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.