Not Yet a Vet…dot net

Another month has passed since my last post.  I say this every time, but I really should post more often.  It is quite therapeutic to get some of these things out.  Here a list of things I’ve done since my last post:

1. Took the NAVLE (national boards).  Holy cow, that was intense.  I took 6 of the 7 allotted hours to take the exam (including one 10 minute break and one 20 minute break) and when it was over, I just stared at the computer screen as it cycled away from my exam and back to the default login screen for the testing center and thought “wow, it’s over.” I’ll get my results sometime in January.  I’m hoping that the state where I’m applying for my license has the same online method for checking your pass/fail status as the state where I am going to veterinary school.  If I have to wait for the official results in the mail when all of my friends can check online, I may go nuts.
2. Spent Thanksgiving with the Captain and his family.  Holidays with the future in-laws remind me of the holidays I used to spend at my Grandmother’s house when she was alive.  I love having everyone in the same house and I love the smell of roasting turkey and all of the sides (even though I’m not a big fan of the turkey itself!).  My own family hasn’t really done anything for Thanksgiving in quite a long time, so I feel truly blessed to be able to spend this holiday with my soon-to-be family.  As an added bonus, I’ve been going to the Captain’s family Thanksgiving for the past 9 years so they really feel like my own at this point.
3. Picked out bridesmaid dresses with the Captain’s sisters and with Best Friend.  All six of my bridesmaids get to pick whatever dress they want with very few limitations.  I want everyone in the same color and fabric and I want short dresses as opposed to long.  Since the Captain’s sisters were the first two to choose their dresses, they got to choose the fabric for everyone else.  The consultant at the store was amazed that I was so open to whatever the girls wanted.  I can imagine that they get quite a few bridezillas that require an army of bridesmaid clones.  I guess that’s just not me.  When I got back home after Thanksgiving, I went shopping with Best Friend and she chose her dress, too.  I still have to go shopping with 3 more girls, but everything is coming together nicely so far!
4. Bought wedding bands with the Captain.  That was an experience.  The Captain was in the first throes of Strep. throat and I’m pretty sure he was febrile.  After eating some chicken soup, he claimed that he was feeling much better and said that we should go shopping anyway.  So he may or may not have exposed an entire jewelry store to Strep. throat in the process of choosing a ring.  I really, really like the one he picked, though.  I had to have my ring custom-made because my engagement ring has a unique shape and there wasn’t anything that would go with it.  I’ll get to pick up my ring right after Christmas and I can’t wait to see it in person.  So far, I’ve only been able to see the wax model they made for me to approve before casting the actual band.  This whole wedding thing seems a lot more real now!
5. Spent a week learning about dog physical therapy.  PT was an amazing experience.  I’m blown away by the recoveries dogs can make with physical therapy.  The therapist at school is a human PT who has had extensive training in animal PT and she is extremely qualified to do what she does.  I hope that I can someday be as good as she is at communicating with clients.  She kept quizzing me on anatomy such in front of the clients and at one point, she said that she was really impressed at how much I knew about anatomy.  That was a bit of a shock to me considering I haven’t had anatomy since first year.  I guess I retained more than I thought I did!
6. Spent 2 weeks on an anesthesia rotation.  This is the first rotation I’ve had that is described as “sink or swim” by the clinicians involved.  Monday is called “minimal monitor Monday” and that is when all of the elective procedures take place (spays, neuters, declaws, etc) and they are done by 4th years on the soft tissue surgery rotation.  On anesthesia, you make up your anesthetic plan (choose which drugs to use and calculate the doses for the emergency drugs for your patient, etc.) The two monitors you can use are the pulse oximeter and the doppler for measuring blood pressure (though if there are any complications, the anesthesia department will definitely intervene.  It’s just an exercise meant to mimic surgery in general practice).  Once your plan is approved,  you pre-med your animal, place a catheter, induce anesthesia, intubate, set up your monitors, and roll into the operating room.  Then they leave you alone and check in every 30 minutes or so.  The rest of the days are the polar opposite.  You still make your plans but these surgeries are a lot more complicated and usually non-elective (mass removals, TPLOs to stabilize dogs that have ruptured their ACL, foreign body removal, just to name a few).  There are at least 3 monitors to hook up during surgery prep and then you hook them up to the expensive, human-grade monitoring equipment with digital displays and ventilators and all of the bells and whistles.  You settle in for a 3-4 hour surgery with at least 3 people scrubbed in (clinician, resident, and student on the case), however there may be many more (multiple residents or interns that are with that particular service at the time).  I have a healthy respect for anesthesia.  You are truly placing your animal’s life in someone’s hands and I completely understand why the anesthesia is usually the part of a procedure that frightens owners the most.  My first week was really rough because I was afraid to make a mistake.  I started to get a bit more comfortable by the middle of the second week but to say that I feel good would be a gross overstatement.  One thing I learned was exactly what monitoring equipment and drug protocols I’m going to ask about when I interview for jobs (provided I get some interviews in this market!).  I’m still on call for most of this weekend, but I’m for the most part, the rotation is over and I’m happy that my blood pressure can finally start decreasing back into the normal range.

That brings me to today/this weekend.  I have to stay close to my pager (and be within 15 minutes of the clinic) so that limits the amount of Christmas shopping I can attempt.  I did a lot of online shopping this year and had it shipped to my parents’ house. I’m leaving town at around 5:00 am on Monday morning to be able to get home and drop my cats off with my parents’ before heading to the local vet clinic for the start of my 1 week externship.  I worked at the clinic for a summer before I got into vet school so I know the basic lay of the land.  I haven’t been back in a long time and I’m excited to see how things have changed.  It will be  very different to spend time there now that I’m at this point in my vet school career.  I’m a completely different person now than I was when I was a junior in undergrad.  Overall, I couldn’t be happier.  This is a great way to be able to spend some time with my parents and get school credit at the same time.  After my externship, I have a week off to spend time with the Captain and do some more wedding planning.  This is shaping up to be quite a nice holiday break!