Residency?

I've got a bit of a dilemma at the moment, what do I want to do with my life? Or more accurately, should I go for an anaesthesia residency or go back to practice? There are pros and cons of both options really.

Residency

- Enjoy the subject!
- Would learn interesting things.
- Extra qualifications.
- Could earn more money when I get out.
But....
- Would earn less money whilst there.
- Need to keep up the qualification afterwards.
- Would focus on one subject.

Practice

- Learn and get to do more.
- Get to do surgery!
- Earn more money.
- Could do an extra qualification whilst there.
But....
- Clients. Oh the clients.
- Need to hunt a job.

So all very complicated. At the moment I'm learning towards going back to practice, but I'll have to see how long that idea lasts. It also depends on when I finish the internship.

More in the future.

Canine's Canine To The Face

The vet world can be a dangerous place, bites and scratches are the usual hazard that we are all aware of. Everyone can recognise the grumpy cat, the Collie that gives you that "look" and the sore old Labrador who can give a growl when you move him. We all know to take precautions. As one of my friends put it, "If you're not careful you could lose a finger, and that's the end of your career".

It wasn't a big scary dog that managed to get me however. It wasn't a cat. Or a parrot. It was a 20 week old Labrador puppy. She had had surgery a few days previously and was just about to go home, so I went to say goodbye. She is the softest puppy you would ever meet, but now getting to full bounce. We'd been having a few talks about jumping up and it looked like she was getting the message.

This time she got a little overexcited though and bounced at my face. Not too scary, she'd be trying to lick me all week, except I was just getting up at the time and took the full force of her nose to my face. Initially I didn't think much of it, then the bleeding started. Oh yes, the bleeding started from my nose. A quick investigation revealed a split inside my nostril out to the real world. Lovely! The poor puppy looked very sad and a bit scared!

I was all for using tissue glue to close this up. Apparently it wasn't allowed, so a trip to A&E was in order. Two sutures (and a bit of a chat about dentals with the doctor) later I was released to head on home.

Everything has healed now, there is a small scar that is barely noticeable, and I'm back to work once again. It's not the big scary dogs that get me apparently, it's the little cute one that lull me in to a false sense of security!