Kind of Krazy

Hello People, 

 :). Sorry I haven't been around for a while. I got a new computer and then lost my login, which is never entirely helpful. I haven't got around to finding it yet either until today. New puppy at my parents chewed through my new laptop cable.. unamused to say the least, but hey, puppies...

Things have been kind of crazy. A spiral between stress and managing and more stress. The vet course is to be only described as, a challenge. On other words, my dog is progressing well in rally. She went to our obedience club competition for obedience (not rally) and won two of the classes she entered in. It was a very proud moment for me, I do love my little girl :). Light of my life much? She is not liking the new puppy, and she turned 7 the other day! Can't believe how times fly. She is and can only be named as that once in a lifetime dog. 

The vet course, what you're interested in? Booked all of my EMS mainly, apart from a few odd weeks, and there is barely any time to turn around again. Holidays? They don't exist really. On the other hand, the information I'm learning is pretty exhilarating, and it'll be really cool once I get to put some of it into practice. I have perhaps, idealistic expectations, but I really hope I enjoy my job once I graduate, and some speakers recently have reinspired me from some of my lows about the cons of the profession as a whole. 

Currently on holiday- well. Not quite. In the local butchers helping out at the back and observing for my public health placement. They are all really nice and it is interesting to see some of the anatomy that is a tad rusty to say the least again. Kidneys, scapulas etc. I'm there for a week which is good. Other things I have planned this week are going out with some old friends, and I really want to see the hobbit at some point. Of course, spending time with my dog is always a priority too. :)

A new series I started to watch recently called Agents of SHIELD is really really good, and also another one witches of east end. Both are good, not as good as some of things I watch, but I really like them and I recommend anyone to try them. I also saw Thor recently which was really good (2), and the hunger games 2 which was also pretty amazing. 

There are probably a lot of gaps, but I'll try to blog a bit more after the holidays. I only have seven weeks and then two weeks off until exams when I get back though so I'm a bit in revision mode, which is turning out to not be quite as bad as I anticipated after all. Right, now I'm going to go find a book to read as my old laptop is depressingly slow. 

I haven't said maybe, but I'm a bit of a mills and boon fan. Especially their historical romance books!

So you graduate in 20 months....

20 months may seem like a long time, certainly for a normal degree it isn't even halfway through yet. However, on a five year course which is going FAST- it is really going to be here in no time- what a scary but exhilarating thought. It doesn't seem two minutes since I was walking through the door to the University of Liverpool campus as a fresher- now look where I am... 

I haven't blogged for a while because things have been well- hectic. The other day I celebrated three years with my boyfriend who is also a vet student- I met him in freshers week, and we now live together with my dog near Leahurst Campus. A lot has happened in the last few weeks so I'll try to give you a snippet of my mish mash thoughts at the moment. 

I start my equine buddy weeks next week. We get paired with a fifth year to find our way around for a week so we have some clue before our rotations start in April (yes my last EVER lecture is in March, and I have exams on my BIRTHDAY, how mean is that). I'm a bit scared as equine is my weakest topic and I'm scared of what I'm expected to know. I'm a bit relieved that we get to go in stables in pairs- makes me a bit more confident about the situation knowing I'm not out there on my own. I also have small animal for a week and a farm buddy thing for 2 days. We go at 8am for an hour before lectures and again an hour after lectures. Quite a good system I hope. I have been watching some introductory tour videos- but for those things my memory is really quite a sieve! 

I am also back training my dog BIG HAPPY DANCE at rally training which is a new emerging sport. I've really missed being able to train her and compete with her in competition obedience these past three years as being a student no houses in the Liverpool Centre would allow pets (although I would have actually had more time). She is really good at it, its a fun sport where you follow signs, and a bit more relaxed than Competition Obedience. My heart will always be with competitive obedience but for her, rally is good. She is a little superstar (yes I go on about her a lot sometimes but hey!). I'm a bit worried that when rotations start I won't get a lunchbreak at all to pop home and let her home (5 minute drive away)- nightmare situation really, and one of the major cons of being a vet, or vet student.

I've had lecture weeks in respiratory and cardiology so far. The really interesting ones have been cardiology-the lectures for small animal are intense (15 or so hours worth!), and the ones for farm have been a bit more minimalist. I'm slightly more worried about farm as I don't have the time to do extra reading really. I'll burn out if I try. To give you an idea of my workload so far this year- I go dog training on Tuesday nights (but do an hour or so of work anyway), and generally do about three hours of work every other evening. At weekends I'm still doing about six + hours of work just to keep up with and understand the lecture notes. To do any extra reading is going to be, well, impossible really! I do like farm so maybe it'll just soak into my brain if I can get a bit of reading done sometime. Although I was a bit cheeky this week, I finished at 3 from uni on Thursday and went to Nandos for my anniversary meal! I do like cardiology. Respiratory was interesting too, but didn't leave me with as much knowledge! ECGS for the record, are damned hard (and echo is much better a mon avis). 

