Calving

Calving number 1 appeared the other day. I was the only "large animal" vet around the place who was marginally free. Never mind that I'd booked an operation in just for me to do...but that's a different story.

I arrive to find a cow still in the shed with quite a few others, not at all separated. Suspicions that this was going to go badly started then. The suspicions were confirmed when the farmer asked why we needed to move her, and why we couldn't just get on with it in the shed.

Calving is a messy, painful and generally suboptimal time for all involved. This time is aided by proper restraint for the cow. Attempting to calve whilst the cow is allowed to run free is just asking for a broken arm.

The epidural went in fine. Tail floppy. Everything relaxed and easier to feel. There are feet. Tick! Ideal! And then a head appears. Tick! This shouldn't be too hard thinks me...bad mistake. Thought number 3 was "these feet feel a little small". Possibly twins. Sadly already deceased. Not too bad though, done this before. I can't trace the legs all the way back to the shoulder, my arms are too short. But there's a head right there, this all has to be the same calf right?

Wrong.

Somehow the calves were coming both at the same time. Calf 1 on top had head forward but legs all the way back. Calf 2 had legs forward, head all the way back. This made for a poor mix.

Thankfully help was at hand. I was rescued by another vet who was "just passing" and happened to see my car. She has longer arms and, more importantly, over 10 years experience doing this kind of thing. And she struggled too.

It was an OK outcome - the cow was still alive. Sadly the calves were dead. We were covered in bruises, sweat and blood, but that's just part of the job. Back to the practice for tea!

Leaving

Well the time has come to escape my job. There are a variety of reasons, most of them really boring and grown-up. Basically I'm not getting the exposure to the farm animal work that I'd like and thus I'm not confident in it at all. Most of the time this isn't a problem, however during on call periods it's the source of major stress that I just don't need.

Anyone need a vet?

Dear Driver

I'm sorry I wasn't going fast enough down the dark country road at night to suit your needs.

I'm sorry I didn't really know where I was going.

I'm sorry I delayed your journey by about 30 seconds.

Yes, I understood you were upset by the flashing of light and beeping of the horn, there was no need to shout too.

I was on my way to my first equine emergency call you see, and I had other things on my mind such as - What will the heart rate be? Will I need to rectal this horse? Do I have all the emergency numbers? What's the dose rate for all these drugs? Where am I going? What's around this corner? What if I need something I don't have in my car?

Vets driving to emergencies are a dangerous breed, especially new graduates, especially those new to the area who don't know the roads.

I figure getting sworn at, or arriving 5 minutes later than planned is better than a dead vet. So if you're stuck behind me, I'm sorry.

Weekend On Call

Weekends on call have to be the toughest part of the job, especially in a mixed practice. So far I've had about 3 hours sleep since I started work on Friday morning.

Last night was hard work - just me and various sick animals. I'd have killed for a nurse to be there to give me hand! Dogs having seizures filled the majority of my evening after a busy day consulting and the night was spent monitoring them at work. In the end I gave up coming home between visits and just bedded down at work.

This morning I planned to come home for a shower and breakfast...which didn't happen until 1. Only 21 more hours to go.

Quick Change

I love this job because of the variety we see on a daily basis.

Today I was visiting a farm for some sick cattle, we had the usual chat about housing, the weather, the job and everything else whilst trying to examine some mad yearling beef cattle. Just when I thought we were done for the day, liberally coated in various bodily fluids, the farmer pops the question that always comes up:

"While you're here, can you just look at....."

This is why all calls take twice as long as they should. Examining cow to cat in the matter of minutes. Love it.

This isn't the cow I was examining. But hey, close enough.

Sometimes I forget...

...that I'm actually qualified and a real person now. People keep asking for opinions on clinical matters, but even more worrying I seem to have the answers at least some of the time.

The past 2 weeks have been manic with busy consultations and various emergencies. In the space of 48 hours we had 5 RTAs! One day I started to X-ray a cat at 9am calculating sedation drugs and then met the first of many RTA dogs. On the plus side most of them survived with only one casualty. It was so manic we even had students keeping an eye on some of the inpatients.

Farm work isn't going as well though. There isn't a lot of it going around and the usual farm vets take most of it. This leaves me with the emergency work which would be great if only I had the experience to deal with it. Over the next few weeks I'm hoping to be more proactive and grab some more farm work to get me up to speed.

Equine work, as ever, is evil.

Happy New Year!

It's New Year! Woo! I've been coughing up a lung for the past couple of days, and I'm on call. Not a great start to the year, but these things happen. Not too many patients in and hopefully people will realise it's Sunday and we are still closed. Tomorrow morning may be a different matter.

I may try to blog a night on call at some point, but it depends on if I can be bothered to turn the computer on at 3am. Unlikely.