Holy Monkeys!

I was pleasantly surprised to see the amount of my paycheck. Of course, it is all gone now because we had to catch up some bills that were late. I was so excited that I almost made a copy of it. It was more than Ben makes in a week when he works 12 hours of overtime and I only worked 25 hours.

I haven't worked on my thesis at all this week again. I really need to motivate myself. I work tomorrow, Friday and Sunday so I won't be writing those days.

I did it!

I got through my first days at work. The first day I just followed another vet around and learned my way around. The second day I jumped right in with a dog with some kind of abdominal neoplasia (cancer) that the owners elected to euthanize. It sucked. I also diagnosed parvo in a puppy that day. He is doing well. Yesterday the highlights were bloody diarrhea and a rattlesnake bite! I didn't realise the amount of think-on-your-feet emergency stuff I would get.

I made it through though. I am starting to get used to being called doctor. Although one client told me I didn't look old enough to be a doctor. I thanked her but didn't tell her how old I really am. I am off until Thursday now. I signed up for about 25 hours a week because I need the money. I will write on my thesis today some but probably more tomorrow.

Oh, one of the assistants there asked me "Was vet school hard?" How do you think I answered that? I laughed of course!

Rambling...

http://spaces.msn.com/petpeeves6003/ This is an interesting site by an er vet. I found it when I should have been writing.

I have been out of school for about 2 weeks now. I can't stop thinking about my last patient. Her name was Gracie. She was a 5 year old female Golden Retriever who presented with severe hypercalcemia. The first thing a vet should think of for hypercalcemia in a dog with this signalment is lymphoma. The differentials are lymphoma, lymphoma, lymphoma, hyperparathyroidism, lymphoma, renal failure, lymphoma... You get the picture! I took care of her during my last weekend on clinics. I basically just stabilized her with fluids, monitored her blood pressure, and tried to get her to eat. The problem was that she came in on emergency that Friday night and everything was closed so we couldn't ultrasound or do any other diagnostics until Monday. Her owners were great and very concerned. When I transferred her case that Monday morning to the new senior I called them and told them I would not be contacting them anymore. Well, diagnostics revealed advanced, metastatic lymphoma. Stage 3b. Bad. The owners said they wouldn't mind me calling them instead of the new student but I didn't want to piss the student off by doing it. I can't help but think about her and wonder if I should have been the one to call her owners. Or if I should have just called them a few days after she went home to see how she was doing.

She was a great dog.

Well, I take my jurisprudence exam today. I wonder how long until I get the results of that. I also got a problem fixed that was preventing me from enrolling in any classes this summer.

I was bored enough yesterday to start a blog for my cat. Yes, Purrsevil now has his own blog. I imagine he will keep his up about as much as I do! http://www.catster.com/pet_page.php?i=317501&j=t Visit him and give him a treat!!

I wrote the first 2 paragraphs earlier. I got the license. I am KS's newest licensed veterinarian. Acutally I got it just in time to renew for next year. At least it is only $20. Another thing to frame and put on a wall I guess. Is that what people do with it?

I did it!

I called Dr. Carder and we decided I would start working this Friday from 1pm to 11pm. Two 10 hour days a week until the end of the summer when I will supposedly have my thesis done. That will give us some income anyway. We need to get some bills paid off then think about buying a house closer to Topeka. Oh, and Ben needs a vehicle that runs!

I am so nervous. It is daunting to think that now I am the one responsible for my paitents. I can't blame a clinician for being slow or wanting so many expensive diagnostics.