I probably have more to write- such as my flat tyre in the first week of university.. but I have more pressing things- like watching Grey's anatomy. Work is done for tonight,  so now it is time to relax and chill. I also bought a gamecube to play Harvest Moon AWL and all the Zelda old games. Not sure when I might have time at the moment though with everything else I try to do.. 

:) 

Farm Practice Memoirs

This week I've done a bit of mixed practice and saw some interesting things. The first thing to note before I forget, is the talk I had on synoquin EFA. Interesting talk about the building blocks  of chondroitin sulphate and glucosamine, the different types there are out there, what is best and the addition of dexahan which is krill oil into the product. The krill oil has better anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties than before (apparently), and this joint supplement sounds like something to try in osteoarthritis management. Problem is the cost. For large breed dogs you're looking about £80 for 120 tablets, and with the 'overload' initial phase to get the drug working into the body for around 40 days, the price is a bit high for the average dog owner I think! Sounds interesting as a supplement though but to get a better idea I'd really have to see the effects in practice, and the clinical trial evidence. They come in a sprinkle capsule (handy for cats) or chewy palatable tablets (the small breed dog chewy can also be given to cats which are amiable to tablets, but the tablets are quite big so the cat really has to chew it rather than it being shoved down). :). 

I saw a range of things, the most notable being a stitch up we did one evening (didn't get back until 10pm which is late for me!), on a pony which had a massive open wound down the rump area which had been opened again by rolling. A few mattress sutures, a lot of flushing, some wound debriding (getting rid of the granulation tissue) and some hibiscrub cleaning and sedation later, the wound looked a lot better. The sutures used were a mixture of nylon and vicryl, with tension being the reason they had been pulled out- the nylon was a bit weaker in this instance. They also used a pink ointment at the end to pack in the wound which I can't remember the name of, but it had some sort of additive to keep flies away- maybe chamomile (if anyone has any ideas please leave a comment with the answer)!

Mattress sutures were a newer thing I encountered in this practice. They are mainly used for x-laps, bitch speys or surgery where things need to be held together a bit tighter. They are apparently a bit more secure than cruciate stitches I described before, so here's another one to add to my list of things to learn! 

I also encountered a mare with lameness- she had a foot abscess which is one of the top diagnoses where the horse is really lame (alongside fractures). They normally burst out on their own with the aid of a poultice and antibiotics. She also seemed to have some laminitis with her stance and so she was also given bute for the pain relief, and told to have reduced food and soaked hay etc just in case for the time being. 

Today I encountered a puppy farm- although the dogs were all healthy which was a bonus (they had about 50 dogs though!), and three cows- one which was lame on one side which was given some antibiotics, one which had an LDA (a toggle was done to see if this would change things, to be monitored for a day), and a cow which was down after a calving with presumed nerve/muscle/pain damage in the hindquarter/pelvic region- she was given some antibiotics and told to be lifted onto her feet with a tractor to promote better healing of the nerve. We also had a dog which had passed away due to suspect parvo in the area, and a dog which had to have a wound debraded and cleaned, and tetanus antitoxin after cutting the leg to the tendon on some rusty barbed wire!

Other interesting things I saw were a possible splenectomy on a weimaraner that presented with vomiting and quite a bit of weight loss and a poor condition score. The tumour was really big on ex-lap exploration unfortunately- so it was a kinder decision for the dog to be euthanised as it had metastasied to the stomach wall. The tumour was a multilobulated 20cm large mass, about the size of a mini-rugby ball! I think I'm going to do this as my case report for university. 

I got to administer some routine vaccinations (one which leaked out the other side whoops, but practice makes perfect and it won't happen again!), and got to do two of my own consultations today which was pretty brill (although I forgot basic things for vaccs- such as diahorrea, vomiting, and general concerns, I was too busy trying to do a clinical exam :(, too many things happening at once). Grateful to the vets who let me assist in these! 

We had a dog with possible rat poisoning- where the treatment is activated charcoal for the stomach after making the dog sick, and dependent on a few factors e.g. time length, possibility of poisoning this may be followed by aggressive vitamin K1 therapy. 

Also found out my boyfriend passed his resits- YAY. Not that I've had a chance to talk to him about those today.. but hey, what are boys like.... 

SO interesting times, and I move back to Liverpool on sunday. I need to pack tomorrow, and for definate I have too much stuff! 

Adios for now :)