and practicals. From there it was straight to work where we were busy non-stop until home time around 0100. The next day I was obviously a bit of a wreck.

I have handed in my application for a job at a climbing wall here in Edinburgh and am just waiting back to see if I get an interview. Fingers crossed.

Technique Book

There is a document online known as the technique book that we are meant to fill in each and every time we go on EMS. As the name suggests we tick off various procedures we accomplish during the time on placement. Some, such as IM or SC injection, get ticked off quite a bit whilst others, such as bitch spey, don't get ticked off much at all.

Over the holidays I accomplished much in the way of ticking bits off, but apart from various injections I don't feel comfortable doing on my own at all. Still feel I need adult supervision for loads of tasks and I guess I will for a while, probably until after graduation. The feeling of fear when I was stuck with my own unconscious patient and a scalpel will remain for a while, but so will the feeling of elation when the job was complete successfully.

Back North

The last day of EMS was Friday and I decided to catch an early train back to Edinburgh with one of the vets on Saturday morning. This involved getting up just after 5 to get ready and finish packing, 7 hours of trains, 3 changes and no sleep or food.

Anyway, I'm back now and have a week to get sorted before the start of lectures. I'll spend some time revising as well as trying to unpack all my kit. Need to find out if the climbing wall is open too because I really need a new job.

Busy or Dead?

Today was really really busy, the kind of day where you get 20 mins to eat anything you can get your hands on and then go straight back to work. Yesterday it was really really dead with a grand total of 6 animals seen all day. Strange thing is I was more tired yesterday.

A First

It's been an amazing week with so many new things to learn and old things to revise. The landmark for me was my first operation where I was doing everything from admitting the animal to bandaging him and sending him home.

"Glen" is a 3yo male entire Border Collie who presented with an 8 cm L-shaped laceration on his right forelimb. His clinical exam revealed the injury was not deep, mainly a tear to the superficial skin layers, with no damage to muscle or ligaments. His history revealed a previous allergic reaction to ACP - a common sedative.

With this information we developed a plan to anaesthatise the dog and repair the hole. I selected my drugs, selected my anaesthetic circuit, intubation equipment and all sorts, obviously with a vet watching. Once Glen was happily asleep I scrubbed up and started suturing. It was different to suturing on fake skin - it was a lot easier to bring the skin together and keep it in place. Again the vet was watching and approved my work. Next a small bandage was put on the wound to keep it clean and some antibiotics and painkillers were given.

Finally Glen was sent home later in the day after recovering from the anaesthetic. He is due back next week for a recheck and the week after for his stitches to come out.

My first real case! It was fairly basic, but complicated enough for my first time. I wonder what next week will hold...

Vetting

I've spent the last couple of days seeing practice here in Wales. The practice I am with is a small mixed practice down the Conwy valley where I have been going for the past 9 years. It's is a long time.

So far there hasn't been much out of the ordinary - a few sheep caesars, a cat involved in an RTA and various other "normal" things such as boosters and bandaging. All the time the vets have been testing me and asking questions about basically everything they are doing from drug administration to diagnosis. It's better I look like an idiot in front my friends rather than my examiners, it gives me a chance to learn.

Today my lovely dog came with me. She is fairly old now and has various lumps and bumps, but there was one on her chest that was a bit odd. We took a small sample under sedation and had a look down the microscope. There was only lipid to be seen on the slide suggesting the lump is nothing more than a lipoma, although there is always the risk of a liposarcoma. Good news for the dog - the plan is just to monitor and see how it progresses.

Waiting

The grant application for my summer work has finally been finished and sent off, so now we just have to wait and see. Hopefully we will get the funding requested as apparently some companies have already expressed some interest in seeing how it turn out. Scary!

Now that there is no "proper" work left to do (apart from reading/re-reading endocrinology and cardiology notes) the weather has obviously taken a turn for the worse meaning my well laid plans to climb and/or go for a run on the beach have been cancelled. Normally I'd go to the indoor climbing wall but I lack a partner and the station is over 2 miles away. Yes, I am a wimp! In my defence all my waterproofs are either in Edinburgh or at the vets. Didn't think that one through really.

Busy Still

You would have thought holidays were a time for not being busy, but no luck here. Today has been my first lazy day in a while.

Since I last wrote there has been a wedding (in a kilt!), long train journeys and lots of project research. The wedding all went OK despite snow on the morning. My Dad is now on his honeymoon and I am looking after the dog in Wales. She has changed a lot since I saw her last, or it possibly be my perception of her that has changed through the numerous lectures on the course.

Research goes slowly and painfully for the summer project. There are things I just don't understand which makes sense because I don't have a degree in computing. Nothing to do but crack on and get it done though. Deadline is looming!

Oh and go see the tiger cubs. They are great!

