Another Week

Another week of EMS, more fun stories about the various "oh shit!" moments and stupid mistakes I've made. Thankfully not too many this week except for some pretty terrible bandaging and covering a vet in cold drip fluid. Ooops.

Despite washing every day (go me!) I seem to always smell of cow or sheep and miss a spot of blood/poo on my arm or my shirt. In fact I've scrubbed up so many times over the past few days my hands are starting to take offence and are in desperate need of moisturiser!

Moment of the week - getting an IV in a fat dog with crap veins first time. Doesn't matter that I missed in a cow with veins the size of a hosepipe, the dog was a good shot.

After on call tomorrow there are a few days off (!) which so far I haven't filled with climbing. There will be a puppy walk on the beach, buying of some climbing gear and maybe time sleep if I'm not too busy revising.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.