Tough Stuff.

I haven't written in a while. I don't even know if anyone read this, but that's ok.

I have done SO much in the past month. I had my Prev Med rotation - short days and information I know a lot about, so it was enjoyable for me! I only completed 5 days of the rotation since I had to leave to go to Plum Island.

Plum Island was AMAZING. It was everything I could have wished for, and amazing people too! I got to touch and see animals with FMD (Foot & Mouth Disease), Exotic Newcastle (both viscerotrophic and neurotrophic), HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza), and African Horse Sickness. We spent a few days at Cornell, had a day off in Boston, and went to the island for 2 days. I couldn't have imagined a better time there!

After Plum Island, I had one week of vacation with Chris at the lake - it was wonderful, and I was happy to have time to spend with just the two of us without any other obligations.

I am currently on my small animal emergency/critical care rotation. It is a 4 week rotation full of lots of learning, lots of patients, and lots of stories you couldn't make up if you wanted to!

I had the first 2 days of the rotation off - everyone is randomly assigned a letter that corresponds to a schedule, and I think I got one of the best letters! I have one weekend day off each of the 4 weekends. Considering some people don't have any weekend days off, I think I'm pretty lucky.

I spent my first few days working in the ICU. When you're in ICU you do hourly patient care, which starts 30 min before the hour and usually finishes sometime after... sometimes, it's just in time to start the next hour's treatments! We were busy during the 2 days I spent in the ICU.

I am currently on ER. We have busy days and we have slow days. The most patients I've ever had in one day (so far, knock on wood) is 3. Saturday I had a neurologic dog with either tick paralysis or coonhound paralysis - we will only know which it is when I call the owners to find out whether or not she is making a recovery. She was non-ambulatory when she came in.

I've had some crazy owners that definitely made me laugh. When answering calls the other day I had a woman tell me her 10lb dog ate a frog that was still alive inside of it's belly. I like clients bc they make me smile.

They also sometimes make me very sad. Today I had the sweetest patient. She is a mixed breed dog who stole my heart. She can't walk or stand, but she smiles whenever you give her attention. After a short work-up, we were able to determine that she has multifocal neurologic lesions - likely in the brain and spinal cord. The owners opted to take her home for the evening for one last night together before euthanasia in the morning. It will be my first pet euthanasia. I hope they give her lots of love and lots of yummy treats tonight. I've already been crying - I don't know if this will ever get any easier.