Been Busy

Lots of things to do, and very little time to do them in. We finished our teaching for this term on Friday and decided to celebrate with an exam tomorrow. On top of that I have to organise getting home, including packing everything for a wedding. And a project grant application for the summer. I've finally decided on a project and we are looking to apply for funding. The only problem is the deadline is March 31st, which leaves very little time to actually do much.

Back to revision for me.

Contact

For the past couple of days we have had hand-on practical with animals! It has been really nice to get down to what most of us hope to do in another few years and actually handle living creatures. This may seem a bit odd to some people, but as vet students we aren't really trusted with things that are actually alive until at least 4th year - we mainly see anatomy or pathology specimens. I for one was quite happy to sit in a 2 hour tutorial playing with a Labrador learning the ins and outs of a clinical examination and proper history taking.

More animals!

Man Down!

Some excitement in the bar tonight with a guy who just seemed to attract trouble. First he managed to slice his hand open on a Stanley knife whilst trying to remove wires from a tyre. Why? Who knows? I stuck the small amount of tissue poking out of his hand back in to the hole and left him with a bandage. No hospital as the lac was really small and not even worth a suture.

Same human male arrives back about an hour later, this time having inserted said knife in to his leg cutting the aforementioned tyre. Fool. This hole is slightly larger, deeper, and seems to be in the region that joint capsules could be. Or they would be if he were a dog, cat or a horse. Who knows with humans? This one could do with proper medical attention so he got a HUGE bandage on his leg, as well as the one on his hand, as well as a call for a taxi. His girlfriend decided it deserved an ambulance, but I was pretty sure he didn't plan to bleed out in the 3 minutes it took for the cab to arrive. Ruined a decent pair of socks though.

The downside to all this avoiding proper work is the stupid amount of paperwork I had to fill in. I pointed out that we lacked sterile wipes as well as decent sized gloves, bandages that actually fit the human body as opposed to a horse/cow and various other bits of kit. I mainly used my own kit, which means I need to restock.

Lessons learned: humans should not be allowed sharp objects.

More ICU

After some investigation I have found some more information about what the ICU duty actually requires us to do. We arrive at 0900 on a Monday morning looking undoubtedly scared as to what is about to happen. There will probably be a tour by our now veteran colleagues who will then go home to sleep.

During the day we will basically watch our assigned patients and care for them, mostly in a nursing role. We will administer medication, take clinical information, take them where they need to be (e.g. radiology) and try to make sure they don't die. Or else Something Bad happens.

At night we will be expected to continue caring for our patients, checking in on them every hour or so depending on their status and medications they require. My group (we are sent in groups of 4-6 people) have already decided we can share patients to give someone a required 4 hour sleep if really necessary.

Whilst we are on duty (which is basically all day & night, every day for a week) we are not allowed to leave the area in case we are required. Not too sure as yet what happens with eating, sleeping and washing, but these things are probably optional extras that will happen if we get time.

Should be fun.

ICU

Good news: The ICU rotation lists are out for next year.
Also good news: I'm in the small animal clinic from 29/12/08-5/1/09. No silly new years plans for me!

Should be fun, although sleep may be in short supply. Hopefully we will be given more information about what is going on closer to the time.

Damn Clouds

It was cloudy at 0300, so no eclipse for me. I thought I saw some reddening of the clouds, but that was probably just street light city reflection-ness. At 0520 however there were no clouds! Except the eclipse was almost totally over with only a little bit removed from the moon. All that and I went to lectures this morning. Go me!

Lunar Eclipse

Tonight is the only lunar eclipse in 2008, and the next total eclipse isn't until 2010, so I plan to be outside at 3am to take a look. Should be fun! I've already timetabled a nap for tomorrow afternoon :-)

To Leave Or Not To Leave?

It could be that I've just had a bad weekend, but I am debating leaving my job. There just aren't really any challenges left any more. Sure, it gets busy and there can be times when things are going insane, but it isn't so much of a challenge. I know what I have to do and just do it. If it weren't for all the great people and my need to earn money to eat I'd possibly have already gone. As I say, it's been a bad weekend.

In other news I'm trying to figure out how to ask someone out for a drink/date. My usual mental block is in place. Maybe the three hour lecture on communication skills will help, but probably not. Don't want it to appear to be over the top. Answers on a post card please!

Dog Cloning Anyone?

Well this is odd! I suppose it's one way to find which parts of behaviour are due to nurture and which to nature.

Happy Valentines

So. Yeah. Another year, another Feb 14th. I'm probably meant to care more than I do, but I don't. It wasn't too bad a day really. Lectures went OK and I had a run and a climb later. Climbing was especially fun on the Crags as the sun set.

