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.