finally feeling stupid....

Throughout fourth year all my classmates would complain that they felt stupid--they didn't know anything, were constantly corrected by doctors, etc etc. My view on fourth year was that I wasn't supposed to know everything--in fact, it's expected that I knew barely anything. That's what fourth year is about--learning--if I knew everything I wouldn't still be in school. So I went though fourth year happy when i remembered something, and shrugged it off when i didn't.

When i started my job here, I had the same mindset because we didn't learn very much exotic animal medicine in school. And even though I've only been working a few months, I still feel like i should know more and it frustrates me. My boss asked me one day, "You look frustrated?" and i replied, "I get frustrated when I don't know everything, so I'll probably be frustrated for the next few years." She laughed and I realized the statement was completely true. Oh well. It will come.

But along the way will come the crazy clients. Exotic medicine is definitely full of a higher percentage of "special" clients (takes one to know one, right?) which is fine--I can handle the client who tells me I'm unhealthy being a vegetarian (don't even ask me how we got on that line of conversation--and then she wouldn't authorize treatment, oi) or the chinchilla owner who explains in a loud, fast 5 minute monologue that he doesn't believe in paying hospital bills so he doesn't (then move to canada...i didn't say it out loud) but he pays all of his vet bills, but i cannot handle the belligerent client....had my first one last week. In retrospect I probably should have walked out of the room earlier after being yelled at, told i was speaking disrespectfully (i think i had said two sentences before he started ranting) etc. In the end, he yelled at every employee in the clinic and was fired . Yes, we fire clients...apparently, economics says we should fire 10% of our clients to increase our productivity (we don't).

Later that week, another client was screaming at my boss over the phone that she was going to picket our clinic because we killed her rabbit (we didn't).

It comes in cycles...maybe every third full moon?....soon, hopefully, the cycle will end and I can get back to learning medicine instead of trying to predict and head-off unstable people.

They let me be the vet!

I officially have my Illinois license and they cut me loose! Well not really--I still consult the senior vets on practically every single case and they read all my records before they get filed, but I'm no longer following them around; I see my own cases, talk to clients and develop treatment plans. And I have to say--being the vet is way better than in "fourth year mode" (following the primary vet around). It's amazing how my mindset immediately changed, and how much more fun/interesting/etc it is because it's me who's invested in the case.

But along with the fun of developing treatment plans and the joy of helping pets get better, comes the horrible part of breaking bad news. I had to do that the other night and man did it suck. It was even harder because the treatment, which we had to do--didn't have a choice, is what was causing this animal to suffer and die. The poor owners and animal had been through so much and done everything we wanted them to do--and the ailment was somewhat minor on the surface:(

But that's the way it goes. If it was all happy/joyous news then everyone would be a vet.

In brighter news, I took a tour of the local wildlife center, and will probably start volunteering there in a few weeks to a month...once the paperwork goes through.

Nothing else new here.

I'll have to take some pics randomly so i have some to post next time. :)

i rode the train!

Chicago, being the 3rd largest city in the US i'm told, has a decent public transportation system. Which is good because apparently "cheap" parking downtown is $25/day on the weekend....eek! So there's the train (the L-line..."el" for elevated train...although it turns into a subway when it gets to the city....strange name then ) the metra (bus...i think) and the pace( also a bus i think....) i didn't venture the buses yet...maybe another day.

This weekend was taste of Chicago (above pic) so i ventured out of my safe-shell-apt and took the train (pic below) (2 mi from my house) into chicago, and it dropped me 4 blocks from taste....super convenient and only $4.50 round trip!

and here is a cute picture of my cat....dad made a scratching post for her and i put the sisal rope on....pretty sweet....now just need to get her to use it...

Other than that not much new...job is going well...it's a job...better than a cat/dog practice though...I do start volunteering at the local wildlife center though so i'm super excited for that!!

my new apt

it's so hot today, i sweat even when not moving....so i thought i'd finally post pics of my apt

Above is the street i live on...it's pretty quiet with lots of families and small children.


Both sides of my building...I live upstairs, the owner and his wife live in the 1st floor





Here is the start to my veggie garden:) I'm starting it late, but should make it in before the frost...



1/2 of my kitchen...the back door is there too...sorry for the mess in ALL the pics...i took them before i was unpacked (actually i'm not unpacked yet....for only working 45 hours a week, i seem to be busy all the time!)

the other half of my kitchen:)



the enormous pantry in my kitchen!


there's a spice rack BUILT INTO THE WALL!!!



my bedroom:) i put black curtains up so i can sleep during the day when i work night


my huge closet

the nice bathroom


a closet in the hallway with a window in it:)



two more closets in the hallway


2nd bedroom



Dining room which i'm turning into my "reading room"



other side of hte "reading room"

living room...previous tenants left the couch here...only a year and a half old! woo hoo!


faux fireplace in the living room


and this is my new cat, Molly. She is old (13-17 years old). Her owner, besides having dementia, broke her hip and had to go to a nursing home that doesn't take cats:( so i suckered myself into taking her (if she would go to a shelter, she would be euthanized b/c of her age)

She is cranky. and when stressed (like she is now living in a new home) vomits. She also likes to shoot her pee over the side of the litter box....just as i got her high sided litter boxes, she decided to pee on my papasan. She is cute though. so we have a love hate relationship and she gets locked into rooms with minimal furniture at night. hopefully she grows out of this phase hahahahaha

first day on the job....

I'll post later when i have pictures of my new apt, about the move, where i live...etc....but for now...

THE FIRST DAY OF MY NEW JOB!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

and it was an overnight...i haven't worked an overnight in years....i hope they get easier.....oi

BUT, and i forget because i was so tired, my FIRST patient was a young hedgehog who came in DYING. her heart stopped even. and i (and the other doctor) BROUGHT HER BACK TO LIFE!!! *Evil laugh*

no really, it happened. cool, huh?

here's a picture of what she looked liked...cutest thing ever...

holy hell i'm a doctor!

GRADUATION!!! AHHH!!!!

Yep. I'm a doctor:)


I can't believe this day has come!!! AHHH!!! That's all the words i have:)





THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CAME DOWN TO MADISON TO MAKE THIS DAY AWESOME:):):)

The Raptor Center

The Raptor Center was slow, but I did learn a lot. I did my best to pick everyone's brains with every case and read the literature and protocols they had available. Here are some pictures:

This eagle is being anesthetized so his wound over an a wing fracture can be cleaned and closed.

It's kind of hard to see, but the wing on your left hand side has a fracture near the elbow. It's a difficult surgery since it's so near the elbow. The surgery went ok, but unfortunately, he developed such a large amount of tissue reaction hear the surgery site that would not resolve--and he had to be euthanized:(


I didn't get to do any surgery, but I got to watch a lot and learned about avian orthopedics (which is one of the BIG reasons I went to the raptor center). I did do some bone pinning in carcasses which was fun.

This is a "brancher" great-horned owl. So call that because he jumps out of the nest and hops/glides from branch to branch learning to fly while still being cared for by mom. He jumped/glided/flew/fell to the ground in someone's yard, so we just ran out and put him back in the tree..what a great photo-op!



AND it was BABY season so I got to examine and even help re-nest some baby raptors!!
This is a baby great-horned owl nestling--a runt for that time of the season!

Another nestling great-horned.
I had an AMAZING opportunity to go out with this little guy and watch a tree-climber put him into a nest with 3 other nestlings.


Can you see the nest? it's the dark area at the top of the tree line in the middle-ish of the picture

Here is mom in the nest as we arrived. The white specks in the nest are the three owlets. Mom left as soon as the climber began to climb. The whole time he was working on the nest you could hear crows harassing the adult owl a few hundred feet away in some trees.

It was pretty insane. the tree was no more than 1-1.5' in diameter and at least a 100' up! Also--the nest was too small to add another chick to--so the tree-climber (who was a tall, solid-built man!) had to climb this wimpy little, wobbly, blowing-in-the-high-winds-tree, put the existing owlets into a bag, lower them to us, hoist branches we had gathered up, build the nest up with the branches and wire, hoist the owlets + ours up and put them back in the nest.


Beginning the climb...


Can you appreciate the height? Winds were incredibly strong and a few times the top of the tree was violently swaying, i don't know, like 20 feet from side to side.


Here's a video of him packing up the existing owlets and lowering them down in a bag (sorry about the side-ways---not sure how to fix it)