As predicted some of the night was spent in the pub. On my own. I was supposed to be meeting a friend, but instead I stayed alone. And then I arrived back home to....noises coming from my flatmates' room. I am currently mentally traumatised and going to sleep soon. Alone except for my revision notes. Should help me get to sleep!

Long Day

Just got back from work after a long day. First of all there was up early for lectures as usual, then home, food and an exam. From there it was pretty much straight to work. The usual supervisor wasn't in, so I was in charge. And there was a new person starting. Far too much work for one person. I'm sure I will write more when I've had sleep and it will make sense.

Eye update

Yesterday was my first eye check up in a while, and it went rather well. There was some stabbing of the eyes and some magic drops that really dilated my pupils and blocked my ciliary muscles to test my eye sight and were quite happy. The conclusions so far:

- It isn't a neuro problem. Woo!
- There is a problem with a muscle that control eye movement.
- It may resolve itself with the prisms in my glasses
- Glasses must come off for close up work

If things aren't much better by the next check-up there will be a conversation about an operation to remove the aforementioned muscle and put it somewhere better so my eyes work perfectly (ish). It apparently only takes a day, although there would be a general anaesthetic and I'm guessing a neuromuscular blocker as well as some interesting things afterwards such as patches. But I intend to get fixed before that. Having eyes cut in to at exam time would not be the best plan.

The next appointment is in May so we shall see what happens between now and then. There are some things that need to be done first. Some scary, some less scary, some fun.

Nothing Interesting

Not much happening at the moment, apart from lots and lots of work. We have finished the lecture series on neurology, oncology, gastroenterology, dentistry, urology and opthalmology, although I don't know how much has gone in. Over the next few weeks we will be doing a load more of the -ologys. Oh and an exam next week.

Shaved

Many things have happened recently. One of the biggest is that I removed my beard. I have had my beard for over 2 years now, possibly 3 years. In any case it's been a while. The main thing I noticed is that my chin is cold in the wind. I haven't felt air around there for a while, and I know it will feel especially strange on Monday when I properly shave.

Kilt is possibly sorted for the wedding thanks to a friend. I shall now look all kinds of pretty for my fathers wedding. I hope. It is going to be scary, but I think I will survive.

Results 2

The second of the results are out, and I passed these too! These exams were the practicals - handwashing and suturing - and the horrible pharmacology and surgery type exam. Very happy not to have any resits over the summer. Puppy walking pre-exam obviously gave me good luck.

Puppy

He is cute! I don't think I'd want to meet him when he was older and in a bad mood though.

No More

No more exam results yet. Apparently the exam board are meeting tomorrow or Thursday, but no-one really knows yet. Really hoping for my exam pass, it would help my summer plans, but I don't know. We will see.

In other less fun news there are reports that fees will be increasing over the next few years. This is still being investigated, but some suggest tuition fees in excess of £19,000 per year. I don't know what I will do if that happens as I really can't afford it. Poo.

Results 1

Exam results for the pathology section course were released today, and I passed with credit! I really don't know how that happened because the computer exam was nasty, although the written exam seemed to go ok.

Clinical foundation results should be out in the next few days.

Can't See

The stupidly high winds in Edinburgh at the moment seem to have removed the prism from my glasses on the way home from the gym. I can no longer see straight. Hoping that vision returns soon, or I find the lens attached to myself somewhere, but hope is fading. Lectures tomorrow could be interesting. Might have to head hospital-wards.

Been Busy

It has been really snowy and icy out at Easter Bush this week and today we took advantage of it! There was a 3 hour break between lectures where work was first done, then insanity took over and we decided to explore the hills and the snow. We went up on the Pentlands and made a snowman and a snowrabbit! Unfortunately it was time to return for lectures before the snowrabbit was fully completed, but it looked good.

Back Again

Back to work again tomorrow with the dog and cat clinical course, large animal practicals and of course some evil courses in the form of statistics. Looks to be a fun term, although I'm mildly concerned that the grand total of our lectures on any given topic seems to last a week with 1 tutorial.

Clinical neurology first which would have been useful last week when seeing practice. There was a neuro case and whilst I knew some of the tests from previous lectures, not everything made sense. The vets explained it, but I'm hoping to get some background knowledge next week. Then on to GI, dentistry, ophthalmology and oncology. Busy but interesting.

Vomit

To anyone who thinks the career I've chosen in glamorous, the last case I saw today was a little dog that had eaten a lot of dark chocolate.

Treatment: Induce vomiting

I've never had to hold a dogs' ear back before whilst it is throwing up before! Another thing to tick off on my procedure list.

Snow!!

It has been snowing pretty much most of the day, although I was still surprised by how much was on the ground when I left work this evening. I could occasionally see it from the building, but most of the time I had other things to concentrate on, such as the large dog trying to bite me.

After the 30 min walk home I have decided the snow isn't as exciting as first thought and my toes are cold. Time for tea and toast